Nets extend Stefanski as general manager

"We are very pleased that Ed has agreed to a contract extension," Nets president Rod Thorn said. "He is a vital part of our basketball management team and we look forward to an exciting future of Nets basketball."

Stefanski has served as New Jersey’s GM since 2004 after one year as the club’s vice president of basketball operations and four as its director of scouting. He was instrumental in the acquisition of perennial all-star Vince Carter this past season as well as the 2001 draft-night trade for Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins.

"I am thrilled to continue my relationship with the Nets organization," Stefanski said. "Rod has been my mentor since I joined the league and I feel very comfortable with the direction of the team under (owner) Bruce Ratner and his ownership group."

Stefanski has earned the reputation throughout the NBA as being a solid evaluator of basketball talent on the foreign front as well. He selected forward Nenad Krstic of Yugoslavia in the 2002 Draft and Croatian point guard Zoran Planinic in the 2003 Draft.

A 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the 50-year old Stefanski played college ball at Penn for three seasons, then three years later coached his high school alma mater, Monsignor Bonner High School, in Pennsylvania.

Including his college playing career and coaching stint at the high school level, Stefanski also had a 20-year run as a color analyst before joining the Nets in 1999.