Welcome to my first NBA coach candidate list. I expect there will be more eyes on this than any of my coach candidate lists in college football and the NFL, so let me start off by saying welcome and check them out. I posted one about Cal and have the link for the rest of the coach openings in college football and if you want to check out the NFL, let me know and I will give you think link. Now, let me run down how this works and how I choose all of the names and placements:
The list isn't from who I want or don't want as the next head coach, it goes from the biggest (or realistic) hire to the most unlikely hire out there. I try to list the best candidates possible and the most talked about name(s) as well and intend to have no bias to my lists and will give out accurate takeaways why or why not hire.
In my tiers, I do not specify in what order I put them, I put them in all random orders. As long as they are in the specific tier that I seen fit, that is all I am worried about.
Before I post it and before I even start, I come up with names on the top of the dome that I see as good hires then I do my own research and see who insiders, beat writers, fans, and other media sources are naming and saying and then combine my list and their list(s) and try to come up with the best possible candidates. My 1.0 is usually multiple names and usually contains names of my preference. The updated lists is what I expect to be more accurate and more aligned to what the team is looking for.
Now, that I got some of y'all catched up, let me start by saying that this is the most difficult list I may have made. When I first thought of names, I was thinking they may want to hire assistants from successful teams like the Rockets, Thunder, or Cavaliers. Or maybe hot teams like the Pistons, Raptors, or Spurs. But when I looked at names everyone else was saying and the names that is allegedly top targets that it became clear that the direction teams are going. A couple of years ago, a young up and comer was seen as a hot commodity in the league, but now what they want are experienced head coaches. There are six new head coaches and only one has never been an HC before. Yes, I am including interims. The league has changed so much that the role of the head coach has became more like a parent of a teen rather than an adult figure helping grow young men to adults. This is like a long story that I will save for another day, but the names that I would consider is not on this list because they are not in the direction it seems New Orleans is going.
The Trend Hire
James Borrego, New Orleans Pelicans (Interim; 2025-26 season only)
You fire a coach because you don't get the results you want, you replace him for the rest of the season with the interim just to be able to keep the team floating, than you take the interim tag off because veteran coaches don't want to be involved in a rebuild. That sounds about right, but I like Borrego. Shown flashes at Charlotte but the team just felt stale and was ready to start over.
The Experienced Guys
Michael Malone, former Denver Nuggets Head Coach (2015-25)
An NBA champion coach who really turned the Nuggets around and found a diamond in the rough in Jokic. I just feel like his style of coaching is too old school for this era, reason why he got fired. He is always tense and fired up coaching which some players may feel threatened and intimidated about when directed towards them. They want a coach who uplifts players. That's no diss intended at Malone, this is just what I am getting from what I see and hear.
Taylor Jenkins, former Memphis Grizzlies Head Coach (2019-25)
This is an interesting one. Feel like he may work for a little bit, but will eventually lose the team when he continues to make small mistakes that will cost games as he shown with his tenure at Memphis that he caught a lightning in a bottle with a young, talented team and was able to win games by a big margin, but when the stars starting getting hurt and he had to put the backups in to win games, and the margin became smaller, the issues and mistakes became more evident.
Tom Thibodeau, former New York Knicks Head Coach (2020-25)
This would not be a bad hire if this is a more established team and you don't have much of a risk of losing your star player to an injury because your coach plays you like 36 minutes a game at minimum. I like Thibs, but New Orleans is not the right fit.
The Longshots
Kevin Ollie, former Brooklyn Nets Interim (2024) and UConn Head Coach (2012-18)
There are rumors that he is a serious candidate, I am not believing any of this as of yet. He may interview, but I do not see a future of him being the HC at the New Orleans Pelicans. Being a college coach and struggling to develop players after his championship season is the most glaring thing to me. There were NBA talent that obviously didn't live up to that hype whether that is the coaches fault or not.
Darvin Ham, Milwaukee Bucks (Lead Assistant; 2024-?)
This is an interesting one, but I just don't see a team like the Pelicans considering him and he will most likely be in place to replace Doc Rivers if he decides to retire after the season. Feel like both sides are on two separate sides.
Sam Cassell, Boston Celtics (assistant; 2023-?)
Do I think Cassell deserves a shot as a HC? Yes. Is it at New Orleans? No. Feel like he is looking for a more experienced team that he can have an easier route to win instead of a rebuilding team.
There is my list. I purposely delayed it because I know that TM3D1Glazer would want a peek at this, and with him taking a break I was waiting for him to return. Glad to see him back and wpuld like to know his thoughts as he may be the only Pelican fan here currently. I also want to add that I saw a rumor about Rajon Rondo taking over, but I did not see anything else about him being a candidate outside of what I saw from one beat writer. If there is any traction, he will be added to my 2.0.