“It’s not the X’s and the O’s, however the Jimmys and the Joes.”
— Texas coach Darrell Royal
Earlier than Jordi Fernandez turned Nets head coach, he was thought-about the NBA’s greatest assistant coach. And much more than methods or techniques, it was about his capability to speak and construct relationships.
Or to paraphrase Royal, it was much less about Fernandez’s performs and extra about his gamers.
Particularly, not his capability to recruit them like Royal did, however his capability to succeed in them.
And that’s beginning to present this preseason.
“Nice man. He has an ideal understanding of the job of teaching,” Cam Johnson stated. “You may inform that in his quick time, he’s been in a position to develop relationships sufficient to get on us and to push us, and we all know he has our greatest pursuits at coronary heart. He’s very detail-oriented, so I recognize that. … [He] holds us to a excessive commonplace, and that accountability is one thing we want. I believe we’re on the right track.”
As quickly as Brooklyn employed Fernandez, Cavaliers normal supervisor Mike Gansey — his former boss — instructed The Put up about his relationship-building talent.
Earlier than Friday’s preseason finale — a 116-112 loss to Toronto — his gamers backed up that declare, regardless of the Spaniard being very demanding and at instances blunt.
However thus far, Fernandez has been in a position to get them to take powerful teaching.
Whether or not that’s as a result of he’s only one paper in need of his PhD in sports activities psychology or it’s as a result of he’s a European coach (they’re identified to be direct),
Johnson stated it’s doubtless just a little of each however extra the previous.
“I believe that [PhD] is massive. In teaching, particularly in skilled sports activities, there’s a really massive administration a part of it,” Johnson stated. “It’s not nearly X’s and O’s. It’s not nearly what you recognize. It’s about the way you’re in a position to talk along with your gamers and relate to your gamers and get the most effective out of them. He simply has an ideal understanding of that. I believe that’s the place that comes from.”
Fernandez left the PhD program on the College of Barcelona to take an unpaid internship with the Cavaliers and jump-start his teaching profession in 2009.
However he nonetheless has a level in sports activities sciences and analysis on human conduct. He hasn’t thrown away what he discovered however used it to make himself a greater coach.
It was clear that at instances, predecessor Jacque Vaughn struggled to get on the identical web page with Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas proper from coaching camp final season.
Whereas Bridges is gone, Fernandez has given Thomas a mandate to be extra environment friendly offensively, challenged spindly Noah Clowney to be extra bodily and demanded higher protection from Shake Milton.
And thus far, they haven’t chafed.
“Properly, I believe it’s simply that. The place we begin is enjoying exhausting, enjoying exhausting for ourselves, so for those who’re not doing that, [Fernandez] goes to convey you out,” Milton stated. “Expectation-wise, he stated, no one’s given something. It’s important to earn it. It’s important to work for it.”
A yr in the past, GMs voted Fernandez the highest assistant within the league.
Requested how his communication is totally different now, he talked about constructing belief and alignment along with his assistants.
“Once you’re an assistant, you need to make your head coach’s life higher. No matter he’s saying, you need to have his again,” Fernandez stated. “Clearly behind closed doorways, you’re gonna problem the group, you’re gonna problem the top coach if you need to, however crucial factor is you’ll assist him. Proper now, I’m the one making the selections or asking the teaching workers, and we’ll make these choices collectively. Then we’ll get on the market with the gamers.
“I would like everyone to have my again. That assist is essential to construct that belief and loyalty between the top coach and the assistants, after which the gamers can really feel it. There’s nobody method to do issues on this life. There’s lots of methods. However if you resolve to go a method and everyone pushes in the identical course, good issues occur. That’s the best way that I need to see it proper at this second.”
