Jordi Fernandez has a chance to put himself in the Coach of the Year conversation, but the path to actually getting there is steep.
The Brooklyn Nets head into next season with modest expectations around the league. Most projections have them finishing outside the postseason picture and lingering near the bottom of the standings again, which makes preseason basketball feel like the start of a proof session.
Fernandez is one of the biggest reasons there’s even optimism in Brooklyn. He enters his third season as the Nets’ head coach, and this will be his first real shot to guide a competitive team.
The rebuild has defined the last couple of years, but the work he’s already done has given Brooklyn a foundation to build on. The Nets may not be close to contention yet, but Fernandez should have a legitimate opportunity to push them toward the postseason in 2027.
The question is what kind of season would actually put him in award territory. If Brooklyn somehow reaches the 50-win mark, as Michael Porter Jr. recently predicted, or even climbs into the top six in the Eastern Conference, Fernandez would likely look like a strong Coach of the Year candidate. But history suggests the bar may be even more specific than that.
Recent winners have almost all come from teams near the top of the standings. Each of the last 16 Coach of the Year recipients led a team that finished in the top four of its conference and secured home-court advantage in the first round. The last coach to break that pattern was Scott Brooks in 2009-10, when he guided the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 8th seed while still winning 50 games.
The award has also rarely gone to coaches without winning records. Only three coaches in league history have won Coach of the Year without finishing above .500, and the most recent was Doc Rivers in 1999-2000, when the Orlando Magic went 41-41.
So if Fernandez is going to turn this into a real award case, Brooklyn likely needs to do more than just improve. The Nets probably need to reach the playoffs, and even that might not be enough unless the leap is dramatic.
Still, if Fernandez can get Brooklyn into the postseason conversation this season, it could be the kind of step that sets up bigger things for both him and the Nets down the line.
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