Disappointing at the helm of Canada at the Olympic Games, Jordi Fernandez will become the first Spanish head coach at the start of the school year, and it will be in Brooklyn. Former assistant to Mike Malone and Mike Brown, he was chosen to get the best out of a squad in full reconstruction, and his message was clear to his (young) players: “Play fast… Play together!” Jalen Wilson answers.
“Play fast, but also know what you’re doing”specifies the 2nd year of the Nets. “Situational intelligence, knowing where you are on the court and understanding the defenses that are in place and things like that come into play. But I think the main thing is playing fast, being confident. You don’t want to go out there doubting anything. But everything is full speed ahead and you understand that you have to be aggressive in all areas, whether it’s shooting, dribbling, finding the open teammate, running down the court, sprinting to the corner, all those different things.”
The young players got a taste of it during training before the summer league, and it will be the same for the training camp. “We want to play fast, we want to play hard,” confirms Noah Clowney. “We want to be disruptive. We're going to have to be very good defensively if we're going to have a chance of winning games, and that's the reality. Nobody needs to tell us that. We know that.”
Taking Defense as a Personal Challenge
Like the Magic or the Grizzlies a few years ago, the Nets will lay the foundations and create an identity. There are no stars on the team, and the youngsters know that they will have playing time, but also that they will have to prove themselves to stay in the project in the medium term.
“The coach wants players who dominate the ball carrier, and who take each one-on-one as a personal challenge.” concludes Keon Johnson. “And then you also have to count on the help behind you, knowing that if you try to take over or even if you get beaten, you have guys behind you who will be there. I tell myself that you have to win through defense, because it's something that's close to my heart and I see it every time I have the opportunity to turn on the TV. Seeing how he was able to make plays [le Canada] defensively and putting a system together, I think that will translate to Brooklyn.”
