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Shamit Dua: There really hasn't been any updates for the Pelicans search at the moment. The team is still evaluating and to my understanding the 5 names under consideration at this moment in time are: Borrego Ham Hetzel Mosley Rondo
According to sources close to the search, Borrego is one of the four candidates who have emerged as the front runners to land the job. He joins a list that includes Rajon Rondo, Steve Hetzel and Darvin Ham. The best guess here is Rondo and Hetzel are at the top of the list.
“I know I can do it now,” Rondo told The Athletic in March when asked if he thought he was ready to be a head coach. “I have the discipline, preparation and, obviously, it’s about having the right people around you. I feel like I know who I am, and I know the people I can trust in this business for the most part. “I’ve had a lot of great mentors, a lot of people rooting for me. I definitely think I’ll be ready to go.”
In his second season with the Bucks, Rondo was given the opportunity to be far more active by working out a role that allowed him to sit behind the bench with the team when he attended games — rather than sitting in the stands as he did in his first season. That improved access gave Rondo the chance to be a part of the action as it unfolded and have conversations with players and coaches on the bench. “Nothing beats being able to be around the game, having my input on the game, being behind the bench and being around the coaching staff,” Rondo said. “There’s a lot of great knowledge, a lot of great coaches, over 100 years of coaching experience in that locker room. “For me, it’s like, what I’m doing for Ryan, I’m trying to get those coaches to do for me. I’m a sponge. I’m taking notes. I’m asking a lot of questions, and I’m sitting quietly observing.”
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With so many experienced coaches around him, Rondo was given a spectacular opportunity in Milwaukee to observe how to do the job, but he also asked questions. “He has a trait that every aspiring, currently active or former coach should have, and that’s being inquisitive,” Darvin Ham told The Athletic. “He’s very curious to learn the process of things, what triggers certain actions, what triggers certain reactions on both sides of the ball. “He knows the game, but the art of trying to teach it so the players can comprehend it, that’s the part he’s picking up. The preparation process, how it goes from paper to film to actual on-court methods to after game time, and then, boom, rinse and repeat, so to speak. He’s been great, man. He’s just very intuitive, really asking questions.”
After Rondo served two seasons as a coaching associate, some NBA teams are wondering if he is prepared to make a Rollins-like jump himself and become a head coach. The New Orleans Pelicans have been the most aggressive in that pursuit, as team sources confirmed to The Athletic that Rondo interviewed for their open head coaching job last week and remains in consideration for the position. “I know I can do it now,” Rondo told The Athletic in March when asked if he thought he was ready to be a head coach. “I have the discipline, preparation and, obviously, it’s about having the right people around you. I feel like I know who I am, and I know the people I can trust in this business for the most part.
As Rondo continues to grow as a coach, Rivers said that Rondo has taken special interest in getting a better understanding of how to navigate the interpersonal dynamics of coaching. Keeping the locker room focused on achieving goals while also being able to discipline players or adjust playing times or roles of certain players can be incredibly difficult for some coaches. “The biggest elements of coaching are your patience and persistence, and you gotta pick your spots,” Ham said about his explanation of being an NBA coach to Rondo. “It’s not college. You’re not dealing with amateurs. You can’t come in every day and scream your way through practices. “You have to slow down, really articulate each and every detail of what you’re trying to extract from your group on both sides of the ball.”
The New Orleans Pelicans interviewed three coaches last week for their head coaching position, a source confirmed to The Times-Picayune Monday afternoon. The three candidates who were interviewed last week were Rajon Rondo, Steve Hetzel and Darvin Ham.
League sources say Rondo has been interviewed for the post after serving as a special assistant on Doc Rivers' Milwaukee staff. Rondo is said to have felt his first coaching itch while recovering from a torn ACL as a Celtic, prompting Brad Stevens to bring him into staff meetings.
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Marc Stein: San Antonio's Sean Sweeney and former All-Star guard Rajon Rondo are among the candidates to emerge in New Orleans' coaching search, league sources tell @JakeLFischer and me.
ESPN Insights: With his third assist in Game 2 vs. the Raptors, James Harden moved into 7th place on the NBA postseason assists leaderboard 📈 Harden passed Rajon Rondo (1,136) for that mark.
Around the league, Tyronn Lue is widely regarded as one of the NBA’s top coaches, as cited in the league’s annual general manager survey. His players buy in quickly. They arrive enthusiastic, energized to play for one of the league’s most respected coaches. They talk about his feel for the game, his ability to connect and why they trust him. But that same identity has produced a reoccurring pattern: At point guard in particular, those relationships have rarely lasted. In recent years, a steady stream of veteran guards have passed through the LA Clippers, drawn by Lue’s leadership and the promise of playing in his system. The list is long: Rajon Rondo, Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons. Each player has different résumés and expectations — and, in most cases, similar endings: quiet departures with little sense of closure.
Theo Pinson: You were on two championship teams. Lakers and Cavs. Which team was better? We go head-to-head. Which team win? JR Smith: Cavs. Not even close. Pinson: Not close?! JR Smith: I say it's not close because like with Lakers we got an older Rajon Rondo, got obviously an older LeBron James, an older Anthony Davis… In Cleveland you had Kyrie Irving. First of all, K, nobody on that Lakers team checking him. Nobody. Kevin Love… (…) AD was definitely gonna cook, but T the way Double T (Tristan Thompson) play though, I don't know. I don't know. I can't say he was going to cook because Double T like he knows how to get off the f*cking skin though. Like he got that little dirty Canadian play.
