- The New Orleans Times Picayune trio of Christian Clark, Scott Kushner and Rod Walker believe the Pelicans have improved enough to make the playoffs next season. They also discuss the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade with the Bulls and the acquisition of Devonte’ Graham from the Hornets.
Over the last few weeks, NBA teams have been overhauling their rosters, signing free agents, making trades, and locking up their draft picks to contracts. Prior to the draft and free agency though, several teams completed another major offseason change that shouldn’t be overlooked — over a quarter of the NBA’s clubs named a new permanent head coach.
One of the eight teams that named a new permanent coach this offseason simply retained a familiar face. Nate McMillan took over as the Hawks‘ interim coach halfway through the 2020/21 season, and the job he did the rest of the way, leading Atlanta to the Eastern Conference Finals, ensured the team wasn’t going to seek out a replacement.
The other seven teams, however, will have a new face on the sidelines to start the 2021/22. Here’s a recap of this offseason’s head coaching changes and a brief look at how they played out:
Boston Celtics
- Hired: Ime Udoka (story)
- Replaced: Brad Stevens (story)
- Contract details: Multiyear deal (specifics unknown)
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Jerome Allen, Chauncey Billups, Mike D’Antoni, Darvin Ham, Jay Larranaga, Charles Lee, Joe Mazzulla, Scott Morrison, Jamahl Mosley
The Celtics didn’t follow the usual script when making their head coaching change. Rather than being fired by the team, Stevens actually received a promotion to president of basketball operations, putting him in the unusual position of hiring his replacement.
Boston considered a mix of internal and external candidates before landing on Udoka, a former NBA player who was an assistant on Gregg Popovich‘s staff in San Antonio for seven years before also spending time with Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Udoka’s experience on Team USA’s staff at the 2019 World Cup worked in his favor, since he got to know Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart during that event.
Dallas Mavericks
- Hired: Jason Kidd (story)
- Replaced: Rick Carlisle (story)
- Contract details: Four-year deal
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Jamahl Mosley, Terry Stotts
The Mavericks took another step forward in 2020/21, improving their regular season winning percentage for a third straight season. Although Dallas’ season ended with another first-round loss to the Clippers, those positive strides made it a little surprising that the team ended up making major changes to both its coaching staff and front office. Carlisle stepped down and the team parted ways with longtime president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson.
The searches for a new general manager and head coach occurred simultaneously, with owner Mark Cuban leading the process. He chose Nico Harrison to head up the team’s basketball operations department, and they quickly zeroed in on Kidd – a former All-Star and NBA champion with the Mavericks – as the choice for head coach.
The Mavs are hoping that Kidd learned from some of the mistakes he made during previous head coaching stints with the Nets and Bucks and will form a strong connection with franchise player Luka Doncic, who wasn’t always on the same page as Carlisle.
Indiana Pacers
- Hired: Rick Carlisle (story)
- Replaced: Nate Bjorkgren (story)
- Contract details: Four-year, $29MM deal
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Steve Clifford, Brian Shaw, Terry Stotts
The Pacers’ head coaching change in 2020 looks like one of the worst moves of that offseason in hindsight. The team dismissed Nate McMillan due to his lack of success in the playoffs, but his replacement – Bjorkgren – was unable to even get the team to the postseason during his lone season at the helm.
After Bjorkgren’s brief and disastrous tenure, the Pacers will seek stability by bringing back Carlisle, who coached the team from 2003-07 and has recorded the 15th-most wins of any coach in NBA history. He’ll assume control of a veteran squad that looks capable of bouncing back and potentially securing a top-six spot in the East with better health luck in 2021/22.
New Orleans Pelicans
- Hired: Willie Green (story)
- Replaced: Stan Van Gundy (story)
- Contract details: Multiyear deal (specifics unknown)
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Charles Lee, Jacque Vaughn, Fred Vinson, Teresa Weatherspoon
Like Bjorkgren in Indiana, Van Gundy proved to be a poor fit for his new team and lasted just one year before receiving his walking papers. When the Pelicans launched a search for their new head coach, they prioritized finding a candidate capable of connecting with the young players on the roster — especially Zion Williamson, who will be playing for his third coach in three years.
New Orleans initially appeared focused on Vaughn, but the Nets assistant withdrew from consideration in order to remain in Brooklyn. At that point, the Pelicans’ search narrowed to Green and Lee, with the Suns associate head coach ultimately winning out.
Green only has five years of experience as an assistant under his belt, but appeared in the NBA Finals in four of those five seasons with Golden State and Phoenix. And the fact that he’s only six years removed from being in the NBA as a player should help earn him some respect from a young Pelicans team.
