The New Orleans Pelicans continue to creep closer to hiring a new head coach. And with each new report that comes out, speculation grows about who Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver will select.
According to recent reports, the Pelicans’ head coaching search has come down to four candidates. Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Steve Hetzel, San Antonio associate head coach Sean Sweeney and former Pelicans player and Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Rajon Rondo.
I don’t think the Pelicans can go wrong with any of the coaches that have been mentioned, including former Orlando Magic head coach, Jamahl Mosley. Of course, we could be revisiting this one year from now and talking about what a disaster one of these guys became as the head coach.
Rondo certainly is the sexiest pick. I think a lot of Pelicans fans would be excited about what the former floor general and NBA champion could do in the head coaching spot. Hetzel and Sweeney are highly regarded assistant coaches, but so was Willie Green, and I still have nightmares about Green’s tenure in New Orleans.
One coach stands above the rest
The man I think the Pelicans should select as their next head coach is Darvin Ham. He not only was a head coach in this league but had a great deal of success in the role.
Ham led the Los Angeles Lakers from 2022 to 2024, compiling an overall record of 90 and 74 with a winning percentage of .549.
In the 2022-2023 season, the Lakers were seventh in the Western Conference after winning 43 games, but they made it all the way to the conference finals, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors in the first round and semifinals.
The following season, they won 47 games, ultimately securing the seventh seed again before being knocked out by the Nuggets in the first round.
While this kind of success was not good enough for the Lakers (and LeBron James) at that time, if Ham delivered those types of records with the Pelicans, I would consider it a massive success.
Ham is far from perfect, listen to Lakers fans and they will certainly let you know, but I think he would be a great fit for this Pelicans team.
Dumars already made it clear he wants this Pelicans team to be tough and he has a championship history with Ham. One of the NBA’s toughest teams was the 2004 Detroit Pistons and they won the NBA title that year with Ham as a player and Dumars the president of basketball operations.
Yes, Ham was fired after only two seasons as the Lakers head coach, but you could make an argument he should have never been let go. In my opinion, Ham deserves a second chance as a head coach in the NBA and the Pelicans would be lucky to get him to lead their team.
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