Nets, Jordi Fernandez keeping NBA draft strategy close to the vest

When the NBA hosts its annual draft lottery on May 12 in Chicago, the Nets contingent there is assured of its first lottery pick since 2010.And coach Jordi Fernández is going to be on hand and ready for some franchise-changing fortune, hoping the pingpong balls will bounce Brooklyn’s way.“I will be in Chicago,” Fernández said.“I will be with a group and as you guys know, there’s a lot going on there.

And we’re just ready to be lucky.”If there was ever a time for the Nets to get lucky, this might be it.There are few inflection points this pivotal.The Nets have the sixth-best odds in the lottery, meaning they’ll have a nine percent chance of winning the No.1 pick and Cooper Flagg.The Nets have a 37.2 percent chance at getting a pick somewhere in the top 4.

They have 50.3 percent odds of landing either seventh (29.7) or eighth (20.6).“Obviously, we have a very important summer here,” said Fernández, who was at P.S.1 in honor of Sant Jordi’s Day, distributing roses and books in the customary tradition of the Catalonian holiday.

“And we’ll be working and organized and excited because obviously with the draft and everything we have going on.”The Nets have five picks in June — four first-rounders and their own second.Beyond the lottery, Brooklyn will select 19th, 26th, 27th and 36th.They also have 20-year-olds Dariq Whitehead and Noah Clowney, both younger than a third of this incoming class.

It begs the question of whether the Nets would trade a pick.And how many prospects can they develop at the same time?“Yeah, it’s a good question, probably a question more for [general manager] Sean [Marks] than it is for me,” Fernández demurred.

“I’ll be ready to coach whatever group we put together.And the coaches, as we always try to do, [will] help them get better and show them the way and the habits … and be connected and do all those things we’ve been preaching and build the identity we want to build.”Whoever Brooklyn does e...