In preseason, pundits and gamblers projected the Nets to win 19.5 games. Jordi Fernandez won’t let his players forget it.
When most sports betting outfits put the Brooklyn Nets win total this season at 19.5, some fans embraced it. If they won only 19.5 games (and lost more than 60), they stood as very good chance of getting a top draft pick in June. And now we read that Jordi Fernandez embraced it as well … but for a different reason. He motivates his motley (in the most life-affirming, generous context of the word) group to win.
As Tyrese Martin said the other night after his 30 point effort fueled the Nets improbable win over the Golden State Warriors.
“I mean, it ain’t like he’s telling us something we don’t know,” said Martin. “It was on national TV before the season started. I think it was 19 games [the Nets’ wins forecast], 19 ½ might be the number for real.
“But he told us that the one time, and then it’s just been a thing, you know? Keep it in our head. Keep a fire lit. So after every game, he reminds us, you know, they got us for 19 wins. And we’re here to compete every night. We’re going to get more than that.”
As Brian Lewis wrote Saturday, Martin isn’t the only witness to the coach’s reminder.
“All the time,” Ben Simmons said with a laugh when asked by Lewis about how often he hears Fernandez’s comments, noting that it works. “It’s not more so for what people are saying, it’s just us having self-belief and believing we need to be at a certain level. And there’s a certain standard that comes with just putting on the Nets jersey, putting on an NBA jersey.
“It’s playing hard. We have ‘Grit’ up in the practice facility, and that’s how we want to play: Brooklyn grit. So it might not be pretty, but we’re going to play hard and come out and test people.”
Said another veteran, Dorian Finney-Smith: “Coach let us know what he got us projected to win, and we’re using that as motivation to keep it going. It’s a long season, though. So we’ve just got to take it one game at a time.”
After Friday’s loss to the Magic, the Nets are 9-11, on the cusp of winning half what gamblers and pundits had projected … in a quarter of the time. They have the most wins of any Eastern Conference team vs. the West with six. And as Lewis points out, “they actually have a better record against teams entering at .500 or better (7-6, not counting the season opener) than they do against losing teams (2-4).”
At the moment — there’s that phrase again — they project to go into the May lottery at No. 11, but are only four games “out” of a top four pick. So, it can be fairly argued that the Nets have had the best of all possible worlds at the schedule’s quarter pole: getting enough wins to show just what a good coach can do for a franchise’s identity while still likely if not certain to wind up with a top pick.
“Yeah, people can say we’re in a rebuilding stage and things like that, but as players and competitors, you don’t really want to accept losing, even in life,” Martin added. “You’re going to try to win in everything you do. I’m one of them guys [and] there’s a lot more of them guys in the locker room, and we all feel that way.
“So we go out and we’re trying to win. And if we don’t win, then we don’t, on to the next game. It’s an 82-game season. But we’re out there trying to win every game we play in.”
Considering where they were when they were projected to win less than 20 games, that’s hard to beat.
- The Nets are fueled by the doubters ($) – Brian Lewis – New York Post