Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on the Nets, who formally introduced new head coach Lionel Hollins yesterday:
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In tone, message and appearance, Lionel Hollins was the anti-Jason Kidd in his introductory press conference with the Nets on Monday, even going so far as to say that he is not after general manager Billy King’s job, a startling remark that seemed appropriate given the tumult of the past week.
In the wake of the Kidd fiasco, Hollins, 60, reached an agreement with the Nets last Wednesday to become the 19th coach in the team’s long and increasingly strange history.
Implied in his hiring is the understanding that Hollins will bring stability to a franchise that was thrown for a loop when Kidd abruptly left to become head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks last week after he tried, unsuccessfully, to undercut King.
So it was telling that Hollins made it clear on Monday that he has no intentions of currying more influence within the Nets. He’s happy being a coach.
“It’s just nice to be able to do your job,” Hollins said, wearing a dark suit with his wife, Angela, beaming in the front row and King by his side. “That’s all I want to do. I’m a basketball coach. I don’t want to do Billy’s job. I don’t want to do anybody else’s job in the organization, but the one I’m hired to do. That’s important to me. I’m very low maintenance.”