New Orleans Pelicans: The 6 Best Coaches Left in the Bubble

New Orleans Pelicans’ coaching candidates: Darvin Ham and Wes Unseld Jr.

Darvin Ham-Los Angeles Lakers

Though it is his famous fellow assistant Jason Kidd who is getting all of the press, Darvin Ham might be the better option.

Ham comes from the Mike Budenholzer coaching tree which has produced three head coaches, all of which have been successful. Quinn Snyder and Talyor Jenkins are two of the best young coaches in the NBA and Kenny Atkinson had success at Brooklyn and will again.

These guys preach defense, which is exactly what New Orleans needs in a next head coach.

Wes Unseld Jr.-Denver Nuggets

Wes Unseld Jr. is a guy we haven’t yet profiled, but is another young coach who is going to get a shot soon.

As the son of a Hall of Famer, Unseld Jr. grew up in locker rooms and hasn’t really left them. He’s been an assistant at Washington, Golden State and Orlando and was brought to Denver in 2016 to fix the Nuggets’ woeful defense.

Unseld Jr. was able to take the Nuggets’ defense, which was 28th in the NBA at the time, and bring them up to 10th best overall. The Nuggets are still in the middle of the pack defensively, and that improvement is largely due to Unseld Jr.

He seems like a good candidate to do the same in New Orleans, where the Pelicans’ 20th ranked defense needs improvement.

The New Orleans Pelicans are taking their time and doing their homework, but it could just be that their next coach is still working.

But they don’t have a lot of time, as the draft is coming up in October and then it’s right back to training camp. It’s possible the Pelicans have already made their choice and are just waiting for their coach to exit Disney.