When: January 11, 2016; 7:30 PM EST
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
One day after firing head coach Lionel Hollins and “reassigning” general manager Billy King as part of a major organizational shakeup, the Brooklyn Nets host, ironically, the bastion of front office stability tonight at Barclays Center in the San Antonio Spurs, who are rolling through the Western Conference in yet another season.
Sunday morning, news broke that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov made the decision to part ways with Hollins, who was Brooklyn’s coach since the start of the 2014-15 season, while removing the GM tag from King, who has been with the organization since 2010. Also, assistant coach Paul Westphal, who was hired by Hollins, announced that he will not be returning to the bench for the Nets. Current assistant Tony Brown, who was drafted by and played for the Nets in the 1980s, will assume interim coaching duties for the foreseeable future.
The events marked the end of a short but disappointing tenure for Hollins in Brooklyn and a long, agonizing one for King, whose bold, blockbuster trades for Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace, Joe Johnson as well as Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett ended up failing in nearly spectacular fashion.
Now, the Nets, who are mired in the Eastern Conference cellar without a first round pick for the next few years, need to move on and pick up the pieces from a disastrous couple of seasons. They begin the post-King and post-Hollins eras tonight against San Antonio, in a game they are surely to lose as the Spurs haven’t lost since Christmas, and probably won’t win too often the rest of the way, but as least the franchise is moving forward, somewhat, into a future that must be brighter than its dark, monochromatic past.
Probable lineups
SAS- Tony Parker (PG), Danny Green (SG), Kawhi Leonard (SF), LaMarcus Aldridge (PF), Tim Duncan (C)
BKN- Donald Sloan (PG), Wayne Ellington (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
Final thoughts
In his first game as head coach, Tony Brown is already changing up the Nets’ starting lineup as Donald Sloan and Wayne Ellington are slated for their first and third starts of the season in the stead of Shane Larkin and Bojan Bogdanovic. Obviously, this team — which has lost nine consecutive home games and four consecutive overall — is lacking a lot of talent so any time of diversion from the normal could lead to a much-needed offensive spar. At this point, there’s nothing to lose, so why not make changes.
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