NBA

How a sports psychologist has made one Net a better player

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has clearly matured from last season, learned not to let one bad play compound into a bad quarter or a bad game. And according to the young Nets forward, it has helped to not talk to just teammates, but the team psychologist as well.

“Last season, yeah, I feel like I held onto things a little longer than I should, made it bigger than what it was, as far as just having that next play mentality. It’s something I had to work on over the summer,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I’d definitely say it helps to talk to people; older people, veterans, therapists, just people that have a knowledge of under pressure situations. It’s kind of hard.”

In Hollis-Jefferson’s case, that therapist is team psychologist Dr. Paul Groenewal, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and one of the owners of The COR Group.

“People can tell you a million things about how to react when they’re stable, when they’re calm, when their heart rate is low,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “But when their adrenaline is rushing and when the game’s on the line, how many people can tell you how to react to that?

“So pretty much getting some people that went through it and understand it, talking to them and then talking to therapist has helped.”

That’s exactly the sort of work that Dr. Groenewal specializes in. The Post reached out to Dr. Groenewal at his North Jersey office, and while he can’t discuss specifics, COR’s mission statement offered the following:

“Performance psychology clinicians meet with teams and individuals to enhance their mental skills, with the goal of gaining a ‘mental edge’ in competition/performance. By identifying the obstacles that get in the way of personal excellence and then teaching effective techniques for dealing them, individuals gain more control over performance, higher performance levels, a new perspective and generally reach a level of greater enjoyment and satisfaction.”

It’s the latest example of what players and agents around the league have taken note of regarding the Nets’ infrastructure. Guard Joe Harris once commented the Nets are tracking the color of players’ urine. They’re also apparently monitoring moods and helping mental health.

“Everybody we have here, Sean [Marks, general manager] wants you to just focus on basketball. Everything else, somebody is here for, either on a day-to-day basis, daily, whatever,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “The big focus is basketball here. He wants you to be exceptional at it, wants you to focus on your craft, so what better way than to give the players the tools to do that?”

In the 22-year-old Hollis-Jefferson’s case, he’s clearly made good use of those tools. After averaging 8.7 points on 43.4 percent shooting last season, he put up 10.5 points on torrid 67.9 percent shooting during the preseason, even excelling defensively at power forward.

“He’s played really well in preseason. He’s had a really good offseason,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “He’s starting to find himself maturity-wise. From a basketball standpoint and an emotional maturity standpoint, he had a lot of ups and down last season. It got better as the season went on, and this season he’s making progress from a maturity standpoint.”

The switch from small forward to power forward has helped Hollis-Jefferson, who lacks a jump shot.

“I still have some improving to do,” Hollis-Jefferson admits. “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.”

“Young players have a lot of ups and downs. How do you handle three missed layups in a row? Or how do you handle a turnover? And did it turn into three turnovers?” Atkinson said. “Bouncing back when you do make an error, that’s where he’s made a big jump. We call it the ‘Next play mentality’ — you have to move on to the next play … It’s an improvement area and he’s gotten better with it.”