Mitch Johnson has seen this part before. The part where young players are learning on the fly and the results look messy. So, ahead of Thursday’s game at Barclays Center, he reached for a metaphor that sounded less like basketball and more like real life.
“It’s like asking a bunch of kids, who are just learning how to swim, to make sure the other one doesn’t drown,” the San Antonio Spurs head coach said, later comparing it to “roommates” living on their own for the first time.
That’s the tightrope Jordi Fernández has walked as the Nets push through the final stretch of a season that has gone sideways in the standings, even as the organization stays committed to a development plan built for patience.
Last summer, Brooklyn became the first team in NBA history to select five players in the first round of the NBA draft, a bold swing that practically guaranteed turbulence. The Nets didn’t try to hide from it. They leaned into it. And now, Fernández is trying to keep his group grounded in something more stable.
“Winning matters and competing for games is extremely important,” Fernández said. “The record is what it is, we’re well aware of it and we don’t like it. But the players show up and work every day. It’s not uncomfortable, it’s not a bad feeling. Coming here and feeling like we can compete against anybody has to be important.”
That word, compete, keeps coming up with Fernández. Not as a slogan, but as a daily standard, the one thing he will not allow to slip just because the season has been harsh.
“If you’re up 10, you want to be up 20,” Fernández said. “If you’re down 20, you want to be down 10. We have to be competitive and understand this is a process.”
Johnson’s point was that the process gets complicated when so many young players are trying to learn the league at the same time. It’s difficult enough for one 19-year-old to adjust to NBA speed, physicality and consequences. It’s another thing to ask that player to help stabilize someone else who is also still figuring out how not to sink.
“It’s challenging in the sense that it’s hard to ask a 19-year-old to help another 19-year-old,” Johnson said. “So, you have to, at times, take a step back and give grace and be patient because they’re learning what it takes to survive in this league, which is a lot, and you have multiple young players trying to do that at times.”
He wasn’t making excuses. He was describing Brooklyn’s reality. When everyone’s learning, the connectivity that wins a single possession, the togetherness that executes something hard on a given play, can be the last thing to arrive.
Fernández doesn’t deny any of it. He just refuses to let the work turn sour. He sees a group that still cares, and in a season like this, that’s not a small thing.
“I like where the group is,” Fernández said. “The players care, the coaches care, the organization cares. We have a process and a plan in place. These last 25 games are very important and then it’s a big, big summer for everybody.”
