Stefanski named Nets new GM

Stefanski served as the team’s senior vice president of basketball operations last season, following four campaigns as the team’s director of scouting where he played an instrumental role in the recent success of the club.

"Ed is a keen evaluator of basketball talent," said New Jersey CEO Rod Thorn. "He is ideally suited for the demands of his new position."

Stefanski played a big role in the team drafting Kenyon Martin as the overall No. 1 selection in the 2000 Draft, and also pulled off a huge draft-night trade the following season.

The deal saw the Nets trade the draft rights of Eddie Griffin and the No. 7 pick to the Houston Rockets for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong.

Martin, Jefferson and Collins were major contributors as starters on the Nets 2002-03 Eastern Conference championship team that eventually lost in the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs in six games.

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. Planinic earned some minutes as a rookie, while the Nets expect to have Krstic for the 2004-05 season.

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.