Tag: Jordi Fernandez

Nets’ Jordi Fernandez reacts to being hired as head coach

After his hiring was made official on Monday, Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez gave a statement on how he feels about the position.

The Brooklyn Nets have begun the first part of their crucial offseason as they are now able to make the hiring of Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez as head coach official. Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai issued their statements on Fernandez and now, Fernandez can finally explain how he feels about becoming a first-time head coach in the NBA.

“I am truly grateful to lead the Nets as head coach and cannot thank Joe, Clara and Sean enough for this exciting and humbling opportunity,” Fernandez said in his statement in a press release by the Nets on Monday. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Apr. 15 that Brooklyn was expected to hire Fernandez, but the hiring was not made official because the Kings were in the Western Conference play-in tournament at the time.

“My family and I are thrilled to join such an incredible organization and become part of the vibrant Brooklyn community,” Fernandez continued in his statement. “I am eager to get to work with this talented group of players and collectively drive our team forward.”

As Marks said in his statement, the search for a new head coach took “six weeks” and was an exhaustive search given how many candidates were in contention for the position.

Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported on Apr. 5 that Fernandez was amongst the top candidates if Brooklyn decided to start over with a young head coach while Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Apr. 13 that Fernandez “emerged” among the finalists for the job.

CJ Holmes of the New York Daily News wrote a feature on Fernandez that published on Apr. 18 that showed how various people that he has come across over the course of his coaching career feel about him, with most testimonials overwhelmingly positive.

Fernandez has a reputation around the NBA as a player’s coach and a guy who cares about putting the team above himself. “Together, we will be fully committed to building something special for Nets fans and the borough to be proud of for years to come,” Fernandez said.

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Nets officially announce hire of Jordi Fernandez as head coach

The Brooklyn Nets officially announced the hiring of Jordi Fernandez as head coach on Monday, confirming prior reports.

The Brooklyn Nets are in the middle of an important offseason for their franchise as they look to make enough improvements to make it back to the playoffs next season. While Brooklyn has plenty of matters they have to address this summer, the franchise was finally able to make an important decision official.

The Nets made the hiring of Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez as head coach of the team official on Monday after media and fans alike had to wait for some time for the news to be confirmed.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Apr. 15 that Brooklyn was expected to hire Fernandez as the head coach, but given that Fernandez’s Kings were in the playoffs at the time, Brooklyn couldn’t officially announced the hire until Sacramento was eliminated from postseason contention.

The Kings won their first game of the Western Conference play-in tournament on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors 118-94, but lost at the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference eighth seed play-in game on Friday 105-98, ending their hopes of getting to the playoffs this season.

Fernandez will be the 24th head coach in the Nets’ franchise history and per team policy, the team has not released the terms of the contract. In the context of foreign NBA head coaches, those who are either of a different nationality than American or were born somewhere other than America, Fernandez will be one of four current head coaches that fit that category.

The other three head coaches are: Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr (born in Lebanon), Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka (Nigerian), and Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic (Serbian). In addition to that, Fernandez will be the first head coach in NBA history to have been born in Spain.

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Nets could be getting a huge difference-maker in Jordi Fernandez

With the Brooklyn Nets expected to hire Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez, here’s what some people have said about him.

The Brooklyn Nets are only in the beginning of their offseason following a disappointing 2023-24 season in which the team did not meet its own goal of making the postseason. One of the main areas for Brooklyn to address was who would be their head coach for next season and they took care of that quickly.

As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported earlier this week, the Nets are expected to hire Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez to be their head coach moving forward. Fernandez has been one of the bigger names in the NBA in terms of guys who could be getting their first head-coaching job soon and plenty of people in the NBA have something to say about Fernandez.

CJ Holmes of the New York Daily News recently wrote a feature on Fernandez in which he gave a lot of background information on Fernandez as well as testimonials from some of the people that Fernandez has come across during his coaching career. All of the following quotes will be from Holmes’ piece as all of the people have spoken to the NYDN for the story.

“He just has a really good feel for people. He can read a room very carefully. He has incredible relationships with the players, can really relate to them, and I believe that with what I know about him as a person,” Joe Abunassar of IMPACT Basketball said of Fernandez’s people skills. Fernandez spent some time with Abunassar while he was a coach at the Impact Basketball Academy from 2006 to 2009.

“He’s ready for anything. He’s ready for any head job in the NBA. So, whoever gets him will be very, very lucky to have him as their head coach,” Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown said of Fernandez. Fernandez became the associate head coach of the Kings heading into the 2022-23 season and has been working with Brown for the past two seasons.

Sacramento is now out of the playoffs after losing in the eighth place game on Friday at the New Orleans Pelicans so a formal announcement of Fernandez being Brooklyn’s head coach is expected any day now. Once that announcement is made, Nets fans can be happy knowing that Fernandez is spoken highly of from plenty of people throughout his journey to get to this point.

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Report: Nets expected to hire Jordi Fernandez as head coach

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Brooklyn Nets have zeroed in on Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez to be the next head coach.

