Jordi Fernandez is still associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings this morning after the Kings lit the beam last night, a win he helped engineer.
With a defense designed by associate head coach Jordi Fernandez, the Sacramento Kings defeated the Golden State Warriors, 118-94, Tuesday night in the Western Conference play-in. Good news for the home team, but another day’s delay for the Brooklyn Nets announcement that Fernandez will be their next head coach.
The win over the Warriors had the Kings hold Steph Curry to 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting and completely erase Klay Thompson who in what may have been his last game with Golden State shot 0-of-10, including 0-of-6 from deep. It wasn’t just a loss. It was more like a changing of the guard in northern California basketball.
For Fernandez, of course, it must have been a rewarding night. Late Monday night, Adrian Wojnarowski, then others, reported that the 41-year-old would be named Brooklyn’s head coach once the Kings playoff run was over. Now, it’s time for Nets fans to get a good read on Fernandez.
“I’ve known him for 17 years now. I’ve seen his growth. He’s an amazing person. He’s ready for anything, for any head coaching job in the NBA,” Kings head coach Mike Brown said before the Warriors game Tuesday night, careful not to preempt any official announcement. “He’s an amazing person, he’s got a beautiful amazing wife in Kelsey, and two beautiful kids. He’s ready for anything. He’s ready for any head job in the NBA. So whoever gets him would definitely be very, very lucky to have him as their head coach.”
Kings star Donatas Sabonis also talked about Fernandez before the play-in game.
“I mean, you guys see him. In the game, he’s just as much up there with coach [Mike Brown]. So he’s definitely ready,” Sabonis told reporters at Tuesday’s shootaround. “He’s comfortable in his skin.”
“You see Jordi be up just like Mike on the sideline, teaching us, telling us what to do on the defensive end. Some offensive stuff, too,” the veteran shooting guard Malik Monk added Tuesday. “So he’s been a big, big part of everything, man. Like I said he’s the defensive coordinator, coach for us. So he teaches us all our coverages and everything like that. So Jordi’s a big part of what we’ve been doing here.”
Brown and and his players opinions are not unique among those who have known the Spanish-born Fernandez. He is the very definition of a gym rat whose coaching resume’ starts at age 15 in his native Badalona and includes gigs with Sacramento, Denver and Cleveland and time in the G League as head coach of the Cavs’ Canton Charge. Most recently, he was head coach of Team Canada who won the bronze medal last summer, beating Team USA. He’s also been an assistant with the Spanish and Nigerian national teams, two top teams in FIBA.
Indeed, Fernandez had been a top candidate in previous head coaching searches, including the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto and Phoenix just last summer.
Now, though, Fernandez will get his first chance at being a head coach on the biggest stage: New York. He will have a number of challenges, starting with convincing Nic Claxton that Brooklyn is the place to be over the next four years, seeing whether Ben Simmons can finally contribute to the Nets more than two years since he was traded to Brooklyn, getting Cam Thomas to play more defense, further developing Noah Clowney and other kids in the system and restoring the confidence of the “twins,” Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson after a miserable season that left them admittedly burnt-out.
It won’t hurt that Fernandez is just one academic article shy of his Ph.D in sports psychology, as Brian Lewis reports Wednesday.
Fernandez is a maxxed out extrovert in an profession of extroverts. Videos of his huddles, timeouts and post-game celebrations at the FIBA World Cup show a coach who connects with his players but does not mince words, a players’ coach yes, but also a demanding one. It would seem he’s the kind of coach Nic Claxton described as his ideal boss when talking to reporters on Monday.
“I just want transparency, somebody who’s going to keep it real for me, look at me as a man and tell me what the plan would be and go from there,” said Claxton.
There are some in Nets fandom who aren’t happy with Sean Marks hiring another head coach without NBA experience, following the examples of Kenny Atkinson and Steve Nash but if there’s one thing this franchise needs at the moment, it’s a fresh start and a fresh voice and Fernandez would seem to be just that.
- Jordi Fernandez well prepared for his Nets coaching moment: ex-mentors, current players – Brian Lewis – New York Post
- Jordi Fernandez will be tasked with guiding Nets back to postseason – Evan Barnes – Newsday