The Brooklyn Nets dropped a game late to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, and Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez was anything but pleased with his team’s performance. The loss dropped the Nets to 10-14 on the season, a season that will likely include several trades and roster departures as the trade deadline approaches. Fernandez’s postgame remarks drew some attention and added to a season trend of coaches laying into their teams.
Nets Jordi Fernandez Continues Coaching Trend of Rigid Team Critique
Brooklyn Nets Head Coach Jordi Fernandez Becomes Another NBA Coach to Slam His Team
This season, we’ve seen Chauncey Billups, JJ Redick, and Rick Carlisle, among others, almost decimate their teams following losses. Billups may have taken the honors in this category so far after he laid into the Trail Blazers in a scathing postgame session earlier in the year. Suffice it to say, there are some frustrated NBA bench bosses, and it appears to be a trend this season. Several coaches have been willing to go to the podium and unleash on their players.
Fernandez is the latest coach to publicly chastise his team. His postgame remarks following his team’s close loss to the Bucks demonstrated this. Listen to what he had to say.
“Our defense was atrocious. If our guys that wear a Brooklyn Nets jersey don’t play harder defense, they don’t have a place on our roster. They know it, they take pride on defense, and we’re going to watch film. That’s how you lose games in the NBA. We didn’t guard anybody in the last three minutes, last six minutes…last three of the third, last six of the fourth. We gotta be better.”
Fernandez’s statement that “players don’t have a place on Brooklyn’s roster” is especially scathing. It’s certainly a comment worthy of waking up some players. Despite the Nets season trajectory, Fernandez is making it clear he still expects competitiveness and a desire to play basketball from his guys.
Is Calling Out Players Publicly Right or Wrong?
It happens in sports every day—in the NFL, NHL, and NBA. When teams or players underperform, a public slap on the wrist is sometimes needed to ignite a spark. However, is there ever a time when it’s too hard of a slap? What should and shouldn’t be said at the podium, and maybe left to be said in the locker room? Usually, although not always, coaches are less likely to make their feelings public about a specific player’s performance. Instead, having private conversations behind closed doors is more common. When it comes to criticism for the entire team, a public statement from a coach seems less of a “line crossed” moment. In Fernandez’s case, he’s merely trying to fire up his squad, and they deserve it.
Whether the words used or the manner in which Fernandez went about his business this time around was right or wrong, it was an opportunity for the young, first-year head coach to establish expectations. He’s no JJ Redick in showing emotion; however, Fernandez has shown this season that he is fearless in holding his players accountable. Only this time, he took another step further in the critique department. Will his words get through to his players? Time will tell. It feels like we’veseen a handful of coaches use the podium to unleash on their teams this season. Possibly more than in the last couple of seasons, in fact. Now that Fernandez has made his mark, who will be the next coach to cross this barrier?
