Jordi Fernandez

New York Notes: McBride, Towns, Claxton, Fernandez

October 28th, 2024 at 8:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Miles McBride is a player development success story for the Knicks and has a chance to be the team’s first Sixth Man of the Year in more than a decade, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. The fourth-year guard didn’t play much in his first two seasons, but he got coach Tom Thibodeau’s attention by improving his game behind the scenes. He emerged as a rotation member last season and has become a vital part of the second unit following the team’s offseason moves.

“From the front office down to the coaching staff and my teammates, there has been a lot of belief in me,” McBride said. “It gives me a lot of confidence to go out there and do what I do.”

After trading RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto last year, New York signed McBride to a three-year, $13MM extension that’s turning out to be a team-friendly contract. Edwards notes that the organization’s faith in McBride made it easier to part with Donte DiVincenzo last month in the deal for Karl-Anthony Towns.

“Every time he was called upon, he was ready,” Thibodeau said. “I think it was a byproduct of the work ethic. When he went down to the G League, he played really well. Anytime he was thrust into the rotation, he played really well in those situations.”

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Towns appreciates having more chances to play in front of his family after the Knicks acquired him from Minnesota, per Ethan Sears of The New York Post. His father still coaches in New Jersey at the school where Towns once played. “It’s special to be around family more often,” Towns said. “My niece and nephew being able to be at more of my games and being able to see them grow up on my off-days. It’s really special. Definitely special to be back home.”
Nic Claxton is still coming off the Nets‘ bench after missing the preseason with a hamstring injury, but he looks close to reclaiming his starting job, observes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Claxton played a season-high 22 minutes Sunday night, helping to control Giannis Antetokounmpo while posting 10 points, 11 boards and two blocks. “I’m still finding [my rhythm]. I’m still finding it,” Claxton said. “It’s gonna take some time. But I felt better today being out there just helping out trying to just make something positive happen on every single possession. And I did that.”
The Nets gave Jordi Fernandez his first win as an NBA head coach on Sunday, Lewis adds in a separate story. It was extra special because his family flew in from Spain to watch the game. “You have to enjoy this moment, because there’s only one time that you’re the head coach when you win a [first] game,” he said. “On the other hand, I also feel like what’s the next step, and we’ve got to move on to the next thing. I want to be in this league, I want to be with this club for a long time.”

Nets Notes: Claxton, Finney-Smith, Johnson, Milton, Fernandez

October 19th, 2024 at 9:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

Several Nets players sat out Friday’s preseason finale, but the team expects Nic Claxton and Dorian Finney-Smith to be ready when the season tips off Wednesday in Atlanta, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Claxton has been dealing with hamstring soreness, and coach Jordi Fernandez has been careful not to overextend him throughout the preseason.

“Nic is close. We’re still aiming for the first game of the season,” Fernandez said. “He’s done a good job. He’s working hard. So we expect him to play the season opener.”

Finney-Smith was held out after landing on his back on a collision in Wednesday’s game, but his coach doesn’t believe it will affect his status for opening night.

“Hard fall. Nothing serious. Just precaution,” Fernandez said. “He’s one of the guys that he still would go and run through the wall, and you’ve got to tell him to rest because his body is sore.”

Day’Ron Sharpe remains sidelined with a strained left hamstring and Bojan Bogdanovic is still recovering from offseason surgeries on his left foot and wrist. They both missed the entire preseason, and Lewis says neither one is close to returning.

There’s more from Brooklyn:

Cameron Johnson displayed his versatility this week, handing out six assists while running the offense out of the high post in Wednesday’s game and then scoring 32 points in 32 minutes on Friday, Lewis adds in the same piece. “I expect to do it all season,” Johnson said. “I think interchangeability is what we’re looking for.”
The Nets need to find a reliable backup point guard for nights when Dennis Schröder and Ben Simmons aren’t both available, Lewis states in a separate story. One option is Shake Milton, who was acquired from New York in the Mikal Bridges trade and has been given a chance to run the offense during the preseason. “Not really an adjustment at all,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been doing that since I got in the league, being on the ball and off the ball, so being able to do whatever the team needs me to do is honestly more important. That’s just how you’re able to create opportunities, whether it’s on the ball and creating for myself or others or off the ball, getting aggressive, just whatever needs to be done.”
Fernandez is focused on building relationships in his first season as an NBA head coach. He explains his philosophy to Lewis in another piece for the New York Post.

