New Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy began piecing together his staff this week, starting with a name he’s familiar with. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Sacramento assistant Bob Beyer will leave the Kings to join Van Gundy in New Orleans this season.
Beyer served under Van Gundy both in Orlando and in Detroit, coaching alongside him during the entirety of his runs with both franchises. In the duo’s final two years in Detroit, Beyer served as an associate head coach.
Since Van Gundy and Detroit parting ways after the 2017-18 season, Beyer spent a season at Oklahoma City before joining Luke Walton’s staff in Sacramento. Beyer also has stops in Toronto to start his career and Golden State and Charlotte as well, serving as an assistant both times.
Prior to joining the Thunder, The Oklahoman profiled Beyer and detailed some of the work he had done in his career to that point, largely alongside Van Gundy as mentioned.
“Stan didn’t describe Beyer as a coach who specializes in offense or defense, but one who is great at two attributes essential to assistants: Coming up with ideas on how to tweak a system and teaching those ideas exactly how the head coach wants them taught. Beyer ran about 75 percent of the Pistons’ film sessions last season.”
Van Gundy clearly trusts Beyer and the two have a long-lasting relationship. It’ll now be interesting to see if Van Gundy continues bringing in coaches he is familiar with or looks for fresh faces.
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