Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown acknowledged Brooklyn’s performance after Friday’s 93-92 road win at Barclays Center. “Give Brooklyn a lot of credit. I thought they came out and they were extremely physical from the beginning of the game throughout the whole game and it impacted us and start with Jordi on down. Jordi outcoached me,” Brown said.
Brian Lewis: Jordi Fernandez on if Michael Porter Jr. could play this season: "So, 2 or 3 weeks and then obviously there's a ramp up to go back to a competition level. We cannot predict but it'll be close. So we're going to go through these 2, 3 weeks, put the work in and then we'll see where we are." #Nets
Mike Brown when Cavs hired Jordi Fernandez: I told him, I said, "Hey, look, if there's nothing that you have to do for Elijah or Cameron, then you come down to the practice facility. You can sit in our meetings. You can watch practice. Now, you won't be able to coach or anything because you're not an employee of the Cavaliers, but I do have the ability to allow you in our meetings and practices." Fast forward on one of the days right before the season started. Somebody comes in and says, "Hey, such and such here. Need somebody to work him out. There are no coaches." Jordi was sitting in my office. So I said, "Jordi, go work him out." Danny Ferry comes busting in my office. “Who's that coach working with our player?!” And I was just like, "Oh Danny, I should have ran this by you." And he goes, “The guy's great." And I said, "He is?" I said, "Yeah, he's great." Then he's like, "Do you want to hire him?" Literally just like this. And I was like, "Hell yes, I need to hire him." Then he goes, "Okay, cool." I was like, "Okay, great." And that's how he got hired in the NBA.
Erik Slater: Jordi Fernandez’s response to Cam Thomas saying that the Nets "don't believe in nobody": “We wish Cam the best. We loved him while he was here. We hope that he does very well where he is. I don’t know if he has the right to speak about others. We’re happy with the guys we have here. I believe that everybody here can help us with what we have planned.”
Jordi Fernandez’s response to Cam Thomas saying that the Nets "don't believe in nobody":
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) March 5, 2026
“We wish Cam the best. We loved him while he was here. We hope that he does very well where he is. I don’t know if he has the right to speak about others. We’re happy with the guys we have… pic.twitter.com/ES95emmrdE
“We were not connected,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “When you’re always a half-second late or not talking when you’re supposed to, it’s really hard to win a game [trying to] just show up and do it. It’s the NBA. A game just went by and didn’t really take the advantage as a group. “We find some positives in development. But I want a more connected group because we can grow a lot more. Every time you compete as a group, you develop each player … and every time we don’t compete, that development is slower.”
Advertisement
Jordi Fernandez: "I think the NBA doesn’t care about your passport. They care about what you bring to the game—what makes you different, what your superpower is. That’s what matters. Europeans are taught the game differently—we focus more on reads, playing in twos and threes, and multi-positional play. Then you look at the American system, where the skill level, athleticism, and competitiveness are elite. It's not that one is better than the other—they're just different approaches. When you mix both styles, that’s when you get the best results. And it’s exciting to see all these paths and experiences coming together. The NBA game evolves every year, and that evolution is one of the most exciting things about the league."
Thomas – who was the Nets’ leading scorer last season, and had been a fixture in the starting lineup – has been a reserve ever since returning from another hamstring injury on Dec. 27. He came off the bench for a tenth straight appearance on Sunday, logging 23:58; and Fernandez said his playing time isn’t about to increase. “Yeah, right now we’re happy where he is, with the minutes he’s playing with the production, being that willing playmaker; because we know how good he is scoring the basketball, and taking those steps defensively,” Fernandez said before the Nets’ 124-102 loss in Chicago. “Right now we’re happy where he is. We need him to stay in those minutes a little longer because I, we, just believe what’s most important right now is his body, and (how) his body reacts. And we’re gonna be cautious with that.”
The tanking Nets — deep into a youth movement — got spanked by the venerable Clippers 121-105 on Friday at Barclays Center. With a record five first-round rookies — all but one of whom played — the Nets learned some valuable lessons against Los Angeles. They just weren’t easy ones. “The reality is you can explain the game plan, but until you don’t go through it, that’s how you learn,” said Jordi Fernández. “Those minutes were very valuable because you see those guys and sometimes you guard and you’re like ‘Oh, that was good defense.’ But for us, because we’ve seen them do it, it’s like that’s not good defense because they’re going to keep scoring, because they’ve done it all their careers and they’re going to keep doing it. So it’s good. That’s how you learn.”
Brian Lewis: Jordi Fernandez on Michael Porter Jr. being motivated vs. the #Nuggets that traded him: "If I'm in his shoes, I'll be very excited to play this game. I have no doubt in my mind he's going to go out & perform on both ends. So it's an exciting day for for all of us, especially for him." #Nets
Advertisement
![“[After] the shorter stints, I try to keep watching …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/1243725.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
“Yeah, one thing we know is Day’Ron is going to play extremely hard. And you know going from the minutes he’s played to pretty much 30 minutes, you know your body has to adjust to that,” coach Jordi Fernández. “So it’s a great opportunity for him to play those minutes. But also being careful with that. “[After] the shorter stints, I try to keep watching how he’s reacted. And rebounding — nine. I still think he could have got more and a little more efficient, but I really, really liked how hard he played, how engaged he was and how he took advantage of the opportunity. So, very proud of him.”
“The lessons come every day, especially against a good defensive team,” Fernández said of Dëmin after the game. “The 3-point line looked good, but his decisiveness and ability to touch the paint to create assists could have been better. And now he’ll watch film, and he’s always very good with that. “He has high expectations for himself and I’m gonna say the same, I want that 3-point shooting percentage and aggressiveness the same, but I want better setups. I want more paint touches. I want more assists. I want more physicality in both ends. He’s gonna try to do his best. That’s a good thing about our young guys. They have high expectations for themselves and they show up the next day and work.”
Cam Thomas is finally making his Nets return. But he’s coming back to a different Nets team. And he’s going to have to change with it. After nearly eight weeks out with a hamstring strain, Thomas is back practicing and is slated to play Saturday at the Timberwolves. It will be the 24-year-old guard’s first appearance since getting hurt on Nov. 5 at Indiana. “He’s expected to play,” said Nets coach Jordi Fernandez. “No pressure … He’s done a good job getting himself back into shape and healthy. And we just want to see his superpowers out there. So, no pressure for him to have to do too much: Just be yourself and help the team compete and go get a win.”
A long-armed swarming defense and egalitarian quick-passing offense hunting open 3-pointers has been the order of the day, and it’s worked. And Thomas — who has thrived on iso ball and feasted in the midrange — will adjust to it. “Yeah, last year before he got hurt, we still played like (that), not just shooting 3s but finding the open shot; and he was great at finding those shots. I just want him to balance his scoring ability with his playmaking ability,” said Fernandez. “That means that he’s creating not just points for himself, but points for others. And if he does that, it’s what the team needs from him. “I’ve seen it before he got hurt … Last year the game at Chicago and at Cleveland, he had outstanding games where he scored at a high level but also assisted at a high level. So, that’s what I want from CT: To impact the game at every single level. I want him to be solid defensively, a good defender, a great playmaker, and a great efficient scorer. He’s more than capable to do all those three things. If he doesn’t, then I’m going to have to sit down with him and try to help them get there.”