Atlantic Notes: George, Nets, Walsh, Raptors

October 15th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Discussing Paul George‘s hyperextended knee on Tuesday, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told reporters that “everything checks out OK” so far. Nurse added the team will do imaging later in the day and confirmed that George won’t be active for Wednesday’s preseason contest vs. Brooklyn, tweets Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports.

After completing an MRI on George’s injured knee, the 76ers announced that he has been diagnosed with a bone bruise, according to Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports, who tweets that the imaging showed no structural damage. The team intends to reevaluate the star forward in approximately one week.

It’s good news for the Sixers and for George, who avoided a more serious injury. However, it remains to be seen whether or not Philadelphia’s top offseason addition will be ready to go when the club’s regular season tips off in eight days vs. the Bucks.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Veteran Nets players have said this month’s training camp is the toughest they’ve ever experienced, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. While first-time head coach Jordi Fernandez has focused on conditioning work and demanded high intensity in team scrimmages, he credits the players for fostering that environment. “The ones that are making it competitive, hard, physical and challenging are the players,” Fernandez said on Monday. “Obviously, my demands are to work extremely hard, to be a good teammate, to build relationships, to compete, to get one percent better, so on and so forth. … But the guys are buying into it, and they’re fighting for their opportunities, their spots, their roles.”
Second-year forward Jordan Walsh continued a strong preseason on Sunday with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of action in the Celtics‘ win over Toronto. Head coach Joe Mazzulla said he’s “really proud of (the) growth” he’s seen from Walsh this fall and spoke about the specific areas where the 20-year-old has made strides. “Just having an understanding of what his job is,” Mazzulla said, per Brian Robb of MassLive.com. “Defend at a high level, defend multiple positions, rebound, and then make reads on the offensive end.”
The Raptors lost games over to the weekend to Washington and to a Boston team resting its stars, but there were a few bright spots, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Big man Chris Boucher is having a strong preseason, as is third-year wing Ochai Agbaji, who figures to start on opening night due to RJ Barrett‘s shoulder injury. Newcomer Davion Mitchell, starting in place of Immanuel Quickley, has also made a case for a regular season role, Koreen notes — while defense is his calling card, Mitchell has done a very good job taking care of the ball on offense this preseason, with 14 assists and no turnovers in three games.
In case you missed it, we rounded up several Knicks-related notes earlier this afternoon.

Atlantic Notes: Fernandez, Barrett, Shead, Sixers’ Wings

October 7th, 2024 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

New Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has established a rugged tone in training camp, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes.

“Probably one of the most unique, and hardest training camps I’ve been through in these 12 years now,” guard Dennis Schröder said. “Like it, though, so far. Everybody’s buying into it. Coach and coaches are doing a great job of keeping us organized and together. It’s been great.”

Forward Dorian Finney-Smith shared similar thoughts on the first week of camp.

“We’re going to be well-conditioned,” Finney-Smith said. “The people I talk to around the league, they all had great things to say about him, so I knew what to expect. I heard he was a hard worker and he’d want us to compete. That’s what he’s been asking us.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

RJ Barrett didn’t play in the second half of the Raptors’ preseason game against Washington on Sunday due to a bruised right shoulder, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet. Prior to the injury, Barrett scored 17 points in 14 minutes. He’ll be reevaluated early this week.
Second-round pick Jamal Shead showed off his defensive skills in the same game. He matched up against fellow rookie Carlton Carrington, who missed all six of his shots and committed three turnovers. “Me and him have a little bit of a history, he got the best of me in a pre-draft workout,” Shead told Grange. “So I had to come out and make it as hard as possible … he’s going to be really good, but I had to give him a taste of NBA-ready defense.”
The Sixers have a lot of versatility, especially at the wing spots, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes. They are projected to start three wing players in Paul George, Caleb Martin, and Kelly Oubre. They also have options coming off the bench in Eric Gordon, Ricky Council IV, and KJ Martin. “I like to be super versatile, and you got to be able to shift people all over the place,” coach Nick Nurse said. “We do have a lot more in the middle that we can shift around.”

