Sean Marks needs Jordi Fernandez to succeed at his job and Jordi Fernandez needs Sean Marks to succeed as his as well.
There are those in the Brooklyn Nets diverse fan base who think they can detect a sliver of light between the head coach and general manager in terms of how the team should approach this season, with Jordi Fernandez more focused on winning, the short term, and Sean Marks looking down the road in hopes of building “sustainable” success.
Not so, says Marks in an exclusive interview with Brian Lewis. Both men, he says, understand the road ahead and how to reach the common goal.
“Well, I look at the coaching staff and the front office — that relationship and that dynamic — as a partnership,” Marks told The Post. “It’s not something where I’m telling you what to do and you go and do it, or vice versa. This is something that I should rely on them, because at the end of the day their experiences and their interactions with players — whether it’s from other teams or just being on the court — they’re up close. I’m not in the foxhole down on the court with them.
“So it would behoove me to talk to them and rely on their input. And I think, one, it’s being honest right off the get-go at the start of the season. And even before that when Jordi signed up. I mean, Jordi and I had heart-to-hearts of ‘hey, look, we’re going to build this and this is how we’re going to build it. We want to be a partnership together on this.’ So he’s been nothing but fantastic in that realm.”
By almost any measure, Fernandez has done better than anticipated as Lewis wrote in summing up the challenges he’s faced in his first year in the head job.
Fernandez has had a fantastic start to his Brooklyn tenure, despite a 13-22 mark. The rookie coach has exceeded expectations in roster management, and the organization would be wise to heed his input on whom to keep, whom to move and whom to pursue.
The Nets were universally projected by every sportsbook to have a final win total in the teens. But they’ve been more competitive than expected despite trading away not only Mikal Bridges in the summer, but also point guard Dennis Schröder and veteran leader Dorian Finney-Smith in the last few weeks.
And in the middle of it all, there’s Nets desire to get as high a pick as possible in the first of two signature drafts. While a win is, generally, a win, not so if the team is tanking, er. rebuilding. When the Nets started off at a near .500 pace, there was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth in the fan base. Woe is me, the tankists basically said. Wins are meaningless. Get me the right to pick Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey (despite the vagaries of the lottery.)
After the loss of Schroder and DFS whose production has dropped off in Golden State and L.A., and a stream of injuries that has led conspiracy theorists to believe it’s all part of some diabolical plan.
The trades and injuries has had an effect on the Nets draft standing. As of Tuesday morning, per the aptly named Tankathon, the Nets are still in seventh in terms of lottery chances, but only a half-game out of sixth, three games out of fifth and five games out of third … a month before trade deadline and with 46 games to go. Otherwise their picks are 19 (Bucks,) 25 (Knicks,) 27 (Rockets) and 37 (their own second rounder.)
The response by fans to wins and losses doesn’t bother Marks as he told Lewis.
“It’s part of social media right now, because if the tables were turned then there’d be people complaining that they’ve lost too many games in a row,” Marks said. “So, ideally, those in the know and those in our Nets family understand that we’re building this and we’re building this for, hopefully, as we’ve said before, sustainable success. That’s what we want. We want to get it to that.”
Not only do they have five picks in the Draft — four firsts and a second — they have a total of 15 first rounders and 16 seconds. No team has as much quality and quantity, although they are reportedly looking for more picks in the 2026 draft. They currently have a first and two seconds compared to the two drafts on either side of 2026. Aside from their haul in this year’s draft they have four in 2027, three firsts and a second.
Plus they have the player pundits think is among the most likely to be moved for yet more picks: Cam Johnson. Although currently on the bench in a walking boot as he recovers from an ankle sprain, Johnson is playing at a high level and has a reputation as a team leader as well. Based on what’s been reported, Brooklyn has been taking a lot of calls on CJ. It may not qualify as a bidding war yet, but there’s a lot of interest.
One team reportedly interested in him, the Sacramento Kings. has had “pretty extensive talks” and even become “somewhat of a priority” for Sacto, according to Sam Amick although a league source told NetsDaily that recent rumors are “completely inaccurate.”
Even with that denial, it’s certain that if the teams were talking, Brooklyn’s best source of intelligence would be its coaching staff. Fernandez was associate head coach of the Kings until the Nets hired him and he brought two Kings assistants with him: Dutch Gaitley, who was the Kings development assistant, and Deividas Dulkys who was Sacramento’s offensive coordinator.
It should be noted, though, that quietly the Kings are playing well, making desperate moves unlikely. They’ve won five straight and DeMar DeRozan who had been a disappointment under the recently departed Mike Brown is leading the charge. Monday night he scored nine straight points and finished with 30 in the Kings’ double overtime win over the Miami Heat. If DeRozan is playing at that level, do the Kings really need Johnson?
It’ll be a long month of speculation for Nets fans till the NBA shuts down the trade phone at 3:00 p.m. ET on February 6. It’ll also be a month before the Nets are near fully healthy. That’s when we can expect to see Cam Thomas again. (Bojan Bogdanovic has yet to make his season debut.)
In the meantime, the Nets long season will continue to play out and discussions of lottery position will dominate social media. There will, however, be two constant: Jordi Fernandez will continue to do what he can to win, developing players along the line, while Sean Marks will look for opportunities. That’s their job and both will have to do well for the team to ultimately succeed.
- Why Jordi Fernandez might not be the only foundational piece the Nets add from the Kings – Brian Lewis – New York Post