Tag: Brooklyn Nets

A potential Darvin Ham replacement is off the board

Juwan Howard, a man the Lakers wanted to be their head coach two years ago, has been hired by the Nets as an assistant coach.

By now, most fans of the Los Angeles Lakers have turned against head coach Darvin Ham, and it seems as if his players may have turned against him in earnest as well.

There is no indication, at least not yet, that Ham is truly on the hot seat in a real sense, even though his team trails the Denver Nuggets 0-3 in its first-round playoff series. But if he is to be fired, the Lakers would need to conduct a thorough coaching search.

If LeBron James sticks around past this season, they will remain in win-now mode, which means hiring someone who can get the job done right away, even if it would mean hiring another first-time NBA head coach.

Some fans have tossed Juwan Howard’s name as someone who could be a decent choice to replace Ham. But Howard, who was recently fired after five seasons as the University of Michigan’s head coach — is heading to the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach.

The Lakers interviewed Howard two years ago after they fired Frank Vogel. General manager Rob Pelinka was teammates with Howard at Michigan during the early 1990s as part of the school’s famed Fab Five team.

Howard was reportedly L.A.’s first choice to be its next coach at that time, but he turned down its offer.

He will now be a member of new Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez’s staff. The Nets have a young team that includes Mikal Bridges, the two-way wing acquired in last year’s Kevin Durant trade who has since emerged as a borderline star.

Nets rumors: Juwan Howard agrees to be assistant coach

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Friday that the Brooklyn Nets were hiring Juwan Howard as an assistant on Jordi Fernandez’s staff.

The Brooklyn Nets have already taken care of one of their most important tasks for this offseason in hiring Jordi Fernandez as the head coach moving forward. Fernandez is not wasting time building his coaching staff as he has reportedly hired another member of his staff that has some coaching experience as well.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Friday that Juwan Howard, former head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, has agreed to join the Nets as an assistant coach. Based on reports, Howard is the second person hired to Fernandez’s staff after former Portland Trail Blazers assistant Steve Hetzel was reportedly hired on Sunday.

As Wojnarowski points out in his post, Howard has spent the past five seasons as the head coach of the Wolverines, guiding his alma mater to a 87-72 (54.7 winning percentage) record during a stint that also included two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Howard also has some coaching experience in the NBA as he spent six seasons as an assistant for the Miami Heat before coaching at Michigan.

Howard, 51, also played in the NBA from 1994 to 2013, similar to every coach that the Nets have had under general manager Sean Marks with the exception of Kenny Atkinson, who did not play in the NBA, but had a 14-year professional basketball career nonetheless. As a coach, Howard had a huge year in 2021 as he won the Associated Press Coach of the Year award after leading the Wolverines to a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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Nets’ Jordi Fernandez reveals why he’s excited about the roster

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez explained on Wednesday why he’s excited about the roster heading into this offseason.

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez presumably had his pick of which NBA team he could have been the head coach for given his resume. Fernandez will be a head coach in the league for the first time in his career and according to him, there’s a reason he chose Brooklyn.

“The youth excites me. Like I said before, when you have a young roster — and talented — that means that you’re going to have those guys for a long time,” Fernandez said during his introductory press conference on Wednesday. He takes over a team that had a disappointing 32-50 record this past season, but has some exciting, young players such as Cam Thomas and Noah Clowney.

“So, you can develop them and then, they can perform at their best,” Fernandez said about the benefit of having young players on a roster, especially during the kind of rebuild that the Nets are going through right now. “And they’re here with you, so that’s extremely exciting, the flexibility that we’ll have, the resources that we have, right? We have a first class-owner, we have a first class management group, front office.”

Of the players under contract for next season as of this writing, eight of them will be 28 years old or younger at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign. Thomas, 22, led the team in scoring last season, averaging 22.5 points per game for a Brooklyn squad that needed someone to step up on the offensive end to help the team win some games.

Also, towards the end of the season, the Nets saw players like Clowney (19), Jalen Wilson (23), and Trendon Watford (23) have some huge performances for Brooklyn. Free-agency will be interesting for the Nets given that younger players like Watford and Lonnie Walker IV (25) are free-agents this summer.

“So, if you put all that together, I think that that’s a perfect recipe for success. Our roster right now will allow us to do, like I said before, a lot of things, like playing fast — which usually allows you to find the best shot — to be very physical, extremely physical in the regular season. And, obviously, like everybody says, we want to be top-10 offensively, top-10 defensively, and with the roster we have, we’ll be able to do that,” Fernandez said.

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Nets’ Sean Marks gives insight into team’s draft process

Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks gave some insight into the team’s draft philosophy on Wednesday as he spoke to the media.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets are heading into a new era of the franchise as they are moving forward with Jordi Fernandez as the head coach for next season and beyond. While Brooklyn still has to navigate plenty of other matters during this summer, it seems like the franchise has an idea of what to do for the 2024 NBA Draft.

“I think we look at the draft the same way every year, it’s take the best available,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said on Brooklyn’s draft philosophy following Fernandez’s introductory press conference on Wednesday. The Nets currently have no picks in the upcoming draft thanks to their deal with the Houston Rockets in January 2021 that sent James Harden to Brooklyn.