The Brooklyn Nets have been without a permanent head coach since Jacque Vaughn was fired during the All-Star break with a 21-33 record. After two months of the team being led by interim head coach Kevin Ollie, Brooklyn has found its coach to lead the team next season.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Monday that the Nets are expected to hire Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez as their head coach, per his sources. This is not too surprising given that Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported in recent weeks that Fernandez was expected to be one of the candidates for the job.

More to the point, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Saturday that Fernandez was among the finalists for Brooklyn’s head coach position, along with former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young. In somewhat of an upset, Fernandez wins the job amongst a pool of impressive candidates.

Fernandez, 41, has been coaching since 2006 as he has had stops with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Canton Charge of the G League, Denver Nuggets, and the head coach of the Canadian men’s basketball team. The Kings are the ninth seed in the Western Conference and will be hosting the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday so Fernandez could be done as a member of Sacramento’s coaching staff soon.

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Canada’s FIBA coach raves about professionalism of Dillon Brooks

Jordi Fernandez, Canada’s FIBA coach, on Dillon Brooks: “He is a superb professional. Inside the locker room, he connects with his teammates, everyone respects him.”

In the NBA, the career of veteran forward Dillon Brooks has become known at least in part for antics, such as the feud with LeBron James in last season’s playoffs. But in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, where Brooks was a standout for third-place Canada, the value of Brooks’ defense and on-court play far exceeded any drawbacks.

For the Houston Rockets, who signed Brooks in July, the hope is that FIBA level of play carries over into the 2023-24 NBA season.

In an interview with Toni Canyameras from Mundo Deportivo, Jordi Fernandez — head coach of Canada’s men’s basketball national team — raved about Brooks’ contributions.

Among his comments (translated by BasketNews.com):

(He’s) excellent. He is nothing more than a normal person who comes in and is very professional. He takes good care of himself (and does) all the work to be 100% ready to play. His work in the gym, the things he does on his own — he is a superb professional.

Inside the locker room, he connects with his teammates, everyone respects him. He is like the rest of the group, he is nothing out of this world. He is one of the best competitors I have ever seen, and on the entire court, not only defensively, where he has superpowers, but he’s shown offensively that he can not only score but also be efficient with the quality of the shots.

“He came with the spirit of working and doing what was necessary for the team and the national team, (he came in) to have a good time and enjoy the experience,” Fernandez said of Brooks.

“In the end, he’s been improving as a player,” Fernandez concluded. “I have only very positive words for him at all levels: offensively, defensively, as a player, worker, teammate. I’ve tried to get to know him and establish a good relationship. This is a very beautiful and coachable group, and when you establish this connection and relationships, there are positive moments.”

Next up for Brooks is training camp with the 2023-24 Rockets, which begins in Houston during the first week of October.

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Canada’s World Cup coach applauds defensive clinic by Dillon Brooks

“Dillon [Brooks] put on a defensive clinic, and it should be in a FIBA museum at some point,” says Jordi Fernandez, head coach of Canada’s national team.

On both ends of the court, and particularly on defense, Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks has made quite an impression with his play for Canada in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Brooks was a force, yet again, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals win over Slovenia, which sent Canada into Friday’s semifinal versus Serbia. Brooks spent significant time covering Slovenia’s Luka Doncic, a superstar with the rival Dallas Mavericks, and helped limit the perennial NBA MVP contender to 8-of-20 shooting (40.0%).

Jordi Fernandez, head coach of Canada’s men’s basketball national team, was blunt in his assessment of Brooks’ showing versus Slovenia. Aris Barkas of EuroHoops.net captured his comments from Manila:

I think yesterday we did a great job as a team defensively, and especially Dillon put on a defensive clinic. It should be in a FIBA museum at some point.

Complete video of Fernandez’ comments is available below. As for what’s next, the tip of Friday’s semifinal between Canada and Serbia is 3:45 a.m. Central, with the game televised on ESPN+.

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Moneke also admitted that the Kings …

Moneke also admitted that the Kings coach Jordi Fernandez influenced his move to Sacramento. Moneke, Fernandez, and Kings head coach Mike Brown were part of the Nigeria national team last year. “In the morning of the Champions League final, I woke up, and there was one missed call from the night. It was Mike,” Moneke recalled. “I called him back, and he told me he would be the Kings coach and wanted me to be a part of it. It was surreal to hear that.”

“But my agent told me it was going to …

“But my agent told me it was going to happen. Brown brought the two assistant coaches from Nigeria, and I had a great relationship with them. The reason I came to Manresa is Jordi Fernandez. I have a close relationship with him, and he is the biggest reason it happened this time, too,” Moneke added. Asked about his upcoming role with the Kings, Moneke admitted that he doesn’t think too much about it and wants to earn everything. “I have to get there and just be who I am,” said Moneke. “I do not want anyone to give me anything, I want to work for it. When I get there, I will start training and prove that I belong. I will not be afraid of anyone. I will find my way in rotation.”