Nets' Jordi Fernandez Talks Transition From Spain to NBA
After spending years as an assistant, Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez is in his first season managing an NBA roster. The Spanish coach has helped Brooklyn somewhat exceed expectations so far, with the Nets holding a 10-15 record.
Brooklyn sits at the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference in a season where everyone thought the team would be near dead last. Fernandez recently interviewed with New York Post columnist Steve Serby and spoke about the transition from Spain to the NBA.
Fernandez talked about how tough it was to leave Spain to come to the NBA. He focused his career as an assistant in player development, starting at the Impact Basketball Academy in 2006.
"This is a very competitive country," Fernandez said. "In this country it feels like if you get fired you don’t get paid. In Spain, it’s like if you work for a company and then you get unemployment. Right here it’s like cutthroat."
"The NBA it feels like it’s times a hundred, or a thousand, because there’s only 30 jobs in the world, right? There’s only 30 teams. Video coordinators, there’s 30, assistant video coordinators, there’s 30. That was the beginning of my journey here. It was probably challenging because uncertainty... I was doing something that I completely loved, so I didn’t care as much, but I didn’t know how much I would miss my parents and my friends."
It's obvious that professional sports in Europe are extremely different from the United States, and Fernandez acknowledges that. However, he's been doing a great job in Brooklyn so far, building a culture and continuing to emphasize player development and culture, even as a head coach.
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