Jordi Fernandez’s first comments to reporters since his introductory press conference came at a clinic for local kids.
It was fitting, as the new Nets head coach made his name in player development, and his staff doubles down on that.
A nine-man coaching staff with a developmental bent — but no former NBA head coach to help steady the first-timer — shows where the Nets are in their rebuild and what they’re focusing on going into next season.
“Right now, I feel like we have that energy that the guys need because if we bring the energy as a coaching staff, players have no choice [but to do the same],” said Fernandez, 41. “And that’s what we’re going to do every single day, and getting 1 percent better every day, which is going to take us into getting better every week, every month.
“And [across] 82 regular-season games, it’s very important. And I have a lot of guys who have a lot of experience in player development and guys that can still play, former players that have won everything. So I’m very confident that we have the best group for what we’re trying to do, and I’m very excited about the process.”
Fernandez was speaking at a basketball clinic at Charles O. Dewey Middle School in Brooklyn.
While Monday was lighthearted work with middle-schoolers — teaching them the value of “sweat equity” — Fernandez is just starting the real work of fixing a team that went just 32-50 last season.
He’s already visited Ben Simmons in Miami, and his players have started voluntary workouts.
The Nets ended last season as the league’s seventh-youngest team, with two of the four youngest players in the NBA.
While they might hesitate to use the word “rebuild,” the composition of Fernandez’s staff implies it.
Fernandez added assistants Steve Hetzel, Juwan Howard, Deividas Dulkys, Connor Griffin and Travis Bader to holdovers Jay Hernandez, Adam Caporn, Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Corey Vinson on a high-energy, development-heavy group.
“The common thread is bringing energy on the court, a lot of player development-oriented coaches, and also coaches with a lot of experience as players,” Fernandez said. “I was not a professional player, so it’s important that we have enough guys that’ve done it. Juwan, obviously, has done at a very high level, and some other coaches that have played at a high level, and they can still hoop with the guys. That’s important.”
Several have been G-League head coaches, and Howard is a former All-Star who coached Michigan.
But what the staff lacks is a former NBA head coach to help Fernandez the way Steve Nash had first Mike D’Antoni and then Steve Clifford.
“Yeah, I think everything is valid. All coaches are valuable. We decided as an organization — with the front office and myself — to build the coaching staff in this way because we feel that’s what fits myself and what we’re trying to do better,” Fernandez said. “Making players better is important.
“There’s no better player development in the world than playing real minutes. And we value real minutes, not just in the NBA but also the G-League. And we have all the resources we need to help our guys get better. But at the end of the day, we’re going to value team success over everything else. So it’s gonna be a clear message from the beginning; we’re gonna expect these guys to work really hard every day.”
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