Nets hopeful despite season of ‘failure’

Fifty-loss campaign brings new leadership to Brooklyn

April 17, 2024 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Jordi Fernandez is general manager Sean Marks' choice for head coach after a series of interviews over the past month. AP Photo by David Zalubowski

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The Brooklyn Nets hadn’t lost 50 games since their last non-postseason campaign in 2017-18.

They did so this year, but remain hopeful that better days are ahead.

Especially with the reported hiring of Jordi Fernandez as their new head coach.

ESPN said Monday that Fernandez, the top assistant on Mike Brown’s staff in Sacramento and owner of a plethora of coaching experience on the amateur, international and professional level, was the winner of Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks’ month-long search for a new leader.

Interim coach Kevin Ollie was interviewed for the post, but wasn’t expected to get the top job after guiding the Nets (32-50) to an 11-17 record following the dismissal of Jacque Vaughn at the All-Star break.

“I’ve had an interview with Sean already and then we just go from there,” Ollie revealed to the New York Post.

“It’s out of my control,” he added. “I just love the opportunity to coach this team. It’s been positive feedback I’ve gotten from players, my peers, the coaching staff. So it’s just a wonderful thing.”

Coming off his first year as an assistant at the NBA level, Ollie could be a part of Fernandez’s staff going forward, much the way Vaughn filled in for the Kenny Atkinson in 2020 at the league’s bubble site before giving way to new hire Steve Nash, who he eventually replaced the next season.

Brooklyn players, some unsure of their immediate futures, others sure to be back for another run in 2024-25, didn’t mince words at their exit interviews Monday.

None were willing to go as far as reporting what Adrian Wojnarowski did for the worldwide leader in sports later that afternoon.

However, unrestricted free agent-to-be Nic Claxton was sure Marks had found his man, even if he was unable to provide a name for the media gathered on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

“I think that’ll happen here sooner than later,” said Claxton, who averaged 11.8 points, a team-best 9.9 rebounds and finished tied for sixth in the league with 2.1 blocked shots per contest,

“I just want transparency. Somebody that’s going to keep it real with me, look at me as a man,” added the fifth-year center.

An unrestricted free agent this summer, Nets center Nic Claxton (right) finished tied for sixth in the NBA in blocked shots this season. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer

Though they plummeted to an 8-23 finish under Vaughn after beginning the season 13-10, the Nets did show flashes of improvement under Ollie.

They won a season high-tying three in a row from March 25-29 and went 3-1 on their final homestand before back-to-back losses at New York and Philadelphia to close out the year.

Cam Thomas, who began the season as a reserve, completed the campaign as Brooklyn’s top offensive threat, averaging 22.5 points per game.

The shooting guard led the Nets in scoring in each of their last 10 contests, including a 41-point showing against the Knicks last Friday. He also piled up at least 20 points in nine consecutive contests before managing 18 against the 76ers Sunday.

Thomas is eligible for an extension this summer, something he seemed to fully expect when addressing his status Monday.

“I love it here. I got drafted here, so I’ll always have a place for it,” he noted. “I never really had doubts about playing here.”

Neither does Mikal Bridges, who is signed through the 2025-26 season after arriving here last year via the trade-deadline deal that sent Kevin Durant to Phoenix.

Bridges finished behind Thomas with 19.6 points per contest, but his 43.6% average from the floor was his lowest since his rookie campaign in Phoenix in 2018-19.

The Villanova alum, who has never missed an NCAA or NBA game in his career, was admittedly disappointed following his first full season in Brooklyn.

Not only for the team’s first non-playoff finish in six years, but for his own lack of consistency on the hardwood.

“You could say it was a failure. 100%. It’s tough, you know? Especially seeing the teams that are in there [the playoffs], and you just know the talent we have and things like that,” said Brooklyn’s iron man.

“I don’t think there was any part of my brain that thought that I’d be sitting here talking to you guys like this before this season … You gotta be better. That’s the biggest thing I take from it.”

Mikal Bridges called the Nets’ 50-loss campaign a failure, but he should be back in Brooklyn in 2024-25. AP Photo by Chris Szagola

Fernandez, 41, won’t be eligible to take the reins in Brooklyn until the Kings are eliminated from playoff contention themselves.

Sacramento hosted Golden State Tuesday night with a shot at the No. 8 seed on the line if either can advance and knock off LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, who grabbed the No. 7 spot by beating New Orleans Tuesday.

Previously an NBA assistant in Cleveland and Denver, Fernandez also coached at the international level for Spain and Nigeria before taking the lead role for the Canadian national team in 2023.

A native of Badalona, Spain, Fernandez is serving as Brown’s top assistant in Sacramento, where the Kings made an 18-game improvement last season before bowing out to the Warriors in the opening round of the playoffs.

He will inherit a Brooklyn squad that boasts proven veterans like Thomas, Bridges, Cam Johnson and potentially Claxton and Dorian Finney-Smith as well as up-and-coming talents like rookies Noah Clowney and Jalen Wilson and second-year forward Trendon Watford.

With the NBA Draft slated for June, the Nets have a lot of business to tend to before Fernandez can guide this franchise toward a better future, one owner Joe Tsai hopes will result in our borough’s first major pro sports title since the Dodgers beat the hated Yankees in the 1955 World Series.

If the Kings lose Tuesday night, Fernandez could be hired by Wednesday and be here in Brooklyn by Thursday.

The sooner the better for a Nets team that lost its way in 2023-24, but may have something brighter to look forward to with its new leader.

Whenever he gets here.