Nets coach Jordi Fernandez meets mentor Mike Brown for the 1st time

Jordi Fernandez served as Mike Brown’s associate head coach in Sacramento for 2 seasons before leaving for Brooklyn.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – More than ten years ago, Mike Brown – then coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers – saw a young intern named Jordi Fernandez working with his son, Elijah, at a basketball training program in Las Vegas. As he sat back and watched, Brown was impressed with how Fernandez trained his son.

He noted Fernandez’s patience and ability to make his son feel engaged and take ownership of his training while also learning new things himself. Brown eventually hired Fernandez as a player development coach in 2009, starting the trail for Fernandez, who currently has him in his first year who coaches the Brooklyn Nets.

On Sunday, mentor faced pupil for the first time in Sacramento as Fernandez’s Nets held off the Brown-led Kings 108-103. Fernandez was the Browns’ associate head coach the last two seasons, helping the Kings to a 94-70 record and reach a playoff berth in 2023 for the first time in 16 seasons.

“He’s a mentor, but he’s more than that. He’s like family to me.” Fernandez said before the game. “I wouldn’t be in this position without him. And life is one big circle, right? He was the one who brought me here, and then years later we were back together.”

Fernandez said Brown taught him how to treat people and how to handle a stressful job by focusing on what he believes is best for the team.

“This is a tough enough business that you have to deal with wins and losses – but it’s so emotional when you work for one person. That’s what I’ve learned the most is the way he’s treated people,” said Fernandez.

Brown believes the 41-year-old Fernandez is the perfect fit to lead a young, rebuilding Nets team that entered Sunday with a 6-10 record.

“Going through that process — if that’s what they do — it can be a lot of ups and downs, and so you need a guy who’s going to be steady and have good relationships with everybody, keep your spirits up,” said Brown. .

Fernandez coached the Cavaliers’ G-League team, the Canton Charge, for a few seasons and spent six seasons as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets before moving to Sacramento in 2022. Born and raised in Spain, Fernandez also has coaches the Canadian men’s national teamwhich he led to a bronze medal in the Basketball World Cup last year.

A little more than a month into his first season, Fernandez get buy-in from his players, which is key for a franchise trying to find its identity under a new coach.

“He makes them play really, really, really hard,” Brown said. “They’re doing some good things on both sides of the ball. But I can only imagine the success he’s going to have, especially given some time as they figure out what direction they may or may not want to go.”

Niceties aside, when their teams took the field, both Brown and Fernandez expected their competitive natures to kick in.

“I just want to kick his ass and then give him a hug afterwards,” Brown said lightly.

Fernandez responded: “That’s great. I’ll take the hug. I won’t take the first part. We’ll definitely try to do the same.”