The Brooklyn Nets have not had a very good season as they are 9-22 which is the third worst record in the entire NBA. One positive thing from this season so far is it looks like they hit on one of their first round picks this season as Rondae Hollis-Jefferson looks like he can be a true game changer. Hollis-Jefferson though, is currently out after undergoing surgery on his broken right ankle and there has been some confusion about when he might return. As of right now it looks like mid-February is still the target for the rookie, according to Andy Vasquez of NorthJersey.com.
After Hollis-Jefferson initially underwent surgery the expectation was that he would miss about 8-10 weeks while recovering from the surgery. The surgery was successful and Hollis-Jefferson has not suffered any setbacks but he caused some confusion recently when he wrote in a blog post that he expected to be back in the beginning of March.
If Hollis-Jefferson's timeline was correct that would mean he would miss about 12 weeks and around 41 games, which is exactly half of the season. People close to the situation though, have said that the 20 year old rookie miscalculated and that nothing has changed in terms of his timetable. The current hope is that Hollis-Jefferson is back for the Nets first game out of the All-Star break against the New York Knicks on February 19th.
Hollis-Jefferson was acquired by the Nets in a draft day deal with the Portland Trail Blazers and it didn't take him very long to work his way into the starting lineup. Hollis-Jefferson's offensive game certainly needs work but he is already tremendous on the defensive end and that is shown by how the team is playing without him. The numbers when he is on the floor versus off the floor are staggering and the team has struggled since he went down with the injury.
Through 19 games the rookie is averaging 5.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. The Nets hope this is just a minor setback to the career of a young player who looks like he has a chance to be something special and despite the confusion he caused, he remains on track in his recovery.
