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The Nets continued beefing up their staff Thursday by adding two scouts, including Shelden Williams the former New Jersey Net, and three other staffers, two of whom are lawyers.
The two scouts are Williams and Charles Payne, who was an assistant coach at Stanford and worked with Sean Marks -- and Jason Kidd -- when they were at Cal in the early 1990's. The three staffers will filled newly created jobs. One of them is holdover from the Billy King days. They include a basketball operations administrator, a coordinator of strategic planning and salary cap and contract specialists. The latter two are the lawyers.
Natalie Jay has been named as cap and contract specialist. Jay comes to Brooklyn after most recently serving as a judicial law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, Mo. Previously, she held sports law clinic externships with the Memphis Grizzlies and Fluminense FC of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A native of Oxnard, Calif., Jay received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Princeton and her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School.
Ryan Gisriel has been named as director of basketball administration. Gisriel, who started with the Nets as an intern in 2013, has since served as special projects coordinator and as assistant to the general manager. The Baltimore native received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Notre Dame in 2013.
Andrew Baker has been named strategic planning coordinator. Baker comes to Brooklyn after spending the past year as a quality assurance assistant in the basketball operations department of the San Antonio Spurs. A native of Vero Beach, Fla., Baker received his Bachelor of Science degree in sports management from NYU and his Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School, where he also received a certificate of specialization in sports law.
Charles Payne has been named as pro and college scout. Payne spent the past eight seasons at Stanford University, including the last five as an assistant coach. Prior to his time at Stanford, the Washington D.C. native served as an assistant coach for three years each at California and Florida International, as well as spending three seasons as a scout for the Charlotte Bobcats.
Shelden Williams has been named as a pro scout. A veteran of six NBA seasons, Williams played for seven different teams, including the New Jersey Nets in 2011-12, following a four-year collegiate career at Duke. Williams went on to play three international seasons in France and China at the conclusion of his NBA career. Williams is married to WNBA legend Candace Parker.
There was no announcement of the reported hiring of Jacque Vaughn as lead assistant coach. Nor did the Nets press release indicate whether Williams and Payne will be replacing scouts who were on the payroll under King or are additional hires.