The Nets signed head coach Jordi Fernandez and his entire coaching staff to multi-year contract extensions on Monday.
“Very grateful (for the job), myself and my family,” Fernandez said last week. “And it’s very special. There’s only 30 jobs in the world; and having one, it’s more than special.
“My goal is not just to keep it, but help the organization with the plan that we have and build success and sustain it. Good things are going to happen in the long run.”
The news – first reported by ESPN, and confirmed by the Post – gives Brooklyn added stability moving forward as they try to move from tanking to building.
It’s a process that even Fernandez has been tougher than he expected.
“You don’t know how you’re going to deal with your emotions until you have to go through it. I remember getting the job and some people were like ‘Oh, it’s going to be hard. It’s not going to be easy’. I always have a positive mindset. I’m like ‘Oh, no, we’ll be OK’. (But) it’s really hard because you want to go out there and win.
“But yeah, those losses and keeping perspective of things isn’t always an easy thing to do. We know we’ve gotten better already in two years…Now we’re ready to take whatever the next step is, and we’re in a better place than we were a year or two years ago. To me, that’s what gives me confidence; I can go coach that next game and I feel supported. And I also feel like when I’m going to make a mistake, I’m going to be challenged, too. So when all those things happen it’s all possible.”
Nets GM Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai hired Fernandez away from Sacramento in 2024 and challenged him to oversee a massive rebuild.
In two seasons, Fernandez has gone 46-118 – though that was for a team clearly tanking, whose fans complained he was winning too much. The Spaniard largely drew praise from league observers over that span.
“You see how they’ve approached every practice, every shootaround, every film session with authenticity and he’s been true to himself the whole year,” said Marks. “With Jordi, it’s his honest approach; that goes a long way with staff and players. You know exactly where you stand, what’s expected of you. He tightropes a fine line of holding guys accountable and loving them at the same time, and not many people can do that and do it really well. That’s something that stood out to me about Jordi and the coaching staff.
“They’ve embraced a competitive culture. Guys know exactly where they stand. But it’s a fun environment. If you talk about players and you end up in a season like this, it’s had its trying moments, without a doubt…So those are the things behind the scenes that don’t necessarily show up on stat sheets. But it definitely bodes well for the long-term approach and the long-term plan.”
That long-term plan will now move from tanking and pure development – with a record five first-round rookies – to at least attempting to win next season.
That will test a different set of coaching chops and in-game management. For example, the call to start Michael Porter Jr. at power forward instead of small forward at the beginning of the season was ill-advised, some Fernandez admits.
“Yeah, I’ve gotten better by making mistakes and realizing I’ve made those mistakes and owning those mistakes from the beginning,” said Fernandez, 43. “I played Michael at the four. I (moved him to) the three and put Noah (Clowney) at the four. Then our defense took off and his play was impressive. So that was my mistake, and I could give you a thousand other mistakes.
“I will keep making mistakes; I’ve just got to make honest mistakes and own them, and all of us keep getting better. So this is what the season is about. Having all those different lineups is not an excuse; it’s part of the journey. Soon enough, we’ll all start having consistency and that’s how you start seeing the change.”
