Jordi Fernández Torres (born December 27, 1982) is a Spanish

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

, currently the associate head coach for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) as well as the head coach of the Canadian men's national team.

Coaching career

In his native Spain, Fernández started his coaching career at age 15, working in the youth setup of clubs like CB Sant Josep de Badalona and CB Sant Boi. At Club Basquet L´Hospitalet he also served as athletic trainer of the

LEB Plata The LEB Plata is the third basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system and the second basketball division organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation. Since 2019, three teams are promoted to LEB Oro and six teams are relegated t ...

side. He spent some time abroad, coaching in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and attended a summer camp at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

. In the summer of 2006, the Spaniard moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, where he joined the coaching staff of the Impact Basketball Academy. Fernández began his

(NBA) coaching career in 2009 when he was hired by the Cleveland Cavaliers as a player development coach. In 2013, Fernández took an opportunity to join the

Canton Charge The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team plays its home games at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland. The fr ...

in the NBA Development League as the top assistant coach. One year later he became the head coach. In 2009, Mike Brown, former head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, hired Fernández to be a player development coach with the team. There, he tutored

Kyrie Irving Kyrie Andrew Irving (; lkt, Ȟéla, italic=no, ; born March 23, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected ...

Tristan Thompson Tristan Trevor James Thompson (born March 13, 1991) is a Canadian-American professional basketball player who last played for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He won the 2016 NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavali ...

Dion Waiters Dion Waiters Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange and was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. ...

Matthew Dellavedova Matthew William Dellavedova (born 8 September 1990) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Saint Mary's College. In 2016, he won ...

and other players. Mike Gansey, the Cavaliers Assistant General Manager, spoke highly of Fernández during his tenure with the Cavaliers: "Whoever walks through that door, ernándezcan relate to them... he's either watched it, lived it or seen it. That's why he's so valuable." Fernández also worked with

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

and Shaquille O'Neal during his time with the Cavaliers. He was also on the coaching staff during the Cavaliers' 2016 NBA Championship. To start the 2016–17 season, the Denver Nuggets added Fernández to their coaching staff as an assistant coach. Fernández was referenced in ESPN’s annual report on potential coaching candidates to watch in April 2018. Players on the Nuggets’ roster spoke highly of Fernández.

Monté Morris Monté Robert Morris (born June 27, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones. Early life and high school ...

said, "He's an all about business guy." On May 18, 2022, Fernández was hired as the associate head coach of the

. After being hired as associate head coach, Fernández served as the head coach of the Kings' Summer League team in 2022. He helped the 4th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Keegan Murray, win the 2022 Summer League MVP award. On December 14, 2022, Fernández took over as acting head coach after the Kings' head coach, Mike Brown, was ejected mid-game. He assumed the same role for back to back games against the Denver Nuggets on December 27, 2022, and December 28, 2022, with Brown entering health and safety protocols. Before playing the Nuggets on December 27, 2022, Nuggets head coach, Michael Malone, who Fernández worked under in his previous coaching stop said, "I think one day Jordi will be a head coach in this league. He’s been a head coach in the G League. He’s got great international experience. This team is on the right path with the right coaches, so I’m really happy for them.”

National team career

In 2013, Fernández served as an assistant coach for Spain's U19 men's national team. From 2017 until 2019, he worked as an assistant coach on the Spanish men's national team. Fernández was an assistant coach for the Nigeria national team under Mike Brown at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. The two had first met, when Fernández worked at the Impact Basketball Academy. On June 27, 2023, Fernández replaced Nick Nurse as the head coach of Team Canada's men's basketball team.

Education

Fernandez's background in academia provides him with a unique perspective on coaching. His college degree is in sports sciences, and is one completed academic article away from his PhD in

sports psychology Sport psychology was defined by the European Federation of Sport in 1996, as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. Otherwise, sport is considered as any physical activity where the individuals engage for competi ...

. He has extensively studied and researched the observation of human behavior. In 2009, Fernandez co-authored an academic article titled ''Identifying and analyzing the construction and effectiveness of offensive plays in basketball by using systematic observation.''

Head coaching record

NBA D-League

, - , align="left" , Canton Charge, Canton , align="left" , 2014–15 NBA Development League season, 2014–15 , 50, , 31, , 19, , , , align="center" , 2nd in East, , 5, , 2, , 3, , , align="center" , Lost Semifinals , - , align="left" , Canton Charge, Canton , align="left" , 2015–16 NBA Development League season, 2015–16 , 50, , 31, , 19, , , , align="center" , 2nd in Central, , 4, , 2, , 2, , , align="center" , Lost Semifinals , - , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , , , 100, , 62, , 38, , , , , , 9, , 4, , 5, ,

References