Andrei Kirilenko takes a leave of absence from the Brooklyn Nets
Andrei Kirilenko has steadily fallen out of the rotation for the Brooklyn Nets. After deciding to opt-in for the second year of his contract, Kirilenko has only played a handful of minutes for the team this season and has dropped to to DNP in Brooklyn’s last few games.
To say the least, Kirilenko is not pleased.
Here is what Tim Bontemps of the New York Post had to say about the situation:
Kirilenko said Hollins has been open with him about his decision to leave him out of the rotation.
“I really appreciate it,” Kirilenko said, “but it doesn’t make things easier.”
When asked if he was healthy, Kirilenko said: “I feel fine.”
When asked what he thought he had to do in order to get back into Hollins’ rotation, he admitted: “I have no idea.”
According to Rob Boone, Andrei Kirilenko will not be joining to the team for the next few games due to “personal reasons.”
Hopefully, everything is okay and Kirilenko is able to work his way back into the rotation for the Nets.
What readers said at the time
1 reply came in under this piece in 2014, and they are kept here as they were written — the readers’ words, not ours, spelling and all. The thread is closed; the desk does not take new comments.
jerry2523 November 2014
Not sure how it happened, but Nets front office let Avery and PJ know that they were quite displeased when they felt that Mirza didn’t belong in the NBA. Both coaches succumbed to pressure, and even though Mirza still didn’t play that well in the remainder of his first season, the coaches didn’t insult Teletovic the way Hollins has now done with Kirilenko.
Not even Jason Kidd would go to KG last year and say “you’re done”, when virtually everyone at NetsDaily was saying that the 37 year old KG was done.
Well at 38, KG apparently isn’t done and Kirilenko has way, way more left at age 33 than KG does now.What was done differently with Mirza and KG? They got to play More, not Less minutes.
And the 3rd important lesson for management is when Lawrence Frank realized that Kidd wasn’t ready to coach at the end of pre-season. The Front Office stood idly by and allowed Kidd to have his way and demote Frank from coach the 1st two games last season (in favor of the inexperienced Joe Prunty). See how doing nothing turned out.
Now we know why the Nets were reluctant to go after Hollins last summer. They thought that year off from coaching would have given Hollins time to reflect on his “roughness”. Apparently, King’s initial instinct about Jason Kidd not being ready to coach was correct, as were the Nets’ initial feelings about Hollins.
But Hollins isn’t stupid. He has to be expecting his Russian boss (and Kirilenko’s friend) to be quite upset. Would Hollins have the courage to resign his position if Proky gave him an ultimatum? Lionel would never coach again in the NBA if he resigned – especially if Kirilenko subsequently proved himself.
Hollins doesn’t know how lucky he is to have Billy King as his immediate Boss. King lets his coaches, coach, but sometimes there needs to be a limit.Final thought: has anyone considered that AK’s wife, Masha Lopatova, is not the type to sit idly by, but rather would be talking directly with Prokhorov about her displeasure? And since Prokhorov watched Kirilenko turn the Nets 10-21 season around in January – February (when he we was healthy), Prokhorov likely will be siding with Masha. For those who forget, Nets record was the best, when Kirilenko played at least 15 minutes. AK is known for creating Chaos with opponents. It only takes a few such plays to make the difference between a W and a L.
I’ll just step back and watch the fireworks play out. Nothing else is important with Nets until then. This is a real embarrassment on the Nets franchise after all that has happened recently. It wouldn’t even surprise me if Proky eventually ends up selling team as a result.