Nets to hire Jordi Fernandez as next head coach
The Brooklyn Nets are planning to hire current Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez as the team’s next head coach, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Monday.
This is a great hire for Brooklyn, who fired head coach Jacque Vaughn during the All-Star break after going 64-65 (.496) in two seasons. Interim head coach Kevin Ollie went 11-17 over the team’s final 28 games.
Fernandez, 41, has been the Kings’ top assistant for the last two years after spending six with the Denver Nuggets. He has been a fast-rising candidate, interviewing for the Hornets job this offseason after previously interviewing for the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns coaching vacancies last offseason.
Fernandez was hired as Team Canada’s head coach last June, helping lead them to their first medal (bronze) in their FIBA Tournament history and will be coaching in his first Olympics this upcoming summer.
Those of us who have not been head coaches in the NBA, in the end, it is also important that they see you in that role, wherever it may be,” he said last year, according to EFE. “I have had the privilege of doing it in the G League, now in a World Cup, and soon in the Olympic Games.
“This will eventually come: being in a hurry never helps, and I have no anxiety about being a head coach.”
His only other head coach stop professionally came in the G-League, when he was the head man for the Canton Charge–the Cleveland Cavaliers’ affiliate–for two seasons (2014-16), going a combined 62-38 (.620).
After trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, respectively, for a group of players headlined by Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, the Nets haven’t showcased much direction. They went 32-50 this year and don’t possess their first-round pick; general manager Sean Marks will remain in charge (for now), but there needs to be a clear direction that Fernandez can guide on the court if this team wants to go anywhere over the 3-4 seasons.
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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates!
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