Flashback: How scout Khalid Green got hired by the Nets; his father's Ratner connection made the difference for a successful high school coach

I missed this when it was announced, but veteran Bishop Loughlin basketball coach Khalid Green, son of longtime Assemblyman Roger Green, a leading local political backer of Atlantic Yards when it was announced in 2003, got a job two years ago as a scout for the Nets.

And his father helped connect him to the job.

All evidence suggest Khalid Green, as a successful high school coach, was qualified, but, as with so much about Atlantic Yards, it sure helps to know the right people to nudge ahead on the line.

(Remember how former Forest City Ratner point man Jim Stuckey said in 2005 that he didn't know whether railyard contract McKissack & McKissack was chosen by a bidding process?)

As No Land Grab's Lumi Rolley pointed out two years ago, "A 'casual introduction' to Bruce Ratner is one of those tangible 'community benefits' of the Atlantic Yards project."

The announcement

The New York Daily News, in a 10/15/08 article headlined Bishop Loughlin coach Khalid Green Nets a new job as NBA scout, reported:

Green, who starts his new job Nov. 1, first made inroads with the Nets four years ago when his father, former Brooklyn assemblyman Roger Green, casually introduced him to Nets owner Bruce Ratner in downtown Brooklyn.

"He plugged me in and let me shake hands with people that normally I wouldn't have been able to meet," Green said. "I took it from there. I know how to grind. One thing led to another. I'm happy to leave Loughlin better than I found it and eager to learn more with the Nets.

A little more detail

Green elaborated in more detail, in a 6/23/09 interview with the website Box of M.E.S.S. (The typos below are in the original.)

Q: How were you offered the job of becomming a scout for the Nets?

KG: At Loughlin I secured a sneaker contract. Thanks to the help of Gary Charles (NY Panthers). I was asked to coach in ABCD camp. The structure of the camp featured high school coaches as assistants and the NBA scouts served as head coaches of some of the most talented high school players from the nation. Such players included Lebron James, Dwight Howard, etc…. I maintained several relationships with scouts I met at the camp. They explained their jobs to me and right away I felt it was “up my alley”. I had always been blessed with an eye for talent. I felt I would be good at scouting. About 4 years later, Mr. Bruce Ratner bought the Nets. Mr. Ratner had a prior relationship with my father and soon I was introduced to him. Here preparation met opportunity. After many emails, phone calls, and actual letters, Mr Ratner set up a sit down with first Mr. Ed Stefanski and then Mr. Kiki Vandeweghe who both served as GMs respectively. Both men gave me a chance to prove myself by doing consultant work after my highschool seasons were done in 2006 and 2007. In the year 2008 Kiki offered me the east coast scouting position which I greatfully accepted.

(Emphasis added)

Note that the "prior relationship" also includes campaign contributions from Bruce Ratner's brother, the eminent civil rights attorney Michael Ratner.