“If there’s somebody in there that, wow, they’re slipping, can we get in there at that particular pick,” Marks said in terms of what may encourage the Nets to get back into the draft. “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. It’s for us this year, it’s gonna be more strategic.”

Brooklyn is coming off a season that saw them finish with a disappointing 32-50 record despite beginning the 2023-24 season with a 13-10 record that made many believe that the Nets could make it back to the playoffs. However, Brooklyn went 19-40 the rest of the way and their first-round pick for this draft is a lottery pick that surely would help this franchise.

This upcoming draft class is viewed as one of the weaker years in recent memory, but being able to add young, cheap talent to a team that is still rebuilding following the breakup of the Big 3 would still be beneficial. The good news for the Nets fanbase is that Marks is not opposed to getting back into this draft if the opportunity is there.

“No, I would not rule out acquiring anything. If there’s a guy there that you like, you’ve gotta have the conviction to go after it and, and go after them,” Marks said.

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Nets’ Sean Marks gives update on Ben Simmons’ recovery

After Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez’s press conference on Wednesday, general manager Sean Marks gave an update on Ben Simmons.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets are moving into a new era of the franchise as they have hired Jordi Fernandez to be the team’s head coach moving forward. Fernandez let his personality shine through during his introductory press conference on Wednesday while general manager Sean Marks had to answer some familiar, tough questions.

“Ben’s down in Miami, rehabbing now from surgery,” Marks said about Ben Simmons after Wednesday’s press conference to introduce Fernandez to the media. The Nets announced on Mar. 14 that Simmons “underwent a successful microscopic partial discectomy” to address the nerve impingement in his back that plagued most of his 2023-24 season.

“All signs point towards him being available for the start of next season,” Marks said of Simmons, which tracks with what the team said back in March in its statement about Simmons’ recovery. “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.”

Simmons, 27, played just 15 games this season as he dealt with a nerve impingement in his back that forced most of his missed games and also limited his effectiveness on the court. Not only has Simmons played just 57 games in the past three seasons, but he has also collected just over $106 million in that time span.

To be fair, when Simmons signed his current five-year, $177 million contract in July 2019, he was coming off a 2018-19 season that saw him make his first All-Star appearance after averaging 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game for the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, it’s safe to say that with Simmons scheduled to earn $40.3 million next season, the Nets need him to be more available and get somewhat close to how he played prior to coming to Brooklyn. “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,” Marks said.

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Nets’ Jordi Fernandez believes Nic Claxton can win DPOY someday

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez is sold on center Nic Claxton to the point that he believes that Claxton will win the DPOY award.

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez was formally introduced to the media on Wednesday after being hired as a head coach in the NBA for the first time in his career. Fernandez will have some time before he has to meet with the team during training camp later this summer, but he is excited about coaching a certain player.

“You just said it, right? Nic (Claxton) is a “big” that has defensive versatility. I believe he’ll be Defensive Player of the Year,” Fernandez said during his introductory press conference about the potential that he sees in Claxton, Brooklyn’s center. Claxton is an unrestricted free-agent this offseason so time will tell if he will be back in Brooklyn for Fernandez to coach in the first place.

“For us, he’s a priority in this summer,” Fernandez explained. “The way we can play through him — obviously he’s great in pick and roll, he’s quick to the rim, he puts pressure on the rim — but also his ability to play the dribble-handoff game which, as you guys know, lately in the NBA is a style that is very efficient.”

Claxton, 25, is coming off a 2023-24 season in which he averaged 11.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 62.9% from the field and 55.1% from the free-throw line. One of the constant themes with the Nets over the past two seasons has been expanding Claxton’s responsibilities given how versatile he is on both ends of the floor.

Fernandez communicating that Claxton is a priority for the Nets this offseason makes it appear like he is on board with Claxton coming back to Brooklyn already and could have been a selling point in Fernandez taking the job. He also sees that leaning into what Claxton can do on both ends of the court can have a positive effect on the rest of the team.

“It helps with ball movement. So when everybody touches the ball and everybody’s involved, everybody’s happier. You’re harder to guard because there’s more — you’re not that predictable to just play pick-and-roll. So he fits perfectly, what we want to do moving forward,” Fernandez said.

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Nets’ Jordi Fernandez discusses opportunity to coach in Brooklyn

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez discussed the opportunity of being a head coach for the first time in his career for the Nets.

NEW YORK — Wednesday marked a special day for the Brooklyn Nets organization as they were finally able to introduce the new head coach of the team: Jordi Fernandez. After much anticipation stemming from reports last week of him winning the job, Fernandez was able to address the media himself.

“It’s the beginning of a new chapter for my family, for myself,” Fernandez said during his introductory press conference on Wednesday at the HSS Training Center. Fernandez comes to the Nets after spending the past two seasons as the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

“What I really loved about the process that I went through to get the job was Joe (Tsai, Brooklyn’s owner) and Sean’s (Marks, Nets general manager) vision,” Fernandez said when asked what stood out to him about the Nets during the interview process. Marks said in a press release on Monday that the search that concluded with the hiring of Fernandez was an “exhaustive” process that took six weeks.

