As Canada’s players star in post-season, Jordi Fernandez Olympics role gets bigger

With the Miami Heat losing Wednesday, there are now only six players on Team USA’s Olympic roster still playing in the NBA’s post-season: Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday of the Boston Celtics, Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers … who could exit the playoffs Thursday night if the Knicks win in Philly. And that’s with the first round still incomplete!

The playoffs have not been king to the NBA’s old guard, most of which are now comfortably sipping mai-tai’s on the beaches of Cancun or Cabo. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, etc., are done for the season.

Meanwhile, up north, Team Canada is looking pretty, pretty good. Our neighbors to the north have five likely Olympians still competing in the post-season and their roster is dominated by the NBA’s younger set: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder; Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, Nickeil Alexander-Wallace (SGA’s cousin) of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Norman Powell of the Dallas Mavericks.

They may not have the star power of Team USA, but they do have continuity, having won the bronze at the FIBA World Cup last summer with basically the same group … and the same head coach, Jordi Fernandez, the Brooklyn Nets new head guy. As anyone knowledgeable about the sport can tell you, continuity matters a whole lot, particularly when prep time is limited. So does youth.

It’s that potential, among other things that led the Nets to permit Fernandez to hang on to the reins of the Canadian team this summer in Paris. (And after all, the Nets owner is a Canadian citizen.) Fernandez, with limited head coaching experience, will be working with some of the world’s best basketball players on the biggest stage against the best competition the sport can provide outside the NBA. That’s got to be better for everyone involved than handling the sideline action at Summer League. And as Sean Marks said at Fernandez’s introductory press conference last week, you never want to deny a player or a coach his Olympic moment.

“I would never take the opportunity to play for or coach a national team away from anybody. I think that’s a chance of a lifetime to go and do that. I think, especially on that level, on that stage, right?,” said Marks who played for Team New Zealand as an NBA player.

But the motivation is more selfish than that. Marks wants his new head coach to get more time “behind the clipboard.” as he said in that same discussion with Nets media.

“When you get to go to the Olympics, that’s very rare. So the more opportunities Jordi has behind the clipboard, the better,” the Nets GM added. “So I think that’s great for us,”

Having Fernandez coach the Nets Summer League team in Las Vegas, is, of course, a lesser challenge, particularly since the Nets Vegas roster will likely be limited to Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson, Dariq Whitehead if healthy and not much else since Brooklyn currently has no picks in the June draft. Moreover, Fernandez has been a Summer League head coach before with the Sacramento Kings.

Marks said he feels the organization can handle their summer training program, including Summer League, without Fernandez, noting that the new head coach be in Las Vegas for the Team Canada training camp anyway.

“It’s gonna be a matter of making sure our summer program is an incredibly robust one. The staff is in place here.” Marks said while speaking at the Nets HSS Training Center. “Summer League, we place a a high level importance on summer league and training camp, and having this gym available to all of our players and development over the summer. So making sure our staff is here and that Jordi is in alignment with what they’re working on the whole summer. So just the communication back and forth.”

Asked about his opportunity and management challenge, Fernandez said he too believes things will work out and thanked the organization for letting him continue in his national team role.

“The challenge will be to be extremely organized because I think the opportunity I have in front of me will make myself better and the organization better,” said Fernandez who’s also been an assistant coach on the Spanish and Nigerian national teams.

“Thanks to Joe [Tsai] and Sean [Marks] for allowing me to do it in the Olympics this summer, because right now, we have time to organize our summer, start working. Then I would have six weeks to work on the tournament then be back here right around, before mid-August. I think the timing works very well.”

Training camps for Team Canada and Team USA open June 30 and July 3, respectively, in Las Vegas. In fact, the two teams will face off in a nationally televised exhibition game July 10 in Vegas, then head to Paris for a month, carrying not just the hopes of their nations … but in the case of Team Canada, the Nets fanbase as well.