The Brooklyn Nets introduced Jordi Fernández as their new head coach on Wednesday morning. Then the fun began.
The Brooklyn Nets introduced Jordi Fernández as the franchise’s new head coach on Wednesday morning, and it was a predictably pleasant affair. There were tons of Catalan and Spanish media to commemorate the introduction of just the eighth foreign-born head coach in NBA history, Fernández’s family was there, a couple of players showed up. You know, the usual.
But it was Sean Marks’ comments to assembled reporters that were most illuminating. Following the main event, Marks spoke to a gaggle of media on the side, which served as his exit interview for the season. (He was plenty busy conducting a coaching search at the true end of the season.)
He was in lockstep with his new hire on the status of Nic Claxton, as both men affirmed the big man’s long-term importance to the Nets, each calling his return from unrestricted free agency the No. 1 priority this summer.
Brooklyn’s GM of eight-plus years then spoke on the status of two injured Nets, the ever-lurking Ben Simmons and Dariq Whitehead, who was putting up shots with Cam Johnson before the presser began.
On Simmons, who is entering the final year of his contract, Marks confirmed Simmons is “down in Miami, rehabbing now from surgery. All signs point towards him being available for the start of next season. With Ben it’s very unfortunate, we looked like we were a completely different team when Ben was healthy out there. So it’s paramount that we get him back and we get him healthy. And I think Ben wants it just as much, if not more than anybody else. But time will, time will tell on him and how he progresses through summer. There’s no reason to think he won’t be though.”
On Whitehead, a 2023 first-round draft pick: “Dariq should play in summer league, should be available in summer league. Whether or not he plays the entire summer league or not, that’ll be TBD. But the plan right now is he’s in the gym every day.”
And speaking of the draft, Marks did not rule out trading to acquire a pick this June in the next two months. In fact, he mentioned — unprompted — that the front office’s focus will now be on the draft, adding in a bit of a surprise that he would not rule out trading for a first-rounder:
“I think we look at the draft the same way every year. It’s take the best available. If there’s somebody in there that, wow, they’re slipping, can we get in there at that particular pick? That would be important. For us just to go and say, ‘Hey, we, we got the 20th pick, we got the 44th pick,’ that doesn’t do us any good. For us this year, it’s gonna be more strategic.”
However, Marks is heading into the 2024 NBA Draft without two of his long-time trusted sidekicks. Jeff Peterson, Brooklyn’s former assistant GM, is now the executive VP of basketball operations for the Charlotte Hornets, and he took Ryan Gisriel, another leading Nets executive with him down south…
Our new EVP of Basketball Operations has landed at the Hive. Welcome to Buzz City, Jeff Peterson! #LetsFly35 pic.twitter.com/iH8gaVZILU
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) March 5, 2024
“I couldn’t be happier for Jeff and Ryan,” said Marks, later touching on the topic of replacing the two: “I think it’s always important to have a best-available list. Whether you’re looking at players or whether you’re looking at staff. So, we look at maybe who’s out there and who we could potentially bring in, but also our own staff here. I think some of our guys have done a terrific job. In terms of just simply drafting, I mean, you want to take B.J. Johnson. B.J. runs our draft and has done so for the last several years. So, there’ll be more pressure and more responsibility placed on several of the guys in-house here.”
Whether that’s a potential promotion for Johnson, currently a director of player evaluation, or just more responsibility remains to be seen. Regardless, Marks has options when it comes to his immediate support staff.
Further down the line, the Kiwi admitted he “can’t talk about any other assistants just yet,” outside of Steve Hetzel, a well-traveled assistant coach and Fernández associate set to be second-in-command in Brooklyn. And though it is worth noting that long-time Brooklyn assistant Will Weaver was in attendance on Wednesday morning along with Corey Vinson and Adam Caporn, the only other coach Marks commented on was Kevin Ollie:
“Kevin was a candidate the entire way. So Kevin went through the whole process with us. So I appreciate what Kevin did. Never an easy job to come in there and not have a training camp and so forth and inherit the team that he did and try to put his fingerprints all over. So I give him that heck of a lot of credit without a doubt. He’s a head coach. We wish, obviously, Kevin nothing but the best for that.”
But as you’d expect, Marks circled back to the man he did hire for the job. He cited the rising star’s ability to connect with players, above all:
“The player relationship is huge. You heard him talk about that, but I love the authenticity of who he is. This is who he is, you know; he’s not trying to be somebody he’s not. He’s very poised. He comes across with an incredible amount of care and graciousness. And then at the same time, he’s able to hold guys accountable, have honest hard conversations with guys. And we know that because of the due diligence which was done on him talking to whether it was ex-players, teammates, coaches, you name it from all over the place.”
Ultimately, Sean Marks and the Brooklyn Nets got their guy. And while Fernández said he expects to see results “right away,” whether that’s wins and losses or a shift in the culture. Still, not everything is different. Marks closed the day by addressing Nets fans directly, and it’s a message they’ve heard before.
“I think the message to the fans is a level of competitiveness. They’re gonna see a team out there that’s gonna compete on a nightly basis. I think the fans got behind a group in the early days here that they weren’t household names, but they came in and they brought it every single night. I think that’s important. Fans got behind the stars as well. So, we can take a variety of different pathways. We have to be prudent, patient, systematic with who we go after, when we go after them, and just make sure we do it the right way.”
This is an eerily familiar message to not just last season, but much of the Sean Marks tenure, which has produced explosive potential but largely underwhelming results. Will a new head honcho be the change Nets fans have been waiting for? Only time will tell.