In a particularly damning report from Andy Vasquez of the Record, several sources told Vasquez that they could not name a single player that liked former Nets coach Lionel Hollins.
The problem wasn’t with his system or game plan. It was mostly with Hollins’ personality. Many players thought the coach was condescending, and had difficulty respecting him because of it.
Players who talked back to Hollins, even once, were subjected to long stays in his doghouse.
In public, Hollins blamed his players and seldom took responsibility for his team’s problems.
Sources have told The Brooklyn Game that Hollins’s personality, which can be grating at times, wore heavily on players, especially when coupled with losing. The mood seems brighter under interim head coach Tony Brown, though whether or not that’s temporary remains to be seen.
As Vasquez notes and The Brooklyn Game reported, Thaddeus Young lauded having a coach that’s “positive” and “not panicking” on the sidelines.
The Record — Nets shedding no tears for ex-coach
