The Brooklyn Nets have hired Travon Bryant, another overseas playing assistant coach on to Kenny Atkinson's staff, further solidifying a wide-ranging, experience group of young coaches.
With just less than one week away from the 2017 NBA Draft, the Brooklyn Nets made an under-the-radar move to bring in Travon Bryant as their new assistant development coach, adding to Kenny Atkinson's impressive coaching staff.
Bryant, 34, comes to the Nets from the Oklahoma City Thunder's NBA Development League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, as an assistant coach under Mark Daigneault.
Prior to his work with the Thunder organization, Bryant, a 6'9″ forward from the University of Missouri, was named McDonald's High School All-American in 2000 prior to suiting up for the Tigers.
He spent all four of his college years at Missouri, appearing in 123 games and averaging 7.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game under then-coach Quinn Snyder.
We are excited to welcome Travon Bryant to the coaching staff: https://t.co/Kac1m54mCr pic.twitter.com/w4gFZLQfUV
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) June 15, 2017
Like many of both Sean Marks' and Kenny Atkinson's staffers, Bryant had a varied playing career overseas, spending part of his 11-year pro career in Germany, Italy, Greece, France and Ukraine before finishing up his playing career with the Akita Norther Happinets in Japan during the 2014-15 season.
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With the introduction of two-way NBA/Development League contracts beginning this season, hiring a veteran in the development system is a smart move for the Nets, as they've spent the past year and a half under general manager Sean Marks' reign scouring the D-League for versatile wings; most notably Sean Kilpatrick and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Bryant now replaces Mike Batiste, who spent one season in Brooklyn before joining the Charlotte Hornets as an assistant coach on Steve Clifford's staff. This comes after Charlotte lost then associate head coach Patrick Ewing to Georgetown University.
For Bryant, a new challenge emerges in Brooklyn. Just this past season with the Oklahoma City Blue, Bryant was part of a staff that went 34-16 , featuring players like Cameron Payne, Mitch McGary, Xavier Henry and former Net Marquis Teague. Bryant looks to bring not only his international playing experience to the team, but the ability to relate to what will be two new swing D-League/NBA players on the Nets roster.
Joining a NBA staff will also give Bryant an opportunity to gain some experience in the summer league, after the Nets announced their participation in the Las Vegas portion of Summer League basketball just this past week.
As the Nets now shift gears toward solidifying their approach in this year's draft, adding an experienced professional like Bryant will certainly give the Nets more playing diversity in their NBA coaching staff, something general manager Sean Marks knows well coming from the San Antonio coaching and front office trees.
