The coaching carousel in the NBA continues to turn and the New Orleans Pelicans made their hire on Wednesday when they brought Stan Van Gundy back from the broadcast booth on to their sidelines.
Now, he will need to build his coaching staff and one of the names is a current Philadelphia 76ers assistant.
Ime Udoka was in the running for the Chicago Bulls head job before they hired Billy Donovan and he was also in the running for the Sixers job before they hired Doc Rivers. Now that Rivers has already hired Dave Joerger and he is now looking at Roy Rogers as well, it appears that Udoka might have to look for a new job.
With the Pelicans hiring Van Gundy, there are two names to watch on the assistant coaching front and Udoka is one of them per HoopsHype:
Two assistant coaching candidates under consideration for Van Gundy’s staff are Ime Udoka and Charles Lee, league sources told HoopsHype. Udoka spent seven seasons as a Spurs assistant before joining the 76ers as an assistant coach last season. Lee has worked alongside Mike Budenholzer as an assistant dating back to the 2014-15 season with the Hawks and followed him to the Bucks.
Udoka has a great reputation around the league and this could be a new opportunity for him. Philadelphia is looking to revamp their organization from coaching to the front office staff so he could just be on the move for a new job. [lawrence-related id=38564,38561,38558]