Jordi Fernandez's sports psychology degree, tactical expertise could benefit Raptors

Amit Mann is joined by Toni Canyameras to discuss Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez, who is reportedly in the running for the head coaching position with the Toronto Raptors. Fernandez is a player's coach with a creative outlook who's worked tirelessly through the years to become the lead assistant with the Sacramento Kings. Listen to the full episode on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed or watch on YouTube.

Video Transcript

TONI CANYAMERAS: You saw the-- the video when-- when Kings came here in-- in Toronto in December, and they won. When Jordi Fernandez went into the locker room, I mean, the players showered him with champagne. And I mean, when the players have a reaction like that with a coach, I think that it's pretty meaningful about how the players loves the-- the coach, a coach.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, and you got Michael Malone, from his past, saying that he will one day be a head coach in the league.

TONI CANYAMERAS: Yeah.

AMIT MANN: Mike Brown, as you mentioned, has also said that he could be ready right now, I believe, for the Atlanta job that eventually went to Quin Snyder. He was in the running for it. And Mike Brown, leading into it, had only good things to say about Jordi, saying he deserves this, and it's going to come. And you know, aside from basketball, you want this for good people, and Jordi is a good person.

I mean, he's worked with a lot of different players. I recall there was a situation with Keegan Murray this past season during Summer League, where the first play of the first game, he had asked Keegan, you know, where do you like the ball? Where do you want to score from? And he said, the left corner.

And, like, the first play of the first Summer League game for the Kings, he designed a play for Keegan Murray. It was, like, a double drag play where he was supposed to flare out to the baseline for a wide open 3. And the play worked, and he hit it. It's, like, things like that.

And also, looking at some of the games that he did coach in the NBA, one of them was a loss. And afterwards, he was saying that I have to do a better job of making sure I'm preparing these guys and giving them a chance to succeed. It was essentially what he was saying.

So he's accountable, and it's all about what can I do to help them? How can I help these players win the game? And I think that's really valuable. It's like that player-coach communication that he seems to really excel at.

TONI CANYAMERAS: In terms of basketball style, I mean, I think that Jordi Fernandez, I think, fits-- fits with the Raptors games, with the Raptors' identity because--

AMIT MANN: Sure.

TONI CANYAMERAS: --for example, his detail, the-- the different plays with handles, is a thing that is a trait that defines the philosophy, the Sacramento Kings philosophy, right?

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

TONI CANYAMERAS: Domantas Sabonis, actually. For example, in the-- you remember in the first round of playoffs, one of the things that-- that draw the attention the most from everybody was, like, Warriors were letting-- letting Domantas Sabonis alone in the elbow to put the-- to put the focus in chasing the players that were coming off-- coming off the screens.

Jordi, I mean, he's very focused in taking advantage from the centers with a very high basketball IQ, which is a thing that Raptors have. Jakob Poeltl, very high basketball IQ. So I think that Jordi Fernandez would be able to take advantage of it.

AMIT MANN: Mhm.

TONI CANYAMERAS: Another thing, I mean, the transitions, for example, because Sacramento Kings, they have no decision to-- because they have been a team that they have played-- they have played really quick, attacking in the early possessions, very powerful in transitions. And at the same time, is another identity trait that you can see in the Raptors.

AMIT MANN: --him being kind of the lead defensive coach for the Sacramento Kings. And then we're like, well, going into the playoffs, their defense wasn't great. However, you get excited about how they were able to game plan against the Golden State Warriors, and how successful they were. They were pretty close to winning that series.

TONI CANYAMERAS: Very close, very close.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, right? And defensively, they were able to-- I mean, Steph Curry is going to do Steph Curry things sometimes. But they were able to really take away some things from the Warriors. And they were that close, as I said.

So you can see that he can game plan against a team. When it comes to a playoff series, he can make that happen. And then you add in some of his traits as an offensive coach, what his style is in terms of his ability to get a team through a series, then you get excited about that as well.

TONI CANYAMERAS: Sacramento Kings, they have not-- they have not been among the best defensive teams in the league, actually.

AMIT MANN: No.

TONI CANYAMERAS: They have been the best offensive team in the regular season. Actually, they have recorded their highest offensive rating in the history.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

TONI CANYAMERAS: But they have not been the best team in the defensive end. But they have been among the best 10 teams defensively in the last quarter.

AMIT MANN: Mhm.

TONI CANYAMERAS: So I think that is a very, very interesting thing because for example, if you-- is an identity trait that define the Denver Nuggets as well. Denver Nuggets, maybe they don't have the best defense in the NBA. But they-- they know how to push harder in defense to win the game.

AMIT MANN: A quote here from Malik Monk on some of the drills that Fernandez has made them do with the Kings. And he said, "It's just random, and the game of basketball is random." He's like, yeah, man, I like Jordi.

TONI CANYAMERAS: Yeah, I think that he was planning that one day, to try to work on the deflections. Jordi Fernandez put the players to allow this while he was throwing them tennis balls toward the-- the quick reactions, to improve the deflections. And I think these-- are talking about the kind of drills that define the creativity of Jordi as a coach.

So I mean, you are in an NBA team. Your teammates, the coaching staff is your-- is my family. You spend more time with them than with your family in the-- your real family, right?

And it's very important to be innovative, to make the players have fun all the time, yeah, to make the players don't feel that they are going through a very boring routine that he did. A lot of time, it is-- it's the main disadvantage, right, that when the players feel that they are in a kind of routine, they are doing the same all the days.

First of all, he was born in Badalona. Badalona is considered the birthplace of basketball not just in Spain, but also even in Europe. Actually, Spanish NBA players like Ricky Rubio, like Rudy Fernandez, that-- the reason that I think he was playing in NBA a few years. And Rudy and Ricky, they-- they were raised in-- in Joventut, in Badalona.

And then he went to-- he was learning in a city of basketball, the first of all. And after that, I mean, he has been a very-- he has been a very adventurous, adventurous man, very daring, a very daring guy because in 2003, when he was 20, he went to-- to Netherlands. He started-- he started working washing dishes. He didn't even know any single words in English, and he was able to learn the English by his own. And from that point, I mean, he was able to learn English.

He worked as a teacher in a-- as a university teacher in the Netherlands, in Norway as well. As I mentioned before, he has a doctorate in psychology in Spain. He studied a degree in physical education.

And well, his journey in USA starting-- I think starting 2007 because he went-- he went to the Impact Basketball Academy to work with Mike Brown from 2007. I mean, nobody was paying him for anything.

AMIT MANN: Sure.

TONI CANYAMERAS: And-- and then in 2009, I mean, Mike Brown was impressed about how-- about the capability of Jordi Fernandez, of working with the details. He was impressed with the passion of Jordi Fernandez. And Mike Brown told him, Jordi, come to Cleveland one week, and was like a testing week for him.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

TONI CANYAMERAS: And-- and yeah, and the organization and Cleveland Cavaliers was impressed with the capability of Jordi Fernandez to work with the players, to pay attention to the details. And yeah, he-- well, his-- that was the start of all.