With an impressively busy offseason in front of them, the Brooklyn Nets today announced that Oklahoma City Blue assistant coach Travon Bryant will be joining head coach Kenny Atkinson’s staff as Brooklyn’s new assistant player development coach.
The 34-year-old Bryant comes from the Thunder’s G-League affiliate, the Blue. Bryant spent two years in OKC as an assistant under Blue head coach/Billy Donovan disciple Mark Daigneault, working with former NBA draft picks including Cam Payne, Mitch McGary, Xavier Henry and former Net Marquis Teague.
Considering the Nets current dearth of top-line draft picks, hiring development coaches from the G-League makes sense as GM Sean Marks looks to find diamonds (or at least rotation players) in the rough.
As a 6-foot, 9-inch forward, Long Beach, Calif. native Bryant had a distinguished and varied playing career. Named a 2000 McDonald’s High School All-American, he spent four seasons at the University of Missouri (‘00-‘04) under then-coach Quin Snyder, before spending 11 years in professional basketball leagues overseas, playing in six countries, including Greece, Italy, Germany, Ukraine and France. His last stop was the Akita Northern Happinets in Japan during 2014-15.
With what could be up to 11 players returning from last year’s team, the latest addition to Kenny Atkinson’s bench of Bryant — as the team continues filling out both the coaching and front office staff heading into the draft and free agency — certainly has a busy summer ahead of him.
