Brooklyn Nets: 2017-18 player grades for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

Strengths

The strength that Hollis-Jefferson has possessed his entire career is defensive versatility. Like his teammate Caris LeVert, RHJ has elite defensive tools. Hollis-Jefferson goes from defending 1s to small-ball 4s on any given night, which is integral to the Nets switch-heavy scheme.

Despite playing for a 54-loss team, Rondae was a positive contributor on the point-preventing end. His steals per game won’t make him stand out, but his 1.1 defensive box plus-minus (a stat that normalizes impact no matter the team a player is on) sure does.

He also averaged 5.3 defensive rebounds per game, which is quite helpful when paired with his point-forward capabilities. It allows him to initiate the break immediately from the point of rebound, which has been proven to help offenses run more smoothly, as opposed to force-feeding the point guard to run the offense.

His 2.5 assists per game, despite being the fourth playmaker behind D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and LeVert, are indicative of his point-forward skills. This is quite valuable next to players like Russell and LeVert, who are useful off-ball as well as on-ball.

Malleability is the name of RHJ’s game. He defends anyone and everyone, and then initiates offense on the other end. He is practically a more athletic version of what Luc Mbah a Moute does for the Houston Rockets.