Quin Snyder Offers Praise Towards Nets Coach Jordi Fernández, Nolan Traoré

The Brooklyn Nets have been slipping down the standings, putting them well in place to land a top pick in this upcoming draft.

Despite Brooklyn's bottom-feeding record, Nets coach Jordi Fernández has drawn considerable praise from coaches around the league. Add Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder to the mix.

"Well, let me say first of all, the thing that's consistent when you've watched them play is how hard they play," Snyder said. "To me, that's reflective of the job that Jordi has done to get a group of guys to play together, to play hard every night, regardless of the situation."

The Nets showed flashes at the beginning of the season, when the team went 7-4 in December while boasting the league's best defensive rating.

A sizable amount of Nets players have shown incredible progress in their development this season, especially the five rookies.

Egor Dëmin has proven he can knock down the triple at a solid clip and come through in the clutch, which is not always easy for a rookie to do.

Danny Wolf has shown a knack for stretching the floor and getting downhill, giving the Nets a solid mix and match option to give their offense different looks.

Drake Powell has displayed solid activity on the ball and as a versatile defender, but needs to clean up some turnovers and show moe consistency as a shooter to truly earn more minutes at his position.

And last but not least, Nolan Traoré's speed and shiftiness has inspired hope that he can hold it down at point guard, especially when he goes to his floater. Those traits weren't lost on the Hawks coach.

"Traoré, the speed is significant," Snyder said. "I think players that have one of the things you can't teach are vision and feel, and his ability and willingness to find his teammates and to move the ball and to push the ball."

With the season wrapping up, I expect Fernández to continue to experiment with different lineups, allowing each player to prove their worth on the court.

Malachi Smith and Chaney Johnson should especially continue to see extended run, perhaps as an audition to earn spots at the end of Fernández's rotation next season.

No matter how ugly things may look to close out the season, this is a group that once showed they can compete for a play-in spot. Perhaps new additions to this roster could help them at least there next season.