Nets Notes: Thomas, Simmons, Bogdanovic, Core, Barrett

September 27th, 2024 at 9:38am CST by Luke Adams

Cam Thomas took a big step forward as a scorer last season, increasing his points per game from 10.6 in 2022/23 to 22.5 in ’23/24 without a significant dip in efficiency — his .554 TS% last season was only a tick below his .567 mark from the year before.

With Mikal Bridges no longer in Brooklyn, Thomas figures to take on even more offensive responsibilities in his fourth NBA season, and new Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez told reporters on Thursday that he’s looking forward to helping Thomas take on that challenge.

“Development is the No. 1 thing. For everybody, not just the young guys, but also the veterans. Everybody has to get better, there has to be a plan,” Fernandez said, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “And my conversations with Cam are ‘Can I help you be more efficient of a scorer?’ If you look at his numbers, the less he dribbles, the more efficient he is. Like, to the top of the NBA. It’s impressive.

“His superpower is to score the ball, and what we need to do is to help him do that, but in an efficient way. Same as his play-making, because he attracts so much attention, teams are going to try to blitz him, load to him, how he can kick that and create more assists. It’s on me and the rest of the coaching staff to help him, and we believe he can take that next step.”

Thomas, who is entering the final year of his rookie scale contract, is eligible to sign an extension at any time up until October 21. If he doesn’t sign a new deal by that point, he’ll be on track for restricted free agency in 2025.

According to Lewis, the Nets aren’t believed to have engaged in contract negotiations yet with either Thomas or Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams, who are also extension-eligible. General manager Sean Marks didn’t get into specifics when asked about the possibility of new deals for one or more of those players.

“In terms of extension talks, there are several guys on our team that we could be having those same conversations with. So we’ll certainly engage with agents and the players,” Marks said. “It’s important to always have that door open. The window will certainly close on the extension if we can’t get something done, but it’s important for those players to know we care about them, and here’s where we see them, whether the timing is right this year or if it’s next offseason from an organizational standpoint and also from their standpoint.”

We have more on the Nets:

The Nets confirmed on Thursday that Ben Simmons – who underwent back surgery earlier this year – has been cleared for the start of training camp, as his agent recently announced. However, veteran forward Bojan Bogdanovic will be unavailable as he continues to recover after undergoing offseason surgeries on his left foot and wrist, Lewis writes for The New York Post. Although Bogdanovic was essentially just a salary-matching piece in the Bridges trade with the Knicks, he’s not believed to have had any discussions with Brooklyn about a buyout, Lewis notes.
Making sure Simmons is fully healthy will be the Nets’ top priority for the former No. 1 overall pick, new head coach Jordi Fernandez said on Thursday, per Erik Slater of ClutchPoints. As long as Simmons can stay off the injured list, Fernandez is optimistic about how the three-time All-Star will fit in his scheme. “We wanna play fast. He’s still one of the best play-makers to be able to do that,” Fernandez said. “If you can play fast, touch the paint, move the ball, reverse the ball, all that stuff, Ben really fits all that. Now, are playing like this because of Ben? No. We’re playing like that because that’s the style of play we want for our team.”
Although the Nets can’t realistically have championship aspirations in 2024/25, Marks observed on Thursday that it will be an important year for determining which of the team’s current players can be part of the long-term core. “For me, myself, from the front office side, we’re looking at it from, ‘Who are the next Nets?'” Marks told reporters, including Evan Barnes of Newsday (subscriber link). “Who do we look at and say, OK, this person can be part of this rebuild and this person is on the team for the next two, three years. That’s going to be important for us.”
NetsDaily has a full transcript of Marks’ and Fernandez’s comments from Thursday’s press conference.
Jordan Greene of NetsDaily spoke to Bronx native Andre Barrett, who was hired by the Nets as a scout this summer, about his new position, how he ended up in Brooklyn, and his thoughts on the team’s offseason moves.

