The New Orleans Pelicans hire Jamahl Mosley, with the hope that he brings defensive grit and two decades of coaching experience to the Big Easy, aiming to bridge the gap between young talent and postseason success.
The wait is over, the New Orleans Pelicans have hired ex-Orlando Magic skipper Jamahl Mosley as their next head coach, per ESPN's Shams Charania. The outcome that has been increasingly obvious is the one that actually happens.
Reports picked up on Sunday night that the Pelicans had been waiting for Mosley to make a decision on what he's doing next. After just being a head coach in a stressful situation, it wouldn't have been surprising if he wanted to take a break.
Mosley played college basketball for the Colorado Buffaloes back in the late 90s and then had an international career in the early 2000s, but pretty quickly transitioned into being a coach. He became a Denver Nuggets player development coach in 2005 and the rest is history.
Having someone who is simultaneously fairly young at 47, but also has over 20 years of experience coaching in the NBA is a fun combination. He's not exactly a peer of the players, but is young enough to still connect. Similar to James Borrego, who is 48.
As the head coach of the Magic, Mosley went 189-221 over five seasons. That makes his tenure sound far worse than it actually was, because of the two years of rebuild where they finished far below .500. For the final three years, though, he get them to the playoffs.
There is a chance that Mosley got Orlando as far as they could go with their current roster construction. Things certainly got stale, but he did a good job of turning the franchise around.
Fans in New Orleans can expect the Wisconsin native to preach defense night in and night out, and echo what Joe Dumars has expected out of the culture of the Pelicans locker room.
