SUMMARY
- Kevin Ollie has been hired as the new coach for the Brooklyn Nets.
- Kevin Ollie mentored Kevin Durant during his time with the OKC Thunder.
NBA fans were caught off guard to hear that Kevin Ollie is going to take over as the interim head coach for the Brooklyn Nets. The majority of the basketball community will remember that the Nets have undergone several changes over the past few seasons. Although they were considered legitimate title contenders when they had stars like Kevin Durant on the roster, the team appears to be falling out of relevance in recent times.
In fact, the current situation that the Nets are facing has fans confused if they are entering a state of rebuilding or trying to contend for an NBA championship. While the Nets do have a fair amount of talent on their roster such as Mikal Bridges, Cam Thomas, and Dennis Schroder, they have decided to part ways with their previous head coach.
Kevin Ollie was an assistant coach for less than a year with the Brooklyn Nets
It looks like things haven’t been going according to plan for the Nets over the past few seasons. Steve Nash was initially their coach but they soon parted ways with him and brought on Jacque Vaughn to take over the role in November 2022. Less than two seasons into his career as head coach, Brooklyn decided to move on from Vaughn and have now positioned Kevin Ollie as their interim head coach.
ESPN Sources: The Brooklyn Nets are promoting assistant Kevin Ollie to interim head coach. He’ll run practice on Tuesday and start coaching on Thursday vs. the Toronto Raptors. pic.twitter.com/oNb0YLwFF2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 19, 2024
Like the majority of coaches in the NBA, Ollie is a former player and was in the NBA for 13 seasons. After his career on the court came to an end, Kevin began coaching college basketball teams and soon transitioned to become a coach for Overtime Elite. Finally, he was offered a position as an assistant head coach under Jacque Vaughn in June 2023.
Although Ollie has been with the Nets for less than a year, the team had no hesitation in making him the interim head coach after firing Vaughn.
Ollie mentored a rookie Kevin Durant
Kevin Ollie was in the NBA from 1997-2010. In that timespan, he averaged 3.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Ollie also played for a plethora of teams throughout his career and was a part of the OKC Thunder during his final season in the league.
Fans will remember that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were young and upcoming stars at the time. KD once revealed that Ollie was something like a role model to the players on the roster, “Kevin Ollie, he was a game changer for us. I think he changed the whole culture in Oklahoma City. Just his mindset, professionalism, every single day. And we all watched that, and we all wanted to be like that…”