MADRID, 28 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Jordi Fernández, the main assistant coach of the Sacramento Kings, was appointed this Wednesday as the new coach of the Canadian men’s team, after Nick Nurse resigned from his position and with an eye on the next World Championship, which will be played between August 25 and September 10.
“With Jordi, we have found a head coach who has valuable experience in FIBA and NBA, and right now puts our team in a position to win,” said Rowan Barrett, general manager of the senior men’s team within the Basketball Federation. from Canada.
“Jordi has developed a great reputation working with some of the best players in the world, and we feel that the culture and connection he will build with our team will set us up for success this summer,” Barrett added, referring to a World Cup that will be played at the locations in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Barrett stressed that the “objectives” of the Canadian players for that next World Cup “remain unchanged”, being “focused on qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.” That will be the first challenge for Fernandez, who recently completed his first season as associate head coach with the Kings.
Along with first coach Mike Brown, the Catalan helped the Sacramento team achieve a record of 48 wins and 34 losses in the Western Conference, thus signing their best regular season since 2004/05 and returning to the ‘playoffs’ of the NBA for the first time since 2006.
On December 15 of last year, Fernández became the first Spaniard to train during an NBA game, after Brown was sent off for a double technique against the Toronto Raptors. By virtue of being ‘associate head coach’, Fernández took the reins of the team with more than 21 minutes to go.