All reports indicate that Jordi Fernandez’s tenure as Nets head coach has gotten off to a promising start.
Veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith appreciates the attention to detail Fernandez has shown in early practices. Sophomore forward Noah Clowney appreciates how hands-on Fernandez can be with his on-field instructions. Other young players on the roster look to Fernandez as a coach who can help them unlock certain aspects of their game on both ends of the floor.
“As a young player, you always want to have a coach that believes in development,” sophomore forward Dariq Whitehead said of Fernandez. “Just knowing that we have a coach that comes from the same place we did last year and believes in this process and trusts in this process, knowing that it’s a long haul.”
However, Fernandez has been away from the franchise in recent weeks preparing Team Canada for a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris later this month. He is not expected back in Brooklyn until mid-August.
General manager Sean Marks fully supported Fernandez’s Olympic bid when he was officially hired in April. He believed the more opportunities Fernandez had to hold a notepad, the better, and his position on the situation has not changed.
The chance to coach a national team is a dream come true for Fernandez, as it is for any aspiring head coach. Marks never intended to take that opportunity away from him, but Fernandez’s absence still left the Nets in a somewhat uncomfortable position this summer.
“It’s really weird when you don’t have your head coach,” Whitehead said.
The Nets are trying to create continuity in the team with a new coaching system. That may be difficult without their head coach in the building, even if the situation is temporary. But the franchise seems to have succeeded despite that.
The team has formed a “robust” offseason program for players and relied more on newly hired assistants such as Steve Hetzel, Fernandez’s main man on the bench who currently serves as head coach of the summer league team, and Juwan Howard, whose reputation speaks for itself.
“It’s awesome,” sophomore forward Jalen Wilson said of Hetzel’s leadership in Fernandez’s absence. “His intensity, his attention to detail, I think [he has] “We have everything we need to improve this summer. Since day one, he has been very energetic and wants to help the players improve in all areas: watching videos, on the field. So I think it’s great to have him by our side, to be able to ask him for advice, and the fact that we are coached by him this summer is a great opportunity.”
Howard played 19 seasons in the NBA, won two championships as a player with the Heat, spent six seasons as an assistant under Erik Spoelstra and most recently served as the head coach of the Michigan men’s basketball team. His basketball experience has been an invaluable asset to the Nets so far, as expected.
“I just asked him for his opinion and I saw how smart he is and knows the game,” Whitehead said. “I love talking to him because he’s a really positive guy. He never brings negative energy to practice, even if it’s something he’s experienced outside of practice, you could never tell, he’s always positive and he always pushes us to be the best version of ourselves and he looks at us like we’re his own kids and he’s been coaching us for years. So that’s one thing I respect about him, he always comes in with the right attitude and pushes us to be the best version of ourselves.”
In addition to the contributions of Hetzel, Howard and others, Fernandez has been in constant communication with his staff and remains in sync with remote management. The Nets players will be in good hands until he returns, and until he does, he will continue to stay in the players’ ears in any way possible.
“He texted us the other day,” Whitehead said after practice last Tuesday. “We didn’t have the best practice. He texted us that we had to get it back. He texted us that he watched it and it made for a great practice. He texted us all around 2 or 3 in the morning, I guess they were just finishing practice or something. We came over, we talked about it, we talked about him texting us, and we got it back the next day. So just having a head coach that’s still involved when he’s not physically here is huge for us, especially as a young team.”