Nets Notes: Fernandez, Nash, Bogdanovic, Nicholas

August 24th, 2024 at 11:54am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Nets brought in a rookie head coach this offseason in Jordi Fernandez. Fernandez is known for his defensive coaching abilities and player development, but as Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes in a subscriber-only article, he’s planning to increase the offensive tempo for his team.

“I think the main part is playing fast, playing confident,” Jalen Wilson said of Fernandez’s coaching philosophy. “Not being out there settling and not being unsure of anything. But everything at full speed and understanding that you’ve got to attack in everything … whether it’s shooting, dribbling, finding the open teammate, running down the floor sprinting to the corner, those different things.”

The Nets pivoted into a full-fledged rebuild this offseason by moving Mikal Bridges, and they’ll extend minutes to their younger players like Wilson, Noah Clowney, Day’Ron Sharpe, Cam Thomas and more.

“We want to play fast, want to play hard,” Clowney said. “We want to be disruptive. We know we’ve got to be a great defensive team if we want any shot at winning games, and that’s just the reality of it. Nobody’s got to sugarcoat that for us. We understand that.”

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Speaking to reporters ahead of Goran Dragic‘s farewell game, former Nets head coach Steve Nash spoke on his Brooklyn experience, per Eurohoops.net. Nash said the opportunity in Brooklyn was a unique situation but that he didn’t see himself on the bench long-term. “Coaching was a great experience, [but] I didn’t want to be a career coach,” Nash said. “I don’t think coaching was about to be my career.“
Four months after requiring wrist surgery, Bojan Bogdanovic is set to be a part of an exhibition game on Sept. 5 in Croatia in honor of Drazen Petrovic. Both Bogdanovic and Petrovic played for the Croatian national team and for the Nets. As Net Income of NetsDaily observes, Bogdanovic’s participation in the event is an indication that he’ll be ready to go for training camp this fall.
The Nets have hired Drew Nicholas to their scouting department, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Nicholas was the director of scouting for the Nuggets over the past two years.

Olympic Notes: Durant, Embiid, Australia, Ingles, Mills, Canada

August 6th, 2024 at 7:58pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Kevin Durant became the highest scorer in USA Basketball history during Team USA’s 122-87 quarterfinal win over Brazil on Tuesday, surpassing Lisa Leslie‘s 488 career points, The Athletic’s Joe Vardon observes. Durant finished with 11 points against Brazil and is trying to become the first men’s player ever to win four gold medals.

“I mean, that’s Captain America status,” teammate Devin Booker said of Durant (Twitter link via NJ.com’s Adam Zagoria). “I feel like he has every record, every Olympic record, now we have to get him his fourth gold.”

We have more from the Olympics:

Joel Embiid had his best game of the Olympics against Brazil, scoring 14 points and seven rebounds. In the same Athletic article, Vardon notes that Embiid rolled his ankle and was held out of the second half. Given that the U.S. was already up big, Embiid being held out seems mostly precautionary. Bam Adebayo started the second half in his place.
Australia’s 2024 Olympics ended on a turnover and now the Boomers are entering a new era filled with unknowns and looming decisions, ESPN’s Olgun Uluc writes. The team will likely continue to pass the torch to its younger players, including Dyson Daniels and Jack McVeigh, who emerged this summer as key pieces, while it seems likely that Joe Ingles and Patty Mills have played in their last Olympics. We wrote more earlier on Tuesday about what could have been Mills’ final game this summer. “It was up to us to get him that ultimate goal of a gold medal,” teammate Josh Giddey said of Mills, per The Athletic’s David Aldridge. “Whether it’s his last or not, he’s poured so much into this program. His legacy will never, ever be forgotten within this country and this tournament. You talk about FIBA Patty — one of the greatest to ever do it in these types of tournaments. We’re very, very lucky to play with him. I am, as well.“
Other issues Australia needs to address in the coming years include mending relationships with players and determining the next coach, Uluc writes. Uluc points to Matisse Thybulle, who was cut from the Olympic team but could help down the line. Other players the team should be welcoming with open arms include youngsters Johnny Furphy, Rocco Zikarsky, Alex Toohey and Tyrese Proctor, Uluc writes. With Brian Goorjian out as head coach, Australia may turn to assistant Matt Nielsen.
Canada national team and Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez took the blame for his country’s loss in the quarterfinals loss to France, per Eurohoops.net. “I will always support my players. Personally, I put this one on me because I should have helped them better,” Fernandez said. “Better with two ball handlers. Better with getting better shots. Better with playing with better pace. And I couldn’t find a way. It starts with me, then we’ll come back strong.” It’s a disappointing loss for a Canadian team that brought back the majority of the same squad who won bronze in the World Cup a year ago but also added Jamal Murray and Andrew Nembhard, among others. Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes that the team’s inexperience on the international stage was on full display in its loss to France.

