Skilled communicator and emotional manager, Jordi Fernandes (Badalona, ​​December 27, 1982) always speaks in the same straight, calm tone, without excitement, without paying attention to the new head coach. brooklyn nets The emotion of that moment.

However, the Catalan could not help but speak in a decidedly slightly cracked voice at the beginning of his conversation with MD, when he recalled his beloved Badalona and his beginnings in the United States. Joventut At the age of 6, the young man in his twenties died on arrival in America.

At 41 years old, the man who considers himself the NBA’s first Spanish head coach has embraced the responsibility and privilege of building a winning team in Brooklyn after a failed pharaonic project in the heart of New York. have. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden.

As if to metaphorize the beginning of player development with the Cavaliers, Jordi must begin his first experience as a head coach at the bottom and lay the foundation with a young team. champion team. And the Catalan has a good foundation at his disposal to start in an interesting combination of young players like Cam Johnson, Dayron Sharpe and Nic Claxton, and veterans like the World Cup MVP. There is. Dennis Schrader Bojan Bogdanovic and above all ben simmons Still 28 years old and looking for redemption. The Nets will make their debut on the court of the Atlanta Hawks on the 23rd.

Fernandez’s adventure earned him a spot on the NBA bench. After coaching grassroots teams at clubs like Mongat and L’Hospitalet, he spent summers at the Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas starting in 2006, working on player development and paying his own way to return home. mike brownthen coach cleveland cavaliers LeBron James’ manager, who gave the Catalan a chance in the player development department and was drawn to his work ethic and meticulous approach.

Jordi worked alongside LeBron and Irving on the court, coaching with the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate, the Canton Charge (2014-2016), and was part of Ring’s coaching staff from 2016-2022. It became. Active in Denver, Nikola Jokic And in order to build a 2023 championship team, Brown rehired him as Sacramento’s main assistant coach from 2022 to 2024.

The Catalan native reflected a bit on this first experience as an NBA head coach, as well as his current time with the national team. Canadahe used it Badalona They attracted attention by winning the bronze medal at the 2023 World Cup and advancing to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

When you think about that kid who started playing for Joventut in Badalona when he was 6 years old and is now an NBA head coach in the Big Apple, what comes to mind?

In fact, this is a new step in my career. I think so. Because with everything I’ve been through, I don’t think it’s time to stop. I think it’s a good time to be thankful for these advances. Obviously this is special and an honor. It’s an honor to represent Catalan and Spanish basketball, but it’s just one step from now and we’ll keep looking forward. The most important thing for me is to stay. And being successful and enjoying my job and being able to coach a winning team. That’s the important thing, right?

What is the most difficult moment you have had to overcome to reach this position over the years?

I think that was the hardest part, especially in the beginning, because there was a lot of uncertainty. Obviously, you don’t have a very good life, you survive as best you can, and you are in a foreign country far from home, where there is no one, no culture, no language… everything is new is. And I think even the difficult moments in this case are what make you stronger.

There’s a lot more media attention than when I was an assistant coach. That aside, what was the most notable aspect of the head coaching change?

I think everyone needs you and I think that’s the strangest thing. After all, being a coach is a job that I have cultivated in other teams, but at this level the workgroups are so large that you have to cover the whole world and it’s not possible to talk to everyone in a day. Must be able to do so. Today’s base.

Everyone needs to understand how to delegate in a way that makes their role feel important, and there needs to be ongoing communication. Of course, you can’t let weeks go by without talking to everyone. And like it or not, this is not easy because work groups are large, 40 to 50 people. Like I said, it takes a lot of patience, a lot of work, and a lot of communication. That’s not what surprised me the most, but when you get into everyday life, you have to give it importance.

The Brooklyn Nets are a team that is rebuilding. We’ve seen on his teams (Canada and other teams where he was an assistant) that traits like defensive strength and play-generating center role are important. What style of basketball does the Nets play on the court?

It all depends on the virtues of the players. I would say that’s important. Apart from the fact that playing style is determined by workload, effort and intensity level, everything adapts to the group, what type of players are there. , that’s more of a coach’s job. Up to a certain point, I thought this team was going to be a very tough team, a hard team to beat and a hard team to play against, a very dedicated team that was going to be very passionate and operate every day with a clear identity. I can say it. Otherwise, you will have to work on the rest every day.

“The important thing is that we have Ben Simmons who is healthy and physically able to be on the court.”

Ben Simmons is back. He is an attractive player with the versatility to direct the attack like a point guard while also protecting opposing centers in 2.11. As far as you know, how do you hope to utilize that versatility tactically?

The most important thing for him is health. He has had to battle injuries for two years and has not been able to be on the court. The important thing is to have Ben Simmons who is healthy and physically able to be on the court. That being said, he’s a great player, a player who can play a very fast style of play, a very physical player who can rebound, pass and defend a lot of positions defensively. And that’s what he can contribute to our team.

Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith praised him, saying they had never worked so hard in the preseason. It says a lot for an experienced player to talk like this. How did you work to get them to say that?

I think it says a lot more about their competitiveness and work ethic than I would ask of them. I think they’re demanding of each other because they want to fight for position, for time, for their role. That’s their instruction, and outside of the preseason, it’s not that different from what I’ve worked on with any other team I’ve been on, whether it’s the NBA or the national team. And what I can say is, I think this group is working very well, it’s a very dedicated group, and it’s a very competitive group at this point.

Serbian Darko Lajaković is another European head coach in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors and has followed a very similar path to his, starting as a grassroots team coach from the lower ranks without ever becoming a professional player. I’ve been walking.

This will be the first time that the league will have two managers from Europe. Do you think it is possible to create a European style as a chief engineer?

I don’t know what European style means, so I’m not sure if I can answer your question. At the end of the day, it’s the rules of the game that really dictate a lot. What we know is that the NBA is always open to giving you opportunities and it doesn’t matter where you come from. This is another example. Both he and I have worked hard from the beginning. We went through a lot of jobs and were eventually rewarded with a head coaching job. I think it says a lot about the open mentality of this country and this league to bring in outside talent and give them the head coaching job.

The Nets are a team that is rebuilding and that process will take a long time, so there will be criticism and you may be in the spotlight. Are you ready?

Yes, I believe that adversity will come in the end. What I can’t do is think about what adversity is and create that negative energy for myself. At the end of the day, all I have to do is do my job every day, be very positive, and when this adversity comes, deal with it in the best way possible and turn things around. Let’s try to help the group and that’s the most important thing.

That’s not my question and ultimately I have to confront it to the best of my ability. That’s part of my job and responsibility. But I’m more in favor of trying to resolve it as it comes and not trying to think about the negatives that may come.

“Am I ready for criticism? Yes, adversity will come. But I can’t create that negative energy for myself.”

One last thing about Canada. They seem to think he’s qualified to lead the team through the 2028 Los Angeles Games, but have they discussed renewing his contract?

Well, our relationship is very good. This experience has been a very positive one, at least from my side. This was a very important development for me as a first coach and my involvement with them continued in the run up to the Paris Olympics. Now we are in constant communication and waiting to see how the season starts and how far we can go.