“We will see results right away because like I said before, this industry is about getting results and getting better,” Fernandez said at the team’s HSS Training Center in Industry City at his introductory press conference.
The 41-year-old native of Baradona, Spain headed the rest of coach Mike Brown’s staff in Sacramento beginning in 2021-22.
The Kings went from 30 wins to 48 in his first season, earning the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and reaching the postseason for the first time since 2006 before bowing out to Golden State in the opening round last April.
Sacramento won 46 games this year, but only earned a spot in the West’s play-in tournament, beating the Warriors in the 9-10 game before losing to New Orleans last week with the No. 8 spot and a first-round series on the line.
That defeat allowed Marks to officially bring Fernandez to our borough after a month-long search that included a reported dozen candidates, including interim coach Kevin Ollie, who went 11-17 down the stretch with a Brooklyn team that waved goodbye to Jacque Vaughn at the All-Star break.
Marks, who has hired and fired the likes of Avery Johnson, P.J. Carlesimo, Jason Kidd, Lionel Hollins, Kenny Atkinson, Steve Nash and Vaughn since the franchise arrived here in 2012, was impressed by Fernandez’s previous coaching experience.
Beyond his six years as an assistant with reigning NBA champion Denver and several campaigns in the player-development department in Cleveland, Fernandez has also worked on the amateur and international level.
He guided Team Canada to its first bronze medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023 as head coach. He also worked with Cleveland’s G-League affiliate in Canton, guiding the Cavs’ young players to a pair of Eastern Conference finals appearances.
“I think something that separates Jordi from a lot of the candidates, we found that he could look at a developmental roster, he could do various different pathways,” Marks intimated…
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