Brooklyn Basketball held a youth clinic inside a hot, humble gym at Charles O. Dewey Middle School on Monday morning. Those in attendance caught a glimpse at what Jordi Fernandez’s tenure as Nets head coach may be like.
Fernandez, leading a workout for dozens of middle schoolers, was hands-on in his approach. He not only told kids what to do through calm, direct instruction, but also laced up his own sneakers and showed them each action on the court.
“You want to exercise, demonstrate and you do it together,” Fernandez said in his first community appearance since being named Nets head coach. “And if you’re not very good at it, you show it and you tell them that it’s okay. You just got to work at it.”
The clinic, which focused on basketball fundamentals, leadership and other key intangibles, lasted for about an hour. Fernandez and the Brooklyn Basketball staff stressed the importance of hard work and sacrifice — while still having fun throughout the process.
“Sweat equity” was a term Fernandez and staffers used often during the workout. Basically, it means putting work behind closed doors in pursuit of a goal, even if the fruits of that labor are not reaped until much later down the road.
A great deal of sweat equity will be needed for the Nets next season after going 32-50 in 2023-24 and missing the playoffs. There was plenty of it inside the gym on Monday morning. Expect more of it when Fernandez leads Brooklyn into training camp this fall.
According to Fernandez, voluntary workouts for Nets players have already begun.
“You’ll see me running, you’ll see all my coaches running and, like I said before, sweat equity for us is important,” Fernandez said. “Players can feel it and that’s how you start building.”
Fernandez’s nine-man coaching staff was finalized last week, and it is among the largest in the NBA. Steve Hetzel, Juwan Howard, Deividas Dulkys, Connor Griffin and Travis Bader will serve as assistant coaches, while Jay Hernandez, Adam Caporn, Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Corey Vinson will round out the rest of the bench.
Speaking to reporters following Monday’s clinic, Fernandez said it was important for him to build his staff out with coaches of different backgrounds and timelines. Above all, he wanted coaches who could bring high levels of energy to the hardwood each day.
“Because if we bring the energy as a coaching staff, players have no choice,” Fernandez said. “And that’s what we’re going to do every single day and getting 1% better every day, which is going to take us into getting better every week, every month, and as you guys know, [across] 82 regular-season games, it’s very important.”
There was a common thread among Fernandez’s coaching selections: player development. Hetzel, Howard, Dulkys and Griffin all boast strong experience in that regard. And Howard, a 19-year NBA veteran who won two championships with the Miami Heat, has more playing experience than most.
Howard is clearly the most recognizable name of the bunch. While Fernandez did not have a strong relationship with Howard prior to arriving in Brooklyn, he said the former forward’s insight was invaluable, which made him a must-hire.
“It’s important that we have enough guys that have done it,” Fernandez said. “Juwan obviously has done at a very high level, and some other coaches that have played at a high level, and they can still hoop with the guys; and I think that’s important. Because a lot of times you have to connect in different ways, and we have – like I said – different backgrounds to connect with our guys in a different way.
“We decided as an organization — especially with the front office and myself — to build the coaching staff in this way, because we feel that’s what fits myself, and what we’re trying to do better… But there’s no better player development in the world than playing real minutes. And we value real minutes, not just in the NBA but also in the G League.”