Nets Notes: Fernandez, Bridges, Okoro, Training Staff

August 3rd, 2024 at 9:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jordi Fernandez spent 15 years working on NBA staffs and in the G League before the Nets gave him his first head coaching opportunity in April. In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Fernandez speculates that his experience as head coach of the Canadian national team gave him an edge in Brooklyn’s hiring process.

“Everybody says that they value the G League experience, which I think was amazing,” he said. “And for me it was a big part of why I kept developing. But coaching Canada and qualifying for the Olympics, it was the last push to be a head coach in the NBA and I’ll always be thankful for the opportunity. But also thankful for these guys, how hard they play. They are the ones that qualified. They are the ones that got a medal, so I obviously benefited from it.”

The Olympic obligations have prevented Fernandez from concentrating full-time on his new job, but he tells Spears they haven’t been a major distraction. He says Nets officials have been “super supportive” about his Olympic duties, and he was able to monitor Summer League games and practices by watching film. He’ll be able to devote his full attention to the team once the medal round in Paris wraps up next weekend.

“I’ve been calling and texting the (Nets) players,” Fernandez said. “I talked to Dennis (Schröder). Talked to the young guys. I talked to (Trendon) Watford. We just we got him back on the team, which we were very happy about. It takes time to build relationships, but they’ve been responsive and they’ve been awesome.”

There’s more on the Nets:

Also in the interview, Fernandez addresses the fact that the team he expected to coach changed significantly when Brooklyn traded Mikal Bridges to the Knicks in June. Fernandez said he supports the deal, which brought back Bojan Bogdanovic, Mamadi Diakite, Shake Milton and a large collection of draft assets, signifying that the Nets are fully moving into a rebuilding stage. “It was one of the avenues that we’ve had in mind and how we wanted to do things,” Fernandez said. “Obviously, he’s an amazing player and have a lot of respect for him. Every good trade has to be a win-win. And this is one avenue that we were contemplating. I’m very excited because I know that we can build something more special.”
Despite speculation earlier this week, it doesn’t look like the Nets are in position to acquire Isaac Okoro from the Cavaliers, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports said on the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast (hat tip to Sports Illustrated). Cleveland was rumored to be considering a sign-and-trade deal involving Dorian Finney-Smith. “I don’t think those talks got really, really substantial to my understanding,” Fischer said. “I just don’t think it can even happen right now after the salary stuff has all shifted out.”
Jonathan Felipe, the Nets’ head trainer, and Les Gelis, director of sports medicine (injury management) and co-head of the performance team, won’t be returning for the upcoming season, according to NetsDaily (Twitter links).

Olympic Notes: Ivey, Deng, Embiid, Fernandez

August 3rd, 2024 at 8:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

South Sudan’s remarkable run to the Olympics ended Saturday with a loss to Serbia, but the small nation plans to be a power on the international basketball scene for years to come, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. South Sudan gained its independence 11 years ago and didn’t participate in its first AfroBasket tournament until 2021. It earned a spot in last year’s FIBA World Cup, where it qualified for the Olympics by finishing 17th, the highest of any African country.

