Nets Rumors: Kevin Ollie to Join BK Staff After Being Finalist for Pistons HC Job

Former UConn head men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie was hired by the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant under head coach Jacque Vaughn on Saturday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Per Wojnarowski, Ollie had been a finalist for the Detroit Pistons' head coaching job before Detroit hired former Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams.

After serving as the head coach at UConn from 2012 to 2018, Ollie spent the past two years as head coach of the Overtime Elite team that aims to prepare high school-aged players for the NBA.

The 50-year-old Ollie's greatest coaching success came at UConn where he posted a 127-79 record in six seasons and led Connecticut to the NCAA tournament on two occasions.

Most notably, the Huskies went 32-8 in 2013-14 and won the national championship with Ollie at the helm and Shabazz Napier as the team's top player.

UConn posted a losing record in each of Ollie's final two seasons, however, and he was fired in 2018 after an NCAA investigation found violations that led to a three-year show cause penalty.

Prior to breaking into coaching as a UConn assistant in 2010 and ultimately becoming head coach, Ollie was a standout guard at UConn and enjoyed a lengthy NBA career.

Ollie spent 13 seasons in the NBA from 1997 to 2010, playing for the Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder.

In 662 career regular-season games, Ollie averaged 3.8 points, 2.3 assists and 1.5 rebounds per contest.

Ollie is set to join the coaching staff of a Nets team that has reached the playoffs in each of the past five seasons.

Brooklyn went 45-37 this season and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round in what was one of the more tumultuous campaigns for an NBA team in recent memory.

The Nets fired Steve Nash as head coach early in the season, replaced him with Vaughn on an interim basis and then made Vaughn the full-time head coach.

Brooklyn also traded All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and All-Star forward Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns prior to the deadline, shaking up the roster significantly.

The Nets have some good pieces signed for next season in Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, Ben Simmons and Dorian Finney-Smith, plus Cameron Johnson is a restricted free agent.

While Brooklyn is a talented, young teams, some significant moves are needed in order to get the Nets back in the championship conversation.