New Orleans Pelicans: 3 NBA Assistant Coaches to Consider Hiring

New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Candidates: Adrian Griffin

Becky Hammon: San Antonio Spurs

Call me crazy, but poaching one of the top assistants from the greatest coach of all-time whose team has made the playoffs 22 years in a row seems like a good idea.

Becky Hammon has been with Pop and the Spurs since 2014 and has had a strong record of success and support.

Pau Gasol wrote an open letter in the Player’s Tribune lauding Hammon as one of the best basketball minds he’s been around. Here’s a tidbit of what he had to say:

"“…I’ve been in the NBA for 17 years. I’ve won two championships … I’ve played with some of the best players of this generation … and I’ve played under two of the sharpest minds in the history of sports, in Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. And I’m telling you: Becky Hammon can coach. I’m not saying she can coach pretty well. I’m not saying she can coach enough to get by. I’m not saying she can coach almost at the level of the NBA’s male coaches. I’m saying: Becky Hammon can coach NBA basketball. Period.”"

I only write this because there will be some meatheads who still think a woman can’t coach men, which is absurd.

Hammon has been Pop’s right hand woman, and took their Summer League team to a title in 2015 as a head coach.

Why She Fits the Pelicans

Did you see the way Popovich pantsed Gentry in the last game?

I want that.

Hammon was a great basketball player in her own right, has a point guard’s mind and has learned from the greatest coach of all time.

Hammon is young (43), energetic and is by all accounts a sharp X’s and O’s mind who Popovich often leans on for help and advice.

She’s been praised for her basketball I.Q., work ethic and interpersonal relationships with the players, all things that the Pelicans need badly.

And would it be the worst thing to be the team that hired the first female coach? Nope.

The New Orleans Pelicans should avoid the retreads and go for a fresh, young basketball mind that comes from a solid coaching tree.

I hope all of these candidates are considered, as they have what the Pelicans need in a head coach.