Orlando Magic
- Hired: Jamahl Mosley (story)
- Replaced: Steve Clifford (story)
- Contract details: Four-year deal
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Chauncey Billups, Jarron Collins, Mike D’Antoni, Willie Green, Becky Hammon, Penny Hardaway, Jason Kidd, Charles Lee, Terry Stotts, Ime Udoka, Wes Unseld Jr.
It didn’t seem as if the Magic were particularly eager to move on from Clifford, but the veteran coach wasn’t enthusiastic about embarking on another rebuild, so the two sides mutually agreed to parted ways a few weeks after Orlando’s season ended.
While some of the candidates reported to be on the Magic’s radar had previous head coaching experience, most were assistants who had a strong record of player development and wouldn’t mind growing along with a young, lottery-bound team. Orlando eventually chose Mosley, who was an assistant for the Nuggets and Cavaliers before spending the last seven seasons under Rick Carlisle in Dallas.
Portland Trail Blazers
- Hired: Chauncey Billups (story)
- Replaced: Terry Stotts (story)
- Contract details: Five-year deal
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Jerome Allen, Brent Barry, Mike D’Antoni, Becky Hammon, Jason Kidd, Dawn Staley
Unable to get the Trail Blazers over the hump despite a long track record of regular season success, Stotts was let go by the Blazers this spring.
After reports stated that Damian Lillard would have a voice in Portland’s hiring process, the All-Star guard expressed public support for Kidd and Billups. When Kidd withdrew his name from consideration, reportedly uncomfortable with the idea of pursuing the job following Lillard’s public endorsement, Billups emerged as the frontrunner and beat out finalists D’Antoni and Hammon for the job.
Billups, who had a decorated career as a player, has long been viewed by people around the league as a good bet to be a successful NBA coach. He’ll get his chance in Portland, though the team could’ve handled the hiring better from a PR perspective.
The Blazers, who faced some backlash due to a 1997 sexual assault case involving the former All-Star guard, told reporters they thoroughly investigated that incident and came away confident that Billups hadn’t engaged in any wrongdoing. Subsequent reporting suggested that Portland’s investigation may not have been as exhaustive as the team claimed. However, any blow-back to the poorly-handled process seems more likely to affect president of basketball operations Neil Olshey than Billups.
Washington Wizards
- Hired: Wes Unseld Jr. (story)
- Replaced: Scott Brooks (story)
- Contract details: Four-year deal
- Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Sam Cassell, Chris Fleming, Willie Green, Darvin Ham, Charles Lee, Jamahl Mosley, Scott Morrison, Ronald Nored, Chris Quinn, Kevin Young
Halfway through the 2020/21 season, Brooks looked like the surest bet among the NBA’s 30 head coaches to be let go at season’s end. A second-half surge and a play-in tournament victory earned the Wizards a playoff berth and made the decision a little more difficult, but the team ultimately decided not to bring back Brooks, whose contract expired this year.
The Wizards, whose search focused exclusively on assistants without prior head coaching experience, narrowed their list down to four finalists — Unseld, Ham, Lee, and Mosley. After Mosley opted to take the Orlando job, Washington chose Unseld over the two Bucks assistants.
It was a logical choice for the Wizards, who gave Unseld his start as an assistant in 2005 and who employed his father (Wes Unseld Sr.) for years as a player, coach, and front office executive. However, Unseld Jr. earned the job on merit, not sentiment — he spent 16 years as an assistant in Washington, Golden State, Orlando, and Denver, and the Nuggets lobbied hard for him to get a head coaching opportunity they felt he deserved.
Paul Millsap and J.J. Redick are two of the most talented unrestricted free agents left on the board, but there’s a sense that the two veterans – who are 36 and 37 years old, respectively – may not be in a hurry to pick a team for the 2021/22 season, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Redick has stated publicly that he’ll wait until sometime in the fall – or even later – to sign a new contract, and Fischer says people around the league believe Millsap will take his time too.
“I think (Millsap)’s gonna be a minimum or a midseason guy,” one source told Fischer. “What’s the rush? The money wouldn’t get much better, and he can just pick his team. What if New Orleans is really good come January? What happens when some guy gets hurt, and that team starts scrambling for a replacement? He can pick his spot.”
As Fischer observes, Millsap didn’t have much of an offseason in 2020, having reported to training camp about two months after Denver was eliminated from the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals. Facing another abridged offseason in 2021, Millsap may benefit in the long run from taking a longer break.
Here’s more from Fischer on Millsap and Redick:
- The Warriors have been the team most frequently linked to Millsap, but he has also drawn interest from the Hawks, Nets, Pelicans, Sixers, and Timberwolves, according to Fischer, who adds that there are no indications the big man has gotten close to finalizing a deal with any of those teams.
- Sources tell Fischer that in discussions with potential suitors, Millsap has been seeking a salary worth some or all of the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9MM).
