Have we seen the last of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in a Nets uniform? To me, all the signs point to “yes”.
It’s pretty clear the Nets have moved on from RHJ. He was healthy at the end of the season but was getting DNP’s anyway. Since the Nets did’t have the world’s greatest assemblage of wing players, it seemed like RHJ should have had a role somewhere in there, but he didn’t (notice how I’m referring to this Nets team in the past tense because their season is officially over as of a few hours ago).
While searching around for reasons as to why the Nets gave up on RHJ, I ran across an obvious one very quickly: his shooting seriously regressed this season. He went from a good midrange shooter last season at 45% (who could forget his crazy pullup thirteen-foot jimbos that were, at times, unstoppable?) to an extremely poor midrange shooter this season at around 25%. That jumpshot of his was one of the main weapons in his scoring arsenal, and I’m sure the threat of it also opened up driving opportunities for him. Now he has neither, so he was basically just a garbage-man defense-first wing like Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, except players like that are rarely given big roles on teams.
Another indictment against RHJ: this game ties his season high in points. He only scored above eighteen in six games after doing it 21 times last season. Maybe his injury has something to do with it, or maybe last season was a fluke, or maybe he got cursed by a voodoo lady. I don’t know. But the Nets aren’t going to be excited to retain the guy who was collecting DNP’s and bricking his jumpers.
We’ll see where he ends up. I think most teams would be willing to take him on as a project player and give him 10 MPG as long as the price is right. And if no team is willing to sign him, I hereby am presenting him a 1-year, two-hundred-dollar offer sheet. He can chill out at my place and we can play Factorio multiplayer all day. I’ll even give him a $1 per diem so he can have a can of Mountain Dew every day if he wants. If you would personally like to see RHJ’s per diem go up, donate to my Patreon and I’ll earmark your money for that purpose.