New Orleans Pelicans: The New Coach Could Have a Duke Connection
The New Orleans Pelicans could look to build on their Duke connections.
The New Orleans Pelicans have often been referred to as “Duke South” because they have so many former Blue Devils on the roster.
Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, J.J. Redick, Jahlil Okafor and Frank Jackson all went to Duke, as did GM Trajon Langdon.
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This certainly wasn’t planned out, but the Pelicans have ended up with enough former Duke players to make a pretty good team out of just Blue Devils.
So it only makes sense that they might bring in a former Duke guy to coach, as Langdon is well-connected there and could lean on Coach K for advice.
There are currently nine former Krzyzewski players who are Division one college basketball coaches and all of them have had some degree of success in the college ranks.
If the Pelicans are looking for someone to build a system and culture of winning, they might turn to a college coach, who is used to getting the most out of young players.
It would also give VP David Griffin a chance to get his own Brad Stevens, a guy who could potentially lead the franchise to sustained success for years to come and can grow with the team as the roster improves.
Here are six former Duke players or coaches who might get consideration for the New Orleans Pelicans’ head coaching position.
Mike Brey
Mike Brey is the oldest and most experienced coach from the Coach K tree.
He was not a player at Duke, but was an assistant under Krzyzewski, (a common theme), head coach at Delaware, and since 2000, he has been the head guy at Notre Dame, where has transformed the Irish into a legit program.
Notre Dame is obviously a football school, but Brey has changed that by having sustained success with the basketball program and consistently leading them to March Madness, including back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight.
Brey is 437-233 overall as a head coach and has built a successful basketball program in a place where football rules.
New Orleans is a football town that the NBA team is trying to win over and Brey definitely has some experience doing that.