Why the Nets' rebuild will test new coach Jordi Fernandez
New Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez is introduced during a news conference at the Nets' training facility on April 24, 2024. Credit: Jeff Bachner
When Jordi Fernandez was hired by the Nets in April, general manager Sean Marks raved about one of his new coach’s strong points: player relationships.
“You see how he relates to players . . . the player relationship is huge,” Marks said. “I love the authenticity of who he is. 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.”
Well, Fernandez’s reputation for player development is about to be tested. His first season with the Nets just got more challenging as they’re going into a rebuild after agreeing to trade Mikal Bridges to the Knicks.
Fernandez now must make something out of a roster expected to founder at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. It’s also a roster in limbo, as the Nets reportedly listened to trade offers for Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith around the draft.
Bojan Bogdanovic, who will be arriving in the Bridges trade, is owed $19 million on an expiring contract, so he too could be trade bait. Of course, there’s Ben Simmons’ expiring $40.3 million contract, but that’s harder to trade, given his back issues the past three seasons.
It leaves Fernandez, who started his NBA coaching journey as a player development coach, in a difficult place. How can he improve a roster that could be radically different from when he was hired? How can he build continuity and chemistry if the roster remains in flux up to the trade deadline?
Most important, how will he emphasize developing the Nets’ young players while managing veterans wondering about their future? That’s tough for longtime NBA coaches, much less new ones.
But at the same time, Fernandez enters a situation with less pressure than it had in April.
When he took the job, there might have been expectations to get the Nets back in the playoffs after they missed out for the first time since 2018.
Now? Few expect the Nets to be anything but a lottery-bound team next season, so the focus can be on his strengths. That’s building relationships and working with a team that has six players younger than 24 years old if Trendon Watford accepts the Nets’ qualifying offer.
“The youth is always great, right, because that allows you to have a team for the long run,” Fernandez said in April. “That’s what excites me the most, and to make players better. Our job as coaches is to work with those guys and to take them to the next step.”
Fortunately for the Nets, they have been good at that recently.
Nic Claxton went from a second-round pick in 2019 to a defensive anchor who will sign a $100 million contract this month. Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe were low first-round picks in 2021 who became key contributors by last season. Noah Clowney and Jalen Wilson started last season in the G League and ended their rookie campaign in the Nets’ rotation.
Perhaps it’s why Fernandez emphasized hiring assistant coaches who were former players in some capacity. Adding Juwan Howard appears even more valuable because Howard can speak to players as a 19-year NBA veteran while also knowing how to relate to younger players from his time as Michigan’s head coach.
“Juwan obviously has done [it] at a very high level, and some other coaches that have played at a high level,” Fernandez said last month. “They can still hoop with the guys, and I think that’s important. Because a lot of times you have to connect in different ways, and we have different backgrounds to connect with our guys in a different way.”
With the new collective bargaining agreement last year, developing homegrown talent is more important than bringing in top free agents. The days of luring two top-tier free agents, as the Nets did in 2019, appear long gone.
Time will tell how Fernandez makes the most of this challenge.
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.