""To be able to see him sitting in that seat in Brooklyn while I'm in New York," Brown said about his longtime friend and mentee, "it's surreal.""
""getting to the Finals, we absolutely have to do. Winning the Finals, we should do.""
""The New York media treats the Knicks a little differently than the Nets," Fernandez said. "Mike's got a different level of pressure. But one thing about him, he's always up for the challenge.""
Mike Brown and Jordi Fernandez are longtime friends who now coach rival NBA teams in New York: Brown with the Knicks and Fernandez with the Brooklyn Nets. Brown called seeing Fernandez coaching in Brooklyn while he is in New York "surreal." Knicks owner James Dolan has declared reaching the Finals a must and winning them an expectation. Nets GM Sean Marks reacquired first-round picks in 2025 and 2026 to preserve draft positioning. A recent six-of-nine Nets stretch was driven by improved defense, prompting scouts to joke Fernandez was doing too good a job. Their relationship began in 2009 at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas.
Read at ESPN.com
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