The New Orleans Pelicans should not hesitate to look to the G-League for their next head coach.
The New Orleans Pelicans need to get creative.
There seems to be a firmly held belief across the NBA that head coaches are on a carousel and in the case of teams like the New York Knicks, former NBA head coaches are more likely to get first looks than newer names and up-and-comers.
For example, both Jason Kidd and Tyronn Lue are getting looks for some of the head coaching vacancies across the league even though coaches like Kidd have a less than stellar coaching track record.
However, a few teams have broken from this mold, and those teams are some of the most successful when it comes to player development and competing. These teams utilize their G-League affiliate for more than just developing players, but also snagging coaches that can change the game.
The most recent example of this is with Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors were always among the upper echelon of eastern conference teams, but could never get past LeBron James and seemed to be stuck. It isn’t often that teams that finish 59-23 fire their head coach, but the Raptors knew they needed a culture change if they were to ever win an NBA championship.
Even though the Raptors’ championship was due large in-part to Masai Ujiri’s risky move to trade franchise staple DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, much of the success can be traced back to how Nurse changed the game.
The Raptors finished 58-24 and saw huge developmental jumps from Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet, partially because Nurse was able to take these guys to the next level, something former head coach Dwane Casey never could.
Nurse spent years in the G-League, winning a championship with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2012-13 and had 23 of his all-time rostered players achieve a call-up to the NBA. After winning an NBA championship in 2018-19 in his first year as an NBA coach, he became the first coach to have a championship in both leagues to their name.
This season, without Leonard, the Raptors look just as formidable, and are seeing huge contributions from undrafted rookies like Matt Thomas, Oshae Brissett and Terence Davis, as well as from former G-League players like Chris Boucher.
The New Orleans Pelicans need to follow this model and find a coach who can develop players, has an eye for talent and can lay the foundation for sustained success.