Detroit Pistons: 5 outside-the-box coaching candidates
Detroit Pistons: 5 outside-the-box coaching candidates
Darko Rajakovic
Why he’s “outside-the-box”: He’d be the first full-time Serbian head coach in the NBA
Why it’s not going to happen: It might
Fans of the Detroit Pistons might be traumatized if someone called “Darko” were leading the team, but first name aside, Rajakovic is an interesting candidate who may eventually get a head job in the NBA.
He was the first coach outside of North America to coach a G-League team (Tulsa 66ers) and has since been an assistant with OKC, Phoenix and Memphis. He hasn’t changed jobs because of poor performance, just the opposite, as he keeps getting poached and is considered a very sharp basketball mind.
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He was named by ESPN as a “coach to watch” and they had this to say about him:
"“People all over the coaching world, as well as players who have benefited from his grasp of the game, rave about Darko Rajakovic. That makes a lot of sense when you consider he has been poached twice — Phoenix and Memphis — over the past couple of years by incoming head coaches assembling a staff from scratch. A European head coach has yet to break through with a sustained career in the NBA, but Rajakovic (Serbia) has the intellect and passion for the craft that makes him the current morning-line favorite to become the first. The man has authored academic-journal style articles about the evolution of the pick-and-roll, but he’s anything but academic in his warmth with players and fellow coaches.”"
Who knows, maybe having a Serbian coach would be the inside track to getting Nikola Jokic or other talented players from the region. Ok, so I’ve kind of talked myself into this guy too.
Jay Wright
Why he’s “outside-the-box”: He’s never coached in the NBA
Why it’s not going to happen: He’s retired
Wright is one of the most decorated NCAA coaches of all time with an outstanding 642–282 record and two national championships.
He was the face of Villanova men’s basketball for over 20 years before retiring last year and is just 61-years-old, so the right job could lure him out of retirement.
But would a Hall-of-Fame college coach really want to potentially sully his career by jumping to the NBA? Wright has a cushy TV job now and is probably enjoying not having any pressure or a ridiculous schedule.
Some think his retirement won’t last, and if he does decide to come back to coaching, a job in the NBA could be in his future.