Brooklyn Nets: Special assistant Will Weaver takes over Long Island Nets

The Long Island Nets announced Tuesday that Will Weaver, a special assistant for the Brooklyn Nets the last two seasons, is their new head coach.

The Long Island Nets filled their head coaching vacancy on Tuesday, reaching out to the parent Brooklyn Nets to hire former special assistant Will Weaver.

Weaver spent the last two seasons working as a special assistant for Brooklyn head coach Kenny Atkinson after serving in the same capacity under head coach Brett Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Long Island club is entering its third season as the Nets’ G-League affiliate. The G-League team announced the hiring in a press release.

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Weaver replaces Ronald Nored, who was 44-56 in two seasons with Long Island — including a 27-23 mark in 2017-18.

Nored, who served as an assistant to Jeff Van Gundy for the U.S. national team that competed in Mexico and Cuba a few weeks ago and will play in September, was named an assistant to new Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego in May.

This will be Weaver’s first head coaching opportunity in a coaching career that goes back to his time at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, in the early 21st century, according to his old bio from his time as an assistant at Sam Houston State University.

He was also an assistant at the collegiate level at the University of Texas and came to the NBA as video coordinator for the 76ers in 2014-15.

He was promoted to basketball operations assistant the next season before being named special assistant to Brown.

Weaver has also served as an assistant coach for the Australian national team since 2014 at coached at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where the Boomers narrowly missed out on a medal when they lost 89-88 to Spain in the bronze-medal game.

His reputation is as a player development coach, something Long Island general manager Trajan Langdon referenced.

"We are thrilled to welcome Will as the new head coach of the Long Island Nets. Will’s experience working under Kenny Atkinson on Brooklyn’s coaching staff has given him a strong foundation to lead Long Island and we are confident that his vision and focus on player development are the right fit for the team and its young talent."

Three players from last year’s Long Island club saw time with the parent Nets last season, two-way contract players Milton Doyle and James Webb as well as point guard Isaiah Whitehead, who was on assignment to Long Island for 30 games and led the team with a 22.3 points per game average.

Weaver should be a good fit — he knows the Nets’ system having been with the Brooklyn club for Atkinson’s entire tenure and if the G-League is a place for young players to work their way into the NBA, so too is it a development ground for future NBA head coaches.

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Six former G-League head coaches have gone on to serve in that capacity in the NBA, including current coaches Dave Joerger of the Sacramento Kings, Nick Nurse of the Toronto Raptors, Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz and Luke Walton of the Los Angeles Lakers.