NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez is entering his third season as the head coach of the Nets and similar to his first two seasons, he's in an interesting spot. Fernandez initially took the job with Brooklyn with the understanding that a rebuild could be possible and even with more veterans on the team, he still has to strike the balance between production and development.
"If you're that good consistently, don't worry that I will see that. I may make a mistake, but my job is not to make two or three. The most important thing is I have a great coaching staff," Fernandez said during his Media Day interview on Monday. With the Nets still rebuilding, Fernandez has the added task of making sure that some of the younger players see the floor
in addition to trying to win as many games as possible.
"If I am making a mistake, they're gonna come and tell me 'No, you gotta play this guy.' So, if you work and if you focus on your controllables, I think at the end of the day, those opportunities will come," Fernandez continued. "You take advantage, then it comes. Can you sustain it? Obviously, my job is to challenge every one of them. Your job will be to question everything I do, right? That's the beauty of this game."
As Fernandez alluded to, he is not opposed to giving playing time to players who earn it, whether they are veterans or one of the recent first-round picks that the team has made. Last season, 21 players averaged at least 13.4 minutes per game, showing that Fernandez is a man of his word while also trying to get the most out of his players without playing them too many minutes.
The starting lineup will likely be Mikel Brown Jr., Egor Demin, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and Day'Ron Sharpe, but the playing time conversation will go well beyond the starting five given the amount of youth. Brooklyn also brought back forward Josh Minott while adding guard Keon Ellis and center Mo Wagner into the mix so Fernandez has plenty of players to dole out minutes to, but he doesn't seem concerned with that task at this moment.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Jordi Fernandez explains balance between production and minutes
