Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordy Fernandez is set to become the next head coach of the Canadian men’s national basketball team, according to multiple reports Tuesday. ESPN first reported the news. Here’s what you need to know:
- Fernandez replaces Nick Nurse, who has coached Team Canada since 2019.
- Fernandez is coming off his first season with the Kings after serving as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets (2016-2022) and player development coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers (2009-2013).
- He also spent time on the coaching staff of the Spanish and Nigerian national teams.
- Last season, Fernandez became the first Spanish coach to win an NBA game with a 124-123 victory over the Toronto Raptors after firing coach Mike Brown.
the athleteInstant Analysis:
Why did this happen?
In the end, Nurse’s continued coaching of the men’s team was going to be very difficult once the Raptors fired him. Canada Basketball uses the Raptors’ facilities, including the OVO Athletic Center to house training camp, in preparation for several major events. This is the likely plan for this summer’s World Cup.
It would have been strange and intolerable for a nurse to wander into his old workplace for a few weeks, even if both sides said they would continue to work together after the nurse left. Add in a new Nurse job with Philadelphia, which will require more summer work than a return with the Raptors, and the relationship no longer serves either party. – grow up
Who is Fernandez, what does this job look like?
Fernandez is the assistant head coach under Brown, with whom he also worked on the Nigerian men’s team. Fernandez has also worked with the Spanish Under-19 National Team, as well as the Nuggets and Cavaliers. He interviewed several teams, including the Raptors, for head coaching openers in the offseason.
He’s captured a country with one of the world’s deepest pools of NBA talent, even though the program hasn’t qualified for the Olympics since 2000. Shay Gilgos-Alexander is likely to lead Canada this summer, with Jamaal Murray likely as well. Canada must finish first among the two best teams in the Americas at the World Cup in order to qualify for the Paris Olympics. – grow up
What Canada loses in the absence of the nurse
There was no indication that Nurse’s tenure with Team Canada would end before his contract expired, during the 2024 Olympics. Even after being fired by the Raptors, Team Canada released a statement confirming Nurse’s role in coaching the national team.
Also, it was the nurse who helped put in place a strict and different culture of accountability in the team. The Canadians were required to commit over the next three summers, and Nurse (and the Team Canada staff) wrestled commitments from huge names like Murray, Gilgos Alexander, RJ Barrett, and so on.
Nurse was so entwined with Team Canada that he sent his Raptors assistant coaches to coach the national team through a World Cup playoff tournament during the NBA season. The Raptors had a game in Cleveland that same night! So this is a pretty massive shift. – Vardon
Fernandez brings
As for Fernandez, he was raised in NBA circles as he worked as a low-level assistant on LeBron James’ Cleveland first teams. He has a lot of league and international experience, one thing is for sure: he will be treated better by the Canadians than he was by the Nigerians.
Fernandez, Brown’s assistant in Sacramento and with Team Nigeria during the Tokyo Games, was caught up in a major mismanagement of travel plans by Nigerian officials which I wrote about in late 2021-2022. It was a nightmare, in which he didn’t have a hotel room or credentials even to coach matches, even though he was Brown’s top assistant.
Now, Fernandez has a deep, strong roster full of NBA talent and a well-funded and better-organized NGO.
The Canada-trained Nurse made them a formidable threat to win the World Cup. I don’t think Fernandez is a huge drop, and it’s a great opportunity for him to further show he’s ready for a major NBA position. – Vardon
(Photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)