Chauncey Billups made clear during his introductory press conference that he'd seek experienced assistants to join him on the Trail Blazers' bench. Just over a week later, three former head coaches have emerged as leading candidates to be his top lieutenant.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic , the Blazers are considering former Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks, Los Angeles Lakers assistant Lionel Hollins and former LA Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro as Billups' lead assistant.
While being introduced with the Blazers last week, Billups alluded to the likelihood of building out his staff with at least one former head coach.
"Just beginning to put it together," he said of his bench. "Me as a first-timer, it's gonna be really important that I have a ton of experience on my staff."
Though any rookie head coach would be well served by the guidance a lead assistant with years of top-level experience provides, Portland's reported candidates to fill that role aren't among the most sought-after available coaches on the market.
Former head coaches like David Fizdale and Kenny Atkinson joined the Lakers and Golden State Warriors, respectively, as top lieutenants subsequent to Billups' hiring. More highly regarded potential candidates like Steve Clifford and Alvin Gentry haven't been linked to the Blazers.
Brooks is the biggest name here, known best for his time molding Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook into megastars with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Those star-studded squads never won a title, though, beset by a series of untimely injuries for years before losing a 3-1 lead to the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, prompting Durant's departure.
Brooks spent the last five seasons with the Washington Wizards, helping them to three playoff appearances. He parted ways with the Wizards in June when the sides couldn't come to terms on a new contract.
Billups spoke openly about valuing defensive acumen in his staff, making Hollins the snuggest fit among the reported candidates to be Portland's lead assistant. An NBA lifer, Hollins' coaching stature grew exponentially during his time helming the grit 'n grind Memphis Grizzlies—one of the best defensive outfits in recent vintage—to the most successful stint in franchise history during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
He coached the Brooklyn Nets for two seasons before joining Frank Vogel's bench with the Lakers in 2019. Los Angeles owned the league's stingiest defense in 2020-21 despite LeBron James and Anthony Davis missing significant time due to injury, just the latest evidence of Hollins' strategic expertise on that side of the ball.
Del Negro wasn't just Billups' coach during the latter's two-season run with the Clippers beginning in 2011. A year earlier, Neil Olshey hired Del Negro as the Clippers' head coach in his first major piece of business as LA's general manager.
Aside from legitimate concerns about another personal favorite of Olshey's coming to Portland, Del Negro's record as a head coach is spotty. Both the Clippers and Chicago Bulls immediately vaulted to new heights when he was relieved of his duties in the lead chair, and the notoriously hard-headed Del Negro failed to peacefully coexist with Chris Paul in LA. The fact he's been out of coaching in an official capacity for nearly a decade speaks to the strength of Del Negro's resumé, too.
Frankly, these candidates aren't all that inspiring. More prominent coaches, apparently, aren't jumping at the opportunity to coach under Billups.
Hollins, though, stands apart from Brooks and certainly Del Negro as a defensive coach, and has been universally championed for his work as an assistant with the Lakers. Billups and the Blazers could certainly do worse as his lead assistant.
Amid widespread criticism at how Portland conducted its coaching search, however, it shouldn't be ignored that more valued former head coaches aren't even being rumored for the job.
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