Pelicans Place Kevin Ollie on Growing Head-Coach Shortlist
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Kevin Ollie, who finished the 2023/24 season as the Brooklyn Nets’ interim coach, has emerged as a candidate for the New Orleans Pelicans’ full-time head-coaching position, SNY’s Ian Begley reported on November 15.
The 51-year-old former UConn coach won an NCAA championship with the Huskies in 2014 and later guided Overtime Elite from 2021 to 2023. He interviewed for the Detroit Pistons’ top job during the 2023 offseason before spending part of last season on the Nets’ bench.
Interim coach James Borrego, promoted after Willie Green’s dismissal last month, will also receive formal consideration when the organization begins interviews, according to Begley.
Front office weighing options
Despite Borrego’s strong reputation inside the new basketball operations group led by executive vice president Joe Dumars, skepticism remains that the former Charlotte Hornets coach will keep the role permanently, ClutchPoints’ Chris Dodson reported. Citing a team source, Dodson said Dumars is “quietly looking” for a leader capable of overhauling team culture. Dodson listed Michael Malone and Taylor Jenkins among six outside possibilities.
Dumars explains Green firing
Speaking on a conference call, Dumars said the team’s effort level prompted the move away from Green. “If we start losing the same way over and over again, that’s not improvement,” he told reporters, per Pelicans.com. Dumars stressed that playing hard every night was the first step toward establishing an identity.
Trade-asset perspective
Dumars also downplayed concerns about the 2026 first-round pick New Orleans sent to Atlanta in the draft-day deal for rookie Derik Queen. “I’m not sitting here worried about the pick that we don’t have,” he said, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk.
Source: HoopsRumors
