Trail Blazers News: Beloved Assistant Coach Leaving For East Lottery Team

He'd been with Portland for all three miserable Chauncey Billups seasons.

Jul 17, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Portland Trail Blazers Summer League head coach Steve Hetzel. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Even if Chauncey Billups is apparently sticking around, he'll be without one of his top lieutenants on the Portland Trail Blazers' bench.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, assistant coach Steve Hetzel is ditching Billups' staff to link up with new Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez, after serving under Billups for all three of his lottery-bound seasons in the head gig at Portland.

Steve Hetzel will be joining Jordi Fernandez’s new Brooklyn Nets coaching staff as an assistant, sources tell ESPN. Hetzel spent the past three seasons in Portland with Chauncey Billups after stops under Steve Clifford with Orlando and Charlotte.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 21, 2024

Prior to working for Billups, Hetzel had worked with Steve Clifford on his staffs with the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets. Per Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily, Fernandez once served as an assistant coach under Hetzel while the latter led the 2013-14 vintage of the then-NBA D League's Canton Charge.

The Nets finished well outside the play-in tournament bracket this season under now-former interim head coach Kevin Ollie (Jacque Vaughn was canned midseason). Brooklyn went 32-50 and was the Eastern Conference's No. 11 seed. The club, which would be lottery-bound had it not offloaded its 2024 pick to the Houston Rockets as part of its ill-fated James Harden trade, is looking to return to the postseason mix under Fernandez and co. in 2024-25.

Given how young and undercooked most of the Blazers' core personnel is at present, perhaps Brooklyn makes sense as a next step for Hetzel.

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