JULY 16: Green is expected to be officially hired after the Finals, Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets.
JULY 13: The Pelicans plan to hire Green as their next head coach, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. The two sides are working through the final stages of the process, Charania adds.
JULY 12: Current Suns assistant coach Willie Green appears to have become the strong favorite to nab the position of Pelicans head coach, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN.
Lopez is the latest to name Green as the frontrunner for the job. Christian Clark of NOLA.com said the same thing over the weekend, as did Fletcher Mackel of WDSU (Twitter link).
Green, 39, has served as an assistant with Phoenix during the past two seasons under head coach Monty Williams. He is currently facing off in the NBA Finals against the Bucks. Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee had been floated along with Green last week as one of New Orleans’ preferred candidates.
Green was also a Warriors assistant coach under Steve Kerr from 2016-19, winning two titles with the club in 2017 and 2018. Green has appeared in four NBA Finals as an assistant coach.
Lopez writes that Green’s skill in building relationships with players has made him an especially appealing contender for a head coaching position. Green was a 12-year NBA pro, and actually suited up alongside current starting Pelicans guard Eric Bledsoe on the Clippers during the 2012/13 season. Green played for New Orleans during the lockout-abbreviated 2010/11 NBA season, prior to the club’s re-brand as the Pelicans.
Now that’s a name from the past. For some reason seeing Willie’s photo makes me miss Iverson.
Good s**t! Time to move Bledsoe and Adams. Funny how the Suns went from worst to the best team in league once Bledsoe left. They’ll grab Holmes if they smart and NO Hayes is not a starter not even close. Besides a couple of flashy dunks, his defense was terrible and might wanna think about putting on some weight.
Good luck trading Adams. I was saying for years that he was overpaid in OKC, and he still is after that ridiculous extension at $17.5M/year. Who knows what the Pelicans were thinking.
Bledsoe left in 17/18. The Suns were 19-63 in 18/19. Pretty sure Bledsoe wasn’t the problem.
Suns haven’t made the playoffs in like 10 years till this season and Bledsoe left way before this season. So how can you blame him for why they were bad. They been bad before him and after him. It wasn’t till Paul came that they turn it around
Your hope is all for not. Front office completely botched the Lonzo situation. They knew they weren’t gonna match offers on him and never got close to shipping him out last season. Now they’re going to lose Ball for nothing in return and, make no mistake about this, they are STUCK with Adams. Nobody who has a need for Adams has near enough cap maneuverability to make a move realistic. Enjoy the last seasons of Zion in NOLA while you can
Lonzo was terrible before this season anyway. Not like he’s an asset
Lonzo’s stock is widely varied, so it makes sense to hold off his valuation.
The Adams/Bledsoe trade that got them 4 future firsts and is more questionable, esp since Giannis re-signed with MIL, lowering the value of those firsts. It was complicated all around but it’s not working.
About time Willie got a head coaching job
Well he is only 39 and retired playing like 6 years ago? It’s not like he has been an assistant for 20 years.
Good time to get off the sinking ship in Phoenix.
so….the Pelicans fired Monty a while back, only to hire one of his proteges later…I guess the excuses are running out. Adams might be a fit for Miami or the Clippers, but that salary is a bit high (as was the GM that gave it to him).
Monty deserved to be fired. I feel like we’ve said this already
Irrelevant. Why hire his protege who one must assume uses similar tactics, and expect a different result?
Agreed it would be a bad hire for Pels
Good hire
Green should be a success story due to honesty, simplicity and “keeping it real” on a team that needs that. There is a job here TBH of settling down ZW & BI, and it is hard to say what scheme a HC should insert.
I like how his mind works. One hopes for a younger Nate McMillen. Green will be humbler due to a fairly recent, longrunning mediocre playing career. For some reason he reminds of Marcus Allen football 80s, talking.
What are you implying?
A good bet (given likely odds) but no guarantee for a job that an experienced coach failed at. Green was a player not too long ago.
A good bet to succeed in terms of increased winning percentage, for Green.