Suns assistant Willie Green and Bucks assistant Charles Lee are “prominent” candidates in the Pelicans‘ head coaching search, according to Marc Stein (Twitter link).
Earlier in the process, Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn was considered the frontrunner to replace Stan Van Gundy as New Orleans’ new head coach, but he withdrew from consideration last week for family reasons. Now, it appears the Pelicans have their eye on two other veteran assistant coaches. New Orleans’ own assistant, Fred Vinson, has also interviewed for the position, Stein notes.
A former NBA shooting guard, Green transitioned into the coaching ranks in 2016, working with the Warriors as an assistant for three seasons before making the move to Phoenix in 2019. He has been on Monty Williams‘ staff for the last two years and has generated some buzz as an up-and-coming head coaching candidate, having also talked to the Wizards and Magic about their vacancies.
Lee is also a former shooting guard, having played at Bucknell from 2002-06 and then in international leagues until 2010. After joining his alma mater as an assistant coach in 2012, he was hired as part of Mike Budenholzer‘s staff in Atlanta in 2014. Lee followed Budenholzer to Milwaukee in 2018 and – like Green – is now receiving head coaching interest from multiple teams — he’s said to be one of the Wizards’ finalists.
Green and Lee are set to face one another in the NBA Finals, beginning on Tuesday night.
While many candidates have been linked to the Wizards’ and Magic’s head coaching jobs, things have been relatively quiet on the Pelicans front. Besides the names mentioned above, Pelicans assistant Teresa Weatherspoon has been the only other contender confirmed to be in the mix, and David Griffin downplayed the chances of her being promoted. It’s possible New Orleans’ search has been fairly narrow, but it’s just as likely that a number of meetings have gone unreported.
Is that former Sixer Willie Green? Good for him climbing the ranks.
Willie Green is getting the spot I’m calling it
This is the Riskiest job in the nba
I would prefer to Magic job
This job should be 3 year contract with team option at the 3rd year
Coach just needs to convert the tremendous talents to playoffs within a year
yes I think the magic would be a good fetch. Even if you make the playoffs the first year you could be fired for year 3 if the team is expecting to improve or win a championship. coaches are given so little time to actually do anything.
If Knicks are 4th seed, Pelicans are supposed to be 8th seed or better
Pelicans have a better talented group
Boylen spit on the sidewalk and admired the shine on his Sunday shoes. He tightened his tie, pulled on the door of Sam’s Used Automobile Emporium and scanned the showroom for the manager. He was going to be the toughest salesman ever.