Meet Brooklyn Nets new scout ... and familiar face: Andre Barrett
Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images
He grew up in the Bronx, played high school ball at Rice, college ball across the river at Seton Hall and spent time at the NBA office in midtown. Now, he’s working in Brooklyn. Andre Barrett is a legendary name in the world of New York City basketball. The Bronx native and Rice High School icon has one of the great resumes from that awesome pile of great point guards who have come from what many consider the PG Mecca.
From being a high school All American, to being one of two players in Seton Hall history to score 1,000 points, grab 400 rebounds, and dish out 400 assists, to then playing over a decade of professional basketball (NBA and overseas), Barrett has experienced what every young athlete wishes to achieve. With all that experience ... and success, Barrett has transformed into both a well respected development coach and scout around the league and this fall, he’s back in the city as a scout with the Brooklyn Nets.
Seven years after he played his last professional game at age 35 in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, and after four years with the NBA office, the most recent as Director of Scouting for the now disbanded G League Ignite, Barrett has joined the Nets staff at a time when the team has all those picks, including four firsts and two seconds this June.
Ironically, Barrett says that it was his experience at the point that’s allowed him to transition into becoming a scout rather comfortably. He knows what to look for.
“As a point guard, I always thought about the overall team instead of just myself,” Barrett said. “You have that same mindset as far as when you are scouting. You have to find out who is going to gel with who, who is your franchise guy, and also who has potential to be good role players. As a point guard, your job is to make others better. Because of this, it was a pretty easy transition to make.”
For Barrett, with all his New York connections was a dream come true for Barrett to work in the same area where he earned his recognition in the first place but he notes his scouting duties will not be limited to the New York area. “I’ll be all over.”
“It’s a great feeling, especially when at first I couldn’t even imagine this happening,” Barrett said. “But when you are working hard and you are doing what you love to do, things come to your plate. For me, it’s amazing to be in this situation where I’m at home and I get to hopefully make a mark for a great organization.
Barrett said that he owes that dream to the Nets GM and assistant GM.
“I’m also really appreciative of Sean Marks and B.J. Johnson. We’re excited about all the work we’re going to put in and we think it will all go well.”
In his role with G-League Ignite, he played a major part in scouting and developing NBA lottery picks such as Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, and Scoot Henderson. Despite having to shut down this past year due to a lack of experienced players — and not a lot of wins, G-League Ignite was responsible for developing more than a dozen draft picks.
With this success, Barrett is looking to create that same environment in Brooklyn, as the Nets look to develop with all the young pieces already on the Nets roster (14 players 25 and under, 12 players 23 and under) and use all the draft picks in the best possible way (15 firsts and a pick swap plus 11 seconds.)
“We want to be able to change things around,” Barrett said of the organization. “I think all the moves we made in the offseason as well as the draft was to set us up for this situation where we have all the opportunities to do what we are all capable of doing, which is to develop this roster to great success. We have a great team, a great front office, and we [work] under Sean Marks, who has proven that he knows what he is doing. We have a lot of pieces that can make this thing good for the future.”
In the upcoming season, most Nets fans know not to expect to have a winning season. What they do want to know is what we can expect years down the line. As the Nets look to find those answers, it will be up to people like Barrett to find and develop the young players so they can be their best selves when it is time to make a roster that will be playoff bound.
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