Brooklyn Nets Add Former Player to G League Coaching Staff

The Long Island Nets’ coaches will feature a previous Brooklyn guard.

Apr 15, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Jorge Gutierrez (13) advances the ball during the third quarter against the New York Knicks at Barclays Center. New York Knicks won 109-98. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-Imagn Images / Anthony Gruppuso-Imagn Images

The Long Island Nets announced their G League coaching staff for the upcoming season on Thursday evening, naming a former Net in Jorge Gutiérrez as an assistant coach. 

Tevin Baskin and Fortune Solomon will join Gutiérrez as assistants to head coach Mfon Udofia. Associate head coach Shawn Swords, who has been with Long Island since October of 2022, is also back. Meanwhile, Steven Kaner, who initially joined Long Island as a team attendant in 2021, has been promoted to head video coordinator/player development.

The Nets’ G League coaching staff will feature a blend of youth and experience. Udofia joined the Nets from the Ontario Clippers, but made multiple stops in the G League along the way as a player and coach. Long Island’s head coach previously played four years of college basketball at Georgia Tech. He is still “only” 34 years old.

Gutiérrez, who retired at the end of last season, has a long history with the Nets. He first signed with the team in 2013 for training camp but was later waived. He returned a few months later, in March 2014, under a 10-day contract that saw him make his NBA debut and eventually resulted in a multi-year deal; however, Gutiérrez was traded away in December of that year.

Gutiérrez toiled around the G League for years while also making some stops overseas. It was during this time that he coincided with now-Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernández on the Canton Charge, as Fernández was an assistant and later head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ developmental team. Gutiérrez eventually rejoined the Nets ahead of the 2016-17 season, only to be waived after three preseason games in what was the defensive-minded guard’s last NBA experience.

Baskin will be starting his first season for Long Island as assistant coach, but he has been a part of the organization since 2022. The former Appalachian State player initially joined as an assistant video coordinator and later became head video coordinator. 

Prior to that, he was a graduate assistant focused on player development and opponent scouting for two seasons at Mississippi State, before becoming the program's director of recruiting and analytics. Baskin has links to the New York area, having played for the New York Gauchos AAU team.

Solomon, an assistant coach for the South Sudanese men’s national team, is new to the Nets organization. He previously held jobs with the 905 Raptors, South Bay Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder. The South Sudan squad, representing the youngest country in the world, played in the Paris Olympics and is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and successful sports stories of recent times.

Solomon was previously with the Nigerian men's national team as well as their video coordinator. His G League experience is extensive, going back to when he was an intern with the Bakersfield Jam — or as they're now known, the Detroit Pistons’ Motor City Cruise. A Raptors 905 press release from last fall lauds Solomon’s opponent scouts and player evaluations.

Kaner, a Brooklyn native, has been with Long Island since October 2021 when he first joined the organization as a team attendant. He was previously a team manager at Baruch College, an NCAA Division III program, for one season. Kaner was a basketball operations associate prior to his most recent role change.

This year’s iteration of the Long Island developmental squad will be particularly interesting to follow, even if only through Dariq Whitehead’s gradual comeback and ramp-up from years of injury issues. Other players who likely to feature for the team include Jaylen Martin, Mark Armstrong, KJ Jones II and maybe former no. 7 pick Killian Hayes.

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