The Nets are hiring veteran assistant coach Steve Hetzel to be part of Jordi Fernandez‘s new staff in Brooklyn, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Hetzel was an assistant coach in Portland for the past three seasons under Chauncey Billups. Prior to his stint with the Blazers, he worked on Steve Clifford‘s staffs in both Charlotte (2014-18) and Orlando (2018-21).
Perhaps most notably, Hetzel was the head coach of the Canton Charge in the G League during the 2013/14 season. Fernandez was an assistant on his staff that year before taking over as the Charge’s head coach for the next two seasons after that.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- The Sixers have listed guard Tyrese Maxey as questionable to play in Game 2 on Monday due to an illness that forced him to miss this morning’s shootaround, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- In an anonymous player poll conducted by The Athletic, 47% of the respondents named Tom Thibodeau as the head coach they’d least want to play for. However, Thibodeau’s Knicks players were prepared to go to bat for him, as Fred Katz of The Athletic writes. “Nobody’s in our locker room and everybody that talks is on the outside of our locker room. They don’t know what goes on,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “Thibs is a great leader. He’s a great head coach and he’s done an amazing job this year not only dealing with injuries in and out of the lineup but also getting the best out of every single player on our team. I’m having a career year. Different guys on the team are having career years.”
- The Celtics have made at least the Eastern Conference Finals in five of the last seven postseason but haven’t won a title during that time. Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston explores how last year’s additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday give the team a new dimension and raise its ceiling entering the 2024 playoffs.
- Porzingis passed a key test in Game 1 on Sunday vs. Miami, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com, scoring 18 points and finishing as a +17 in his 34 minutes. Porzingis – who had only played in 10 playoff games, including none since 2021 – lacks the extensive postseason experience of his fellow Celtics starters, but he showed on Sunday that he’s up to the challenge with the stakes raised, says Robb.
Let’s be honest – 47% of players least wanting to play for Thibs is a reflection of the not wanting to have a coach that drills them. He’s a hard taskmaster and has them working to some pretty high standards, especially defensively.
Most modern ballplayers don’t want to be worked like that.
Because they have no heart anymore
It depends on the coach and the players. Nobody works his players harder than Danny Hurley, and his players love playing for him. In part because he has a personality and cares about them. Thibodeau has been disliked by most of his players wherever he has been in large part because he has no personality.
Ridiculous comment.
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!
Should be cam said not ray win
The Athletic is the voice of 2k nation, the mortal enemies of Thibs and other real coaches. They have no credibility on this subject, but if they made the mechanics of the poll available, I would have loved to take a look. Likely just for a good laugh, but who knows?
Thibs is a rarest of things in the NBA these days, a real coach who’s teams consistently outperform their talent level. Timeless, and it still works. It’s also what any athlete that is serious about winning wants (to be coached for real, with the end of improving and winning). Players with other agendas (and there are many of them) obviously wouldn’t want to play for him, and that’s a good thing, but I doubt its 47% of the league (LOL). Anyway, what matters, is that the players he’s actually coached that have bought in are very loyal to him. It’s probably the best model for modern coaches in all sports.
I love that he played the coaches card Game 1 flipping the bn into starter minutes based on live action . Probably the coolest moment I saw all weekend
So rare today to see a coach actually coach, it’s in my belief analytics has actually been a huge burden for modern day coaches rather than a boon to actually stretch their own wings and realize their full coaching potential.
Rare in the NBA. I think it starts with modern FO’s. Too many today are full of people without real basketball backgrounds, who don’t understand the game, but can read the analytics. It seems to embolden them to involve themselves in areas that FO’s traditionally stayed clear of, including (most comically) the coaching process. And they tend to hire coaches who are willing to be complicit in it.
A lot of players want long careers…
Funny that…