More and more, the NBA is about 3-and-D.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a stellar defender, but struggles with his long-range shooting. Mightily.
How much the Nets’ second-year wing can improve his shaky jumper will determine whether he can take the step forward rebuilding Brooklyn desperately needs.
“We’ll see when the game comes,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I feel like when it’s time I’ll shoot it, but you still can’t [know]. That’s hypothetical. We still haven’t been in that game situation yet. So when the game comes, one game in, two games in, we’ll see.”
The Nets don’t need Hollis-Jefferson to be Steph Curry, but they will need the 6-foot-7 swingman to improve a poor outside shot to complement a workable mid-range game. And he’s clearly putting in the work, staying an hour after practice Friday to put up jumper after jumper.
“Never count. I let the coaches count. I just shoot,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “If it feels good then it was a good shot and try to keep it the same way. But I don’t count them. I let the coaches count them. I just worry about if I’m shooting it right so I can create that same habit.”
That habit is repeatable mechanics, the same stroke over and over.
“Trying to release it early, as opposed to holding it. That’s when you get shots that are short, left and right. So, just trying to work on an early release and keeping it consistent,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “Sometimes you have your days when it’s a good day. Even if I’ve missed a few, I still shoot the same way. Then there are days where I’m shooting the same way and I revert back to the old way.”
The old way didn’t work, with Hollis-Jefferson shooting 38.9 percent on jumpers as a rookie, and a horrid 28.6 percent (4 of 14) from 3-point range.
“It’s going well. We have a plan in place to help him with it, and he’s putting in the work. The last piece is going to be translating that to a game, translating that to mental confidence and believing in his shot,” coach Kenny Atkinson said.
“Yeah, a big part of it is mental. I call it the curse of the great athlete. They’re so used to driving it all of the time. … They could always just drive by people, so their first intention when they were young wasn’t just catch-and-shoot. They’re like, ‘Man, I could just drive and lay it up over the guy, or use my size.’ … In today’s NBA, [a jumper] is a quasi-necessity. He’s going to have to keep them honest.”
Hollis-Jefferson said ex-Nets shooting coach David Nurse probably tilted more toward shooting mechanics than new assistant Adam Harrington, but agreed with Atkinson that his woes have been more mental than mechanical.
“When it boils down to it, it’s basically consistency. David [taught] more mechanical probably … but it’s still the same. Consistency, finding that rhythm, same shot every time,’’ Hollis-Jefferson said. “The problem was I tried to change it too much, throughout high school, college, and it’s in my brain, ‘You shoot too many different ways.’ I’m trying to break that down, get that out of my mind.
“It’s probably the biggest thing. All those ways you shot growing up, it’s lingering. … But it’s working its way out.”
Hollis-Jefferson didn’t pick the brain of Chris Mullin when one of history’s best shooters stopped by practice. But he has talked to Bruce Bowen, Nets general manager Sean Marks’ old Spurs teammate whose career arc seems more akin to his: a lockdown defender who made himself into a reliable 3-point shooter.
“You have to be shot-ready at the end of the day. That’s where your shot comes from; it comes from your base,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I talked to Bruce Bowen, and he was talking about just being shot-ready. If you’re shot-ready, you’re drive-ready … on a closeout. … All shooters have that mindset of being shot-ready. My follow-through is good; I’ve just got stay shot-ready.”