- Redick figures to draw interest from teams around the NBA, with one Western Conference head coach telling Fischer that he’d like to have the sharpshooter on his roster. However, there’s a league-wide belief that Redick is eyeing the Knicks or Nets so that he can remain close to home. Some execs have speculated that Redick could even retire if he doesn’t land with either of those teams, Fischer writes.
- Any team with interest in adding Redick would likely want more information on the heel injury that limited him in 2020/21, says Fischer. Sources tell Bleacher Report that teams flagged that issue back at the March trade deadline when New Orleans was shopping Redick.
Josh Hart‘s new three-year deal with the Pelicans includes some unique terms, according to ESPN’s Will Guillory and Bobby Marks (Twitter links). In an Instagram video, Marks provides a more in-depth breakdown of the agreement.
After earning a guaranteed $12MM salary in year one, Hart will have a $12.96MM non-guaranteed salary in year two, says Guillory. If the Pelicans want to avoid paying Hart that salary, they’ll have to waive him by June 25, meaning he’d get a head-start on finding a new team in free agency.
If Hart plays out the first two years of his deal, his $12.96MM salary for 2023/24 would be non-guaranteed as well, but he also has a player option for that third year. It would essentially be a mutual option for Hart and the Pelicans. He’d have until June 24 to decide whether to exercise or decline his player option, then – if he opts in – New Orleans would have until June 25 to decide whether to guarantee his salary.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- Scouts and executives polled by Tim Bontemps of ESPN were critical of the Pelicans’ offseason, questioning the team’s decision to replace Lonzo Ball with Devonte’ Graham. “They’re a sinking ship and reaching for a life preserver that just isn’t going to help,” one Western Conference executive said. “I don’t understand how (Jonas Valanciunas) is going to fit. I don’t understand how Devonte’ is worth what they paid. It’s just weird.”
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic loved what he saw from the Pelicans and Trey Murphy at Las Vegas Summer League, noting that he talked to two separate scouts who thought Murphy was the best rookie in Vegas. Vecenie referred to New Orleans’ Summer League team as “juggernaut” on the defensive end, singling out Murphy, Naji Marshall, Herb Jones, and Kira Lewis for their performances.
- Murphy was one of seven players named to the All-Summer League First Team, per the NBA, as he joined co-MVPs Davion Mitchell and Cameron Thomas, among others.
AUGUST 19: Hart’s new contract with the Pelicans is now official, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
AUGUST 16: The Pelicans are nearing an agreement to re-sign restricted free agent wing Josh Hart, Hart’s agents at CAA inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Woj reports that the contract will be a three-year, $38MM deal. New Orleans had Hart’s Bird rights, so no cap room maneuvering or exceptions are necessary to make the deal work.
The 6’5″ wing was part of the loaded package of young players and draft picks that arrived in New Orleans in the deal that sent All-Star big man Anthony Davis to the Lakers in the summer of 2019.
Hart, 26, was selected with the No. 30 pick in the 2017 NBA draft out of Villanova. He spent his first two seasons in Los Angeles, showing promising flashes as an intriguing two-way swingman.
Hart has seen his touches on offense improve as a reserve for the Pelicans from his tenure in Los Angeles. During his most recent season in 2020/21, Hart appeared in 47 of 72 possible contests. Across 28.7 MPG, he averaged 9.2 PPG on 43.9% shooting with 8.0 RPG, 2.3 APG and 0.8 SPG.
Hart will be the Pelicans’ 15th player on a guaranteed contract, which means that power forward Wenyen Gabriel, currently on a non-guaranteed $1,762,796 contract for the 2021/22 season, looks like the odd man out.
Woj adds that the deal looks set to be concluded soon. Will Guillory of The Athletic echoes this sentiment, tweeting that “a few details” in the contract still need to be finessed.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AUGUST 19: The Nuggets have officially re-signed Green, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
AUGUST 2: The Nuggets will bring back reserve power forward JaMychal Green, an unrestricted free agent, on a two-year, $17MM deal, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The agreement includes a player option for the 2022/23 season, Charania adds.
After going undrafted out of Alabama in 2012, the 6’8″ Green logged time with the Spurs, Grizzlies, and Clippers before linking up with Denver. Green, now 31, initially joined the Nuggets as a free agent in 2020, inking a two-year, $15MM deal with a player option for the 2021/22 season, which he then declined this summer.
An athletic big man with long-range shooting ability, Green proved a helpful contributor in Denver’s frontcourt rotation. Across 58 contests with Denver, Green averaged 8.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 19.3 MPG, with a stellar shooting line of .463/.399/.807. He averaged 5.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG during 19 MPG in the 2021 postseason.
The Pelicans were also interested in adding Green this summer, writes Mike Singer of the Denver Post.