The most significant names in building South Sudanese basketball are former NBA players Luol Deng, who financed and oversaw the creation of the team, and Royal Ivey, who serves as head coach. Ivey, an assistant with the Rockets, compares the experience, which included a victory over Puerto Rico in the team’s Olympic debut, to being in a movie.

“A lot of hard work, togetherness, commitment from the president to bring these guys together,” he said. “There were a lot of years where we weren’t productive. [Three] years ago, we were at AfroBasket. I didn’t have the same amount of talent. I was able to conjugate all this talent and now we’re rolling. We’ve got a style of play and it’s been fun.”

Ivey admits that building a competitive program hasn’t been easy given the limitations in South Sudan. There are no indoor basketball courts in the country, so his team had to train in Rwanda, which meant long plane rides and flight delays, but the experience brought the team closer.

“These guys are brothers. It’s a band of brothers,” Ivey said. “It’s a togetherness. They play cards together. They play dominoes together. We eat together. It’s communal. Guys love each other. When guys are doing wrong, we hold guys accountable. That’s what real team is. And that’s what real family is. That’s what family looks like, South Sudan.”

There’s more from Paris:

Deng was incensed after Saturday’s loss, pointing to a disparity in foul calls that resulted in a 31-6 free throw advantage for Serbia, relays Sam Amick of The Athletic. Deng also objected to the fact that there’s only one referee from Africa among the Olympics’ 30-person officiating crew. “I don’t know why there (are) no African referees in the Olympics,” he said. “It’s 2024. I don’t know what’s the reason for that. You can say whatever you want to say, but if we’re representing the continent then we’ve got to be representing it fully.”
Joel Embiid has been getting booed throughout the Olympics because he opted to play for Team USA rather than France, but he explained to reporters, including Joe Vardon of The Athletic, that familiarity with his American teammates played an important role in his choice. “It was a tough decision, but it is all about comfort level, and like I said, I’ve known these guys (Team USA players) for a long time and I just felt more comfortable than on the other side (France),” Embiid said. “There was some concern with the other side. Comfort level was huge. I always say I’m going to be where I’m wanted and these guys wanted me.”
Canadian head coach Jordi Fernandez talked to Marc J. Spears of Andscape about the experience of trying to bring the country its first Olympic basketball medal. “The support has been unbelievable and these guys deserve it,” Fernandez said. “The program needs it. All I can say is thanks because we’ve been very supported by the country. And basketball now is one of the fastest growing pro sports in Canada.”

Nets Notes: Clowney, Bridges, Fernandez, Training Camp

July 27th, 2024 at 10:26am CST by Dana Gauruder

Noah Clowney displayed in the Las Vegas Summer League that he’s ready for an expanded role. The second-year Nets forward averaged 13.8 points, 1.6 blocks and 1.4 steals per game and made 39% of his 3-point attempts, Brian Lewis of the New York Post notes. He’s also got the kind of shot-blocking skills to make him a dual threat alongside Nic Claxton.

“I liked the way Noah played,” said Steve Hetzel, who coached the Nets in Vegas. “When we talked about growth and learning, the physicality of it — it was his birthday (on July 14), so he’s still a young man — he’s done a great job in the weight room, but he’s going to continue to get stronger. So it’s going to come with time.”

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Mikal Bridges flopped in his role as a leader last season, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post (subscription required). Via his sources, Bondy reported that Bridges internalized the team’s struggles and became overwhelmed by the responsibility. He was neither the communicator nor the confident alpha the Nets needed from their best player, Bondy adds.
New Nets coach Jordi Fernandez is busy coaching Team Canada in the Olympics. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch believes he’ll thrive in that role. “It was a home-run hire (for Canada). … Sometimes in the national team game, less is more,” Finch told The Athletic’s Eric Koreen. “And I think he’s got great emotional intelligence to figure that out.”
The Nets will hold part of their training camp in California, Lewis writes. Brooklyn, which will play the Clippers in San Diego during the preseason, did the same thing three years ago.

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