[jwplayer nZmSf4Fb-z6KDnl0B]
Name: Ty Lue
Age: 43
Experience: 4 years as head coach in Cleveland; four years as assistant in Boston, Los Angeles; one year as associate head coach in Cleveland
Coaching record: 128-83 in regular season, 41-20 in playoffs, 1 NBA title
Overview
David Griffin’s claim after firing Alvin Gentry that the Pelicans are the most attractive job in the NBA will likely be put to the test if they’re interested in Ty Lue. Currently the hottest name on the coaching market, Lue will be a highly sought-after name for many teams with openings, namely in the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
Both franchises are in vastly different mindset than the Pelicans. Both have a pair of superstars and are focused on competing not for playoff spots but for titles. Lue has an NBA title in Cleveland, leading LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love over the Warriors in 2015-16. He also led the Cavaliers to two more Finals appearances the following years before being fired six games into his first season without James.
While the Sixers and Nets can offer a different situation, what they can’t offer is a relationship that David Griffin and Lue built in Cleveland. Together, the two crafted teams around James to repeatedly make trips to the Finals. Only after Griffin left was Lue fired.
Is a connection and relationship with the front office enough for Lue to sacrifice a chance at a title for multiple seasons as the Pelicans continue to build to that stage?
Coaching style
While the Cavalier teams under Lue were juggernauts offensively, Lue is generally regarded as a defense-first head coach. Lue was able to craft offenses that heavily relied on the brilliance of James and Irving but were wildly successful.
His work defensively, though, could be summed up in how his teams often flipped a switch in the postseason. In his last full season with the Cavaliers, the team went from 21st in the league defensively at a 109.7 defensive rating to the fourth-best defense heading into the Finals.
For the Pelicans, defense was often optional this season as they ranked 21st in defensive rating. It was a lack of defense that cost the team a chance at the playoffs inside the bubble. Lue would certainly be able to step in and help on that end of the court. Offensively, his pace and space approach he used with the James-Irving-Love Cavaliers wouldn’t differ all too much from Gentry’s system this year.
He would provide the team with both a player-friendly coach and one that holds the team accountable. He would command respect after spending nearly every year in the NBA as player or coach since 1998-99.
How he’d fit with Lonzo Ball
It’s hard to look at exactly how Lue-run offense would help Ball given how the Cavalier teams were constructed. Irving is nothing like Ball and in the one season Cleveland did not have Irving, James had a 31.6% usage rate.
Lue has been one of the top assistants in the league for longer than he’s been the head coach. He has experience in the development of players, but he’s also been fortunate to find himself with title-challenging teams rather than rebuilding ones.
Assuming he would apply his pace-and-space offense to New Orleans, it would suit Ball’s playstyle as an up-tempo guard. But the last time Lue had a young point guard to help mold, his tenure lasted all of six games in the 2018-19 season.
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