Fernandez has had a unique path as he has been coaching since 2006 with his stint as a player development coach at Impact Basketball being where it all started. Fernandez worked his way up the ladder from player development to where he is now and everything that has happened along the way has prepared him for this next challenge.

“Like Sean said, my experience in the NBA, my journey, starting from player development positions to video, every step of the way, I think that allows me to organize a coaching staff, give a clear message of what process and the structure will be, so we can work with players, I think that is extremely vital,” Fernandez said.

In all, Fernandez will be the fourth head coach for Brooklyn since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. The hope is that Fernandez will stick around for a lot longer than just for a cup of coffee.

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Nets’ head coach Jordi Fernandez to be introduced Wednesday

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez will be formally introduced to the media on Wednesday morning at 11 am ET. Watch on YES.

The Brooklyn Nets are moving into a new era of the franchise as they officially announced the hiring of Jordi Fernandez as head coach. Fernandez, an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings for the past two seasons, will be formally introduced to the media Wednesday morning.

If you are looking to see the press conference for yourself, you can watch either on the YES Network channel or on the YES app. Starting at 11 AM ET, the media will be able to speak to Fernandez and general manager Sean Marks and ask questions surrounding this hire.

Fernandez emerged as the lead candidate for the job last week, but the Nets did not confirm his hire until Monday because the Kings were still in the playoffs until Friday. It appears that Sacramento held their exit interviews on Monday so that appeared to be the right time for Brooklyn to officially confirm the hiring of Fernandez.

Fernandez comes to a Nets franchise that is coming off a disappointing 32-50 season and is very much a team in flux at the moment. Plenty of people who have crossed paths with Fernandez over the years have good things to say about him so he should start off on the right foot.

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges asked Kings’ De’Aaron Fox about Jordi Fernandez

Prior to Wednesday’s introduction of Jordi Fernandez as head coach, Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges asked De’Aaron Fox about him.

The Brooklyn Nets have begun the next era of their franchise after officially announcing the hiring of Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez to lead the team into the future. While Fernandez will be formally introduced to the media on Wednesday morning, there seems to be one player who needed some early intel on the new head coach.

James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com reported on Monday that Nets guard Mikal Bridged reached out to Kings guard De’Aaron Fox for information regarding Fernandez. Fox said this during his exit interview after Sacramento’s season ended on Friday with a 105-98 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference play-in tournament eighth seed game.

It makes sense that Bridges reached out to Fox about Fernandez given that the former Villanova Wildcat has now played for two different head coaches in less than two seasons in Brooklyn. Fernandez will be the third head coach for the Nets since Bridges came to the team at last season’s deadline, succeeding Jacque Vaughn and interim head coach Kevin Ollie.

Fernandez has spent the past two seasons with the Kings and seems to have been crucial to Fox’s development among other things in his role as an assistant coach. During the 2022-23 season, Fox made third-team All-NBA, made the first All-Star appearance of his career, and won Clutch Player of the Year.

While plenty of people that have crossed paths with Fernandez over the course of his career have nothing but good things to say about him, the local New York media will have their chance on Wednesday to get to know what makes Fernandez tick. As that relates to Bridges, he will have to adjust to playing for a new head coach once again, but Fernandez could work wonders for everyone in the franchise.

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Nets’ Lonnie Walker IV not among finalists for Sixth Man award

The NBA announced on Sunday that Brooklyn Nets guard Lonnie Walker IV was not among the finalists for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

The Brooklyn Nets had a disappointing 2023-24 season as the franchise went from a potential playoff team to missing the postseason completely following a 13-10 start to the season. As such, plenty of players saw themselves out of the running for various end-of-season awards that they probably would have been frontrunners for if the season went differently.

On Sunday, the NBA announced on social media via its “X” account all of the finalists for the regular-season awards with the playoffs beginning this past weekend. While it was not surprising, Nets guard Lonnie Walker IV was not among the finalists for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

The finalists were: Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis, and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Naz Reid. The voting results are unknown at the time of this piece, but from the look of it, it seems that there are a few reasons as to why Walker was not a finalist for the accolade.

Walker, 25, averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 42.3% from the field and 38.4% from three-point land in 58 games played. If you lump in Walker’s stats with that of the finalists, he ranks fourth in points per game, rebounds per game, tied for second in assists per game (Portis and Reid also averaged 1.3 assists per contest), fourth in field-goal percentage, and third in three-point percentage.

More to the point, with the Nets finishing with a 32-50 record, all of the finalists’ teams finished with at least 46 wins and were at worst in the play-in tournament. Also, Walker’s play during the second half of the season did not match how he began the year, partly because of a hamstring injury that cost him 17 games.

Through November, Walker averaged 14.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 48.9% from the field and 46.3% from deep. However, he suffered a hamstring injury in a 129-128 loss against the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 30 and missed the following 17 contests with the injury.

Since returning from the injury, Walker was not the same as he averaged just 7.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 38.5% from the field 34.1% from behind the three-point line. The drop in his overall shooting efficiency led to a reduction in his role as well and from there, Walker found his spot within Brooklyn’s rotation to be unstable at best.

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