With the Lakers having won the 2020 NBA championship a few days ago, the next big league event will presumably be next month’s rescheduled draft. But right now, multiple teams are interviewing head coaching candidates. Here’s the New Orleans Times-Picayune on the Pelicans:
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported [that Stan] Van Gundy met with the Pelicans about their coaching vacancy and is one of four finalists for the job.
The 61-year-old Van Gundy, who worked as a color commentator for TNT during the NBA’s restart, has been a head coach in Miami, Orlando and Detroit. He has a 523-384 record in 12 seasons with those franchises.
Van Gundy’s best work came in Orlando, where he was in charge for five seasons. There, Van Gundy surrounded Dwight Howard with versatile forwards who could shoot and rode that formula to multiple deep playoff runs…
According to Wojnarowski, the Pelicans are also supposed to interview Ty Lue for their head coaching vacancy later this week. Lue, who has been one of the Pelicans’ top targets from the beginning of their search, according to multiple sources, is also being pursued by the Clippers and Rockets.
The Pelicans brought nothing to the table during their play in the Disney NBA bubble, but that aside, they’ve got a compelling roster of young talent built around young stars Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. The chance to coach them is a very solid opportunity.
I really liked Stan’s recent work as an NBA broadcaster. If he doesn’t return to coaching and sticks with TV, I’d have absolutely no complaint.