The Nuggets appear determined to retain some key role players this summer, as it was also reported today that Denver is set to bring back free agent shooting guard Will Barton, also on a two-year deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
AUGUST 18: Alvarado has signed his two-way contract, Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets.
JULY 30: The Pelicans are set to sign a two-way deal with Georgia Tech point guard Jose Alvarado, reports Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link).
Alvarado logged four seasons with the Yellow Jackets. During his 2020/21 senior season, Alvarado averaged 15.2 PPG, 4.1 APG, 3.5 RPG, and a whopping 2.8 SPG, on .504/.390/.838 shooting.
The 2020/21 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Alvarado was also a two-time All-ACC honoree and was named to the 2020/21 All-ACC Tourney team. The 23-year-old Brooklyn native is considered a solid shooter, off-ball scorer and playmaker, but his lack of size or athleticism could limit his NBA ceiling.
AUGUST 18: The Pelicans have officially signed Hommes to his two-way contract, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
AUGUST 9: The Pelicans are set to add 25-year-old rookie swingman Daulton Hommes on a two-way contract, Excel Basketball agent James Dunleavy informs Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).
Woj notes that Hommes is currently on the Pelicans’ Las Vegas Summer League team. After going undrafted in 2019 out of Point Loma Nazarene, Hommes spent his first pro season in the NBA G League playing for the Austin Spurs in 2019/20. In 36 games for Austin, Hommes averaged 8.3 PPG on 42.2% field goal shooting, to go along with 3.5 RPG and 1.2 APG. After that, he suited up overseas in Italy for Vanoli Cremona during the 2020/21 season.
Prior to embarking on his pro career, the 6’8″ forward was honored as the 2019 NABC Division II Player of the Year, as well as a First-Team Division II All-American.
As a two-way player, Hommes will be eligible to appear in 50 games for the Pelicans. He will also log time with New Orleans’s new G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron, during its debut season.
Hommes appears set to be the second and final two-way player on the Pelicans’ roster. It was previously reported that former Georgia Tech point guard Jose Alvarado would occupy the Pelicans’ other two-way player slot for the 2021/22 season.
Willy Hernangomez‘s new three-year contract with the Pelicans will be fully guaranteed for the first two years with a team option for year three, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link).
Lopez also provides the year-by-year breakdown of Hernangomez’s new deal. The Pelicans held the big man’s Non-Bird rights, giving them the ability to offer a starting salary worth 120% of his $1,939,350 minimum salary. That means Hernangomez will earn $2,327,220 in 2021/22, with 5% annual raises on that amount. The three-year contract will be worth about $7.33MM in total.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- Herb Jones‘ three-year contract with the Pelicans will be worth more than the minimum for the first two seasons, according to Lopez, who tweets that the No. 35 pick will earn $1.7MM in 2021/22 and $1.785MM in ’22/23. Both of those amounts will be fully guaranteed, followed by a minimum-salary ($1.836MM) team option in ’23/24. New Orleans is using a small part of its mid-level exception on Jones.
- William Guillory of The Athletic checks in on the Pelicans who have turned heads at the Las Vegas Summer League, writing that Trey Murphy and Naji Marshall look capable of emerging as regular rotation players on the wing. New head coach Willie Green has also done a good job emphasizing ball movement and defensive activity, according to Guillory, who says those are two areas the team needs to improve in 2021/22.
- After reaching a deal with restricted free agent Josh Hart, the Pelicans look like they’ll be just about finished with their offseason business, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. The team will have 15 players on guaranteed contracts and will have to rely heavily on internal growth from its young players in order to compete for a playoff spot in 2021/22.
3:34pm: Jones’ deal with the Pelicans is now official, the team announced in a press release.
1:17pm: The Pelicans have reached an agreement to sign second-round pick Herb Jones to a three-year contract, according to Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link). The third year of the deal will be a team option, Guillory reports.
Jones, 22, is a 6’8″ forward who spent all four years of his college career at Alabama. As a senior in 2020/21, he averaged 11.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, and 3.3 APG on .446/.351/.713 shooting in 33 games (27.3 MPG). The No. 35 overall pick, who also contributed 1.7 SPG and 1.1 BPG, was named the SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
While the exact terms of Jones’ new deal aren’t yet known, two guaranteed years has been the standard for players drafted in his range. The Pelicans will use a small portion of their mid-level exception to complete the signing, so they could go a little higher than the rookie minimum if they so choose.
Once New Orleans officially signs Jones and free agent big man Willy Hernangomez, the team will have 15 players on standard contracts, with Josh Hart still a restricted free agent. If Hart were to re-sign with the Pels, Wenyen Gabriel (who is on a non-guaranteed deal) would likely be the odd man out.