After some moves in the offseason, Fernandez will be tasked with putting some pieces together and getting his squad to gel as they look to become the NBA\u2019s surprise team. One of the most notable changes for this season will be the insertion of Day\u2019Ron Sharpe into the starting lineup after the departure of Nic Claxton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Going into his sixth season in Brooklyn, Sharpe is coming off a career year, averaging 8.7 points and 6.7 rebounds across 62 contests last season. While there will be an adjustment period for the Nets <\/a>and Sharpe when the season starts, Brooklyn\u2019s new starting center knows that the foundation Fernandez has built will go a long way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a family with him,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201cHe\u2019s our coach, but he\u2019s also like the leader of our family. He wanna have fun, but it\u2019s also a time when to be serious, so he\u2019s got a good mixture of both, and I feel like that\u2019s great when being a head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n Having played 112 games under Fernandez across the past two seasons, Sharpe has had a chance to get to know his head coach well, it appears. While the roster has had some significant overhauls over that span, Sharpe will enter the year as the longest-tenured Net, giving his head coach some much-needed continuity.<\/p>\n As the Nets officially shift from rebuild mode into playing competitive basketball for the first time under Fernandez, his coaching ability should be on full display. With Sharpe entering the starting five alongside Julius Randle<\/a> in the frontcourt, it will be up to the young coach to figure things out on the fly.<\/p>\n While it won\u2019t be an easy task for Fernandez to get things right early, his coaching style should still put the team in a great position. As Sharpe noted, there may be one specific piece of Fernandez\u2019s coaching that makes him so special as the Nets get ready for tipoff.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t feel like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s always on us,\u2019 or a tough critic,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201c He\u2019s just an honest man, and I respect him for that. He\u2019s always honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
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