{"id":728701,"date":"2026-05-08T06:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T06:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/728701\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T06:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T06:54:18","slug":"coaching-rumors-splitter-blazers-pelicans-thibodeau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/728701\/","title":{"rendered":"Coaching Rumors: Splitter, Blazers, Pelicans, Thibodeau"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tiago Splitter did an admirable job in Portland after taking over for Chauncey Billups during the first week of the 2025\/26 season, leading the team to a 42-39 record the rest of the way and earning a playoff spot. However, sources with knowledge of the situation tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line<\/a> (Substack link) that Splitter appears unlikely to be hired as the Trail Blazers\u2018 permanent head coach.<\/p>\n

The Blazers\u2019 goal is to interview upwards of 30 candidates for the job, according to Fischer, who explains that new team owner Tom Dundon wants to gather as much intel as possible on the coaching market before making a decision. However, the manner in which Dundon has operated since taking over control of the team \u2013 immediately<\/a> implementing<\/a> cost-cutting measures and launching the head coaching search<\/a> before the season ended \u2013 has turned off some potential targets.<\/p>\n

According to Fischer, multiple assistant coaches around the NBA have declined to reciprocate the Blazers\u2019 interest due to Dundon\u2019s approach and rumors that the team is looking to pays its new coach well below the standard market rate.<\/p>\n

Nets assistant Steve Hetzel and Nuggets assistant Jared Dudley are among the candidates to watch, per Fischer, though he notes that Hetzel is also in the running for the Pelicans\u2019 vacancy. Hetzel previously worked in Portland and overlapped with Damian Lillard<\/a> during the point guard\u2019s previous stint with the team, and Lillard has suggested some potential candidates to management during the coaching search, Fischer says.<\/p>\n

Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (Twitter link<\/a>) also identifies Lakers assistant Greg St. Jean\u00a0as one possible candidate getting a look from the Blazers.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more coaching rumors and notes from around the NBA:<\/p>\n

Both Hetzel and Bucks assistant Darvin Ham have made \u201cstrong impressions\u201d on Pelicans team officials during New Orleans\u2019 coaching search, Fischer reports. However, he says there\u2019s a growing sense that Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney, who is also believed to be drawing interest from the Bulls and Magic, won\u2019t be attainable for the Pelicans. It\u2019s also unclear, Fischer says, whether anything will come of New Orleans\u2019 reported interest in Jamahl Mosley, since it\u2019s possible he won\u2019t want to jump right into a new head coaching job after being fired by Orlando.
\nAlthough Tom Thibodeau would be open to reuniting<\/a> with the Bulls, the rebuilding club may not be a match for the veteran head coach, who is more likely to seek out a win-now situation, Fischer writes. Based on Fischer\u2019s conversations with sources, the Magic job is the one viewed as most appealing to that type of candidate.
\nConner Varney, who had been working as a coaching associate under Quin Snyder in Atlanta, is leaving the Hawks to take a job with the Butler Bulldogs, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link<\/a>). Varney will reunite with Ronald Nored, a former Hawks assistant who was hired<\/a> as Butler\u2019s head coach in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tiago Splitter did an admirable job in Portland after taking over for Chauncey Billups during the first week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,90392,125,1849,26288,2684,13096,6,478,470,4073,4072,675,11784,11785,15840,39242,1416],"class_list":["post-728701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-basketball","tag-conner-varney","tag-damian-lillard","tag-darvin-ham","tag-greg-st-jean","tag-jamahl-mosley","tag-jared-dudley","tag-nba","tag-new-orleans","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-neworleans","tag-neworleanspelicans","tag-pelicans","tag-sean-sweeney","tag-steve-hetzel","tag-tiago-splitter","tag-tom-dundon","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116537646390922260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}