New Orleans Pelicans: Replicating the Brooklyn Nets’ Head Coaching Hire

The New Orleans Pelicans should replicate the Brooklyn Nets’ hiring of Steve Nash

Early this morning, news dropped that was surprising to everyone in the NBA community, while it didn’t directly relate to the New Orleans Pelicans, there’s still a lot of indirect impacts. That news is the shocking hiring of Steve Nash as the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

Wow! That was my only reaction when I heard the news. Personally, Steve Nash was my favorite player in the NBA growing up so as shocking as the news is, I’m excited to see what the Hall-of-Fame point guard will do coaching two of the league’s biggest stars.

After those initial feelings though, I instantly started thinking about what this move means for the New Orleans Pelicans in regards to their head coach opening. My instant analysis is a relief, this is one less head coaching vacancy meaning less competition for the Pelicans on the open market.

Then I started thinking more, my mind started racing. Even though the reaction to Nash’s hiring in Brooklyn is mixed, I thought it was a good hire. That got me thinking what if the New Orleans Pelicans got Steve Nash. If you think about it, the Pelicans roster is a better fit for what Steve Nash did as a player and I would’ve loved to see him mentor Lonzo Ball.

Since that’s not going to happen, my mind went somewhere else. I think that the Brooklyn Nets hiring Steve Nash is the type of move the New Orleans Pelicans should replicate. It’s bold but proven to work.

Why The New Orleans Pelicans Should Hire Their Own Steve Nash

To understand why the New Orleans Pelicans should hire their own Steve Nash, we need to begin by understanding Steve Nash’s hiring in the first place.

The hiring of Steve Nash is not an anomaly but a trend in the NBA. That trend is seeing smart, intelligent point guards return to the game as head coaches without ever being assistant coaches.

In the tweet above from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who broke the news of Nash’s hiring we see how many former point guards have coached in the NBA.

The track record for these coaches is extremely positive. Doc Rivers and Steve Kerr have both been two of the most successful coaches of the modern era. Both Kerr and Rivers led championship teams and have multiple Finals appearances to their names.

Even Mark Jackson and Jason Kidd have had varying degrees of success in their NBA coaching stints. If it wasn’t for issues off the court, they’d both still be coaching prominent teams.

The worst coach from this mold is Isiah Thomas, and even he led the Indiana Pacers to the playoffs three times.

The point is, that this is a trend the New Orleans Pelicans should follow. It’s a chance for the Pelicans to get a fresh face into their locker room whose a former player that can get the attention of the team’s young stars.

We’ve covered a lot of assistant coaches, former head coaches, and even some former players recently but not a coach in this mold. I’m thinking it’s time the New Orleans Pelicans start looking for their own former point guard to come out and take the coaching reigns.

It’s unclear who that person would be for the New Orleans Pelicans but there are several former point guards out there who are interested in making a career out of coaching. David Griffin, Trajan Langdon, and the rest of the New Orleans Pelicans’ front office just need to go find that person.

If they do, they might find a franchise-altering head coach who can bring the perfect balance of scheme and player relationships to the organization.