The Brooklyn Nets are moving into the next era of their franchise as they hired former Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez to be the head coach going into next season and beyond. Now that Fernandez is set in as the head man moving forward, he hasn’t wasted any time building his staff in preparation for next season.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Apr. 21 that the Nets were hiring former Portland Trail Blazers assistant Steve Hetzel to Fernandez’s staff. Hetzel has been in the NBA for awhile and crossed paths with Fernandez during their G League days together, among other things on his resume.
Fernandez is still putting together his staff as Wojnarowski reported on Friday that former Michigan Wolverines head coach Juwan Howard had agreed to be an assistant coach for Brooklyn. Howard has plenty of coaching experience in various roles as he spent the past five seasons as the head coach for Michigan and was an assistant coach for the Miami Heat in the six seasons before that.
Howard, 51, had his best season as a head coach in the 2020-21 when he won the Associated Press Coach of the Year award as he led the Wolverines to the No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, being the first person to do that as a player and as a coach. During Howard’s six seasons with the Heat, he coached players such as LeBron James and Bam Adebayo.
Howard also had an extensive playing career as he was a key member of the Fab Five at Michigan from 1991 to 1994. Howard, an All-American during his time with the Wolverines, was the fifth overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) and went on to play 20 years in the league.
During his playing career, Howard was a two-time NBA champion (both with Miami), All-Rookie Second-Team, and was an All-Star and Third-Team All-NBA during the 1995-96 campaign. Fernandez’s coaching staff is slowly taking shape and it’s clear that he is valuing experience with the hires of Hetzel and Howard.
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