Dark Horse Candidate: Kevin Ollie

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Anthony Davis AND Kevin Durant.
That’s the possibility that Kevin Ollie unlocks for you if he is the next head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. Now, Ollie is a great coach in his own right (and we will get to that), but this has always been a players league and a guy who can coach AND recruit is more valuable than one who can just coach. Ollie has a relationship with Durant from their days playing together, and Durant himself said that it was Ollie that was responsible for changing the whole culture in Oklahoma City.

Durant obviously has deep admiration for Ollie, and credits him with improving his mindset and professionalism.
And guess what? Kevin Durant is an unrestricted free agent next summer. A summer in which the cap skyrockets and the Pelicans could easily have the room to give him the max while also keeping Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis, Quincy Pondexter, and Tyreke Evans on the roster if they so choose. Or they can spin one of the guards off for another big. Point is, the Pelicans could easily have the two best players in the league 14 months from now, and that all starts with hiring Kevin Ollie.
But Ollie is not just a guy who might be able to recruit Durant, or even Westbrook in 2017, he is a fantastic coach in his own right that could bring out the best in the talent on the current roster. This time one year ago, Ollie was perhaps the hottest prospect on the market after leading UConn to the National Championship in just his third season as Head Coach.

You read about what Ollie does well from the writers who cover him and it looks like he is the antithesis of ‘Bad Monty’.
For those who don’t want to click the link, I will summarize it for you:
1. Fantastic substitution patters
2. Excellent in-game execution
3. Calls timeouts at perfect times
4. The ability to dictate and exploit matchups
5. Being able to predict what will happen next
The guy has the ability to bring everything to the table that Monty brought (great with players, Christian principles, good leader, etc.) but every single one of Monty’s weaknesses that drove us crazy is a strength of Ollie’s. He has lead a team to a title with marginal talent, at best, and he is just getting started at the age of 42. His best years just might be ahead of him.
Oh yeah – and being able to secure us an elite small forward for once wouldn’t hurt too.

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