Pelicans: Stan Van Gundy’s staff should look similar to the Brooklyn Nets’

The New Orleans Pelicans should encourage Stan Van Gundy to assemble a staff similar to Steve Nash’s with the Brooklyn Nets

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been following what I think is a pretty compelling NBA story. This one has nothing to do with the New Orleans Pelicans though, it’s about the Brooklyn Nets.

Before the Pelicans hired their head coach, the Nets made a bold move by hiring former player Steve Nash to coach their team. It’s a move I loved and even thought the Pelicans should look to replicate.

Now, of course, I’m more than happy with the Pelicans’ hiring of Stan Van Gundy, but I’d love it if the organization allows him to put together a coaching staff that similar to Nash’s.

Assembling a coaching staff as Steve Nash did on the New Orleans Pelicans

What’s happened over the past few days, is Steve Nash filled out his coaching staff by adding the following assistant coaches: Amar’e Stoudamire who’s a former player, Mike D’Antoni who’s a former head coach, and Ime Udoka who’s a highly regarded NBA assistant coach.

That staff has the continuity of coaches who are all either former players, or experienced coaches, something I think is key for supporting an NBA roster. I’d love to see the New Orleans Pelicans take a similar approach, especially with their young roster.

How does that happen? Well, that’s a good question. For starters, the New Orleans Pelicans still have a highly regarded assistant coach of their own in Chris Finch who could stick around, but who else?

Well, let’s look closer at what Nash and the Nets did. They hired Nash’s former mentor in D’Antoni and his former teammate in Stoudamire to go along with an experienced assistant in Udoka who the Pelicans were chasing too. The result was a staff that’s unified and has a history.

If I’m Van Gundy and the Pelicans, I think about potentially looking at some of the great former players who played for Van Gundy and seeing if they’d be interested. Could he bring in Rashard Lewis who’d be an excellent mentor to the young Pelicans? Or maybe guys like Jason Williams and recently retired Vince Carter?

As a fan of Chris Finch, I hope that Van Gundy feels compelled to keep him on the staff as a great assistant coach, but maybe the Pelicans look at some other guys there as well. Maybe Van Gundy can steal defensive wizard Pat Delany from his friend Steve Clifford’s staff.

As for any former head coaches or mentors, unless by some miracle Stan Van Gundy can get his brother Jeff to join the staff or if something compels Pat Riley to leave behind his legacy in Miami, we’ll leave that off the list.

The point is, a staff like the one the Brooklyn Nets assembled presents unity and support for the players on the roster in several ways. It also gives a head coach a reliable group to plan with. Coaching staffs don’t get talked about enough in the NBA, but they’re part of the winning equation, so if the Pelicans want to win they should allow Stan Van Gundy to build a squad like Steve Nash’s in Brooklyn.