Jordi Fernandez officially finished his mission with the Kings this weekend, with the play-in elimination of Sacramento against the Pelicans. Mike Brown's assistant can now be fully invested in his future mission as head coach of the Nets, and he is already starting to put together his staff.
THE first reinforcement should be Steve Hetzel, one of his mentors in Cleveland, where Jordi Fernandez made his NBA debut, as an assistant in charge of player development (2009-2013). He was then promoted to assistant on the staff of Steve Hetzel, then head coach of the Canton Charge, for his first conclusive experience in the G-League, Cleveland having finished in second place in the Eastern Conference in the development league.
We said we'd see each other in 10 years…
The two technicians then continued on their way, each on their own. Jordi Fernandez replaced Steve Hetzel as head coach of the Canton Charge (2014-2016), before joining Denver (2016-2022), then finding Mike Brown in Sacramento. Steve Hetzel took charge of Charlotte (2014-2018), then Orlando (2018-2021) and finally Portland, where he had been working for three years on Chauncey Billups' staff. He also won the Summer League in 2022 with the Blazers.
Ten years after their last collaboration, Jordi Fernandez and Steve Hetzel will meet again in Brooklyn, at the head of a great project to be carried out in the “Big Apple”. Even if nothing has yet been made official by the club.
