The Brooklyn Nets will play their first game of the 2024-25 season against the Atlanta Hawks on Oct. 23. First-year head coach Jordi Fernandez is eager to begin his campaign with the team following his impressive stint with the Sacramento Kings. Fernandez is quickly earning respect from Nets players, and one veteran, Dennis Schroder, has a unique perspective on Fernandez's coaching style.
Schroder has competed for Team Germany for years, so understands how some European coaches, including former Spaniard Fernandez, operate. Schroder gave a telling assessment of Fernandez ahead of Brooklyn's regular season start.
“I mean, European coaches are always crazy. I like that though… I’m crazy too, so it matches," Schroder said after a Nets practice, per Erik Slater of ClutchPoints.
Nets fans likely have two reactions to hearing Dennis Schroder's take on Jordi Fernandez. First, fans might think Fernandez's "crazy" style might wreak havoc on the Nets. Brooklyn's players did voice that 2024-25 training camp was one of the toughest some of them had ever been through. Could Fernandez be being a bit too hard on Brooklyn? And could that result in a train wreck? The opposite might be true.
When fans hear how intense Fernandez is, they could take it as a sign that the Nets will be pushed past their limits, which will ultimately help individual players and the team improve. Hopefully, Fernandez's methods will pay off positively.
Jordi Fernandez faces a tall task
Some fans and analysts may believe that Fernandez will have some slack during his first year with the Nets due to the team's rebuilding efforts. However, he must still show that he has what it takes to be a good long-term option for Brooklyn.
Fernandez has expressed his desire to help the Nets maintain good habits, which will be instrumental in their eventual Eastern Conference rise. There is one Nets coach of the past who did not have the highest expectations from outsiders, but through consistency, helped Brooklyn ascend.
Things did not go perfectly when Kenny Atkinson arrived in Brooklyn in 2016. The Nets went 20-62 during Atkinson's first year and 28-54 during his second. Brooklyn had low expectations again in 2018-19, but Atkinson helped the team blow predictions out of the water. The 18-19 Nets finished with a 44-42 record and made the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
One common denominator was that Atkinson always had the Nets playing hard. If Jordi Fernandez instills the same intention in the 2024-25 Brooklyn squad, good things are bound to happen. The on-the-paper results may not come right away, but eventually, the Nets can and will rise under Fernandez's leadership.