1. Pablo Prigioni, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach
The name that could fly under-the-radar, but manage to get a head coaching job soon is the former NBA point guard Pablo Prigioni. A short lived career in the NBA saw Prigioni play for the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, and mainly the New York Knicks, over the course of four years.
In recent years, Prigioni held roles as assistant coaches on staff with the Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets. He was starting to become a rising star in the NBA assistant coaching ranks under former Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. That is another name to watch in this coaching search, with Atkinson likely becoming one of the more sought after for potential job openings this coming offseason.
The problem for going with Atkinson is the fear of getting ousted like he did with the Nets. Maybe the Bulls could look to a more underrated candidate that could breakthrough in the new step in the journey of the rebuild like Prigioni. It seems like Prigioni would be a more modern approach to helping this Bulls rebuild move forward, especially on offense.
Leading up to his first season as a Timberwolves assistant coach, Prigioni served as the head coach of their Las Vegas Summer League team. He was given the keys to the offense after that point. The Timberwolves are in the top 10 in points per game this season (113.2) and they’re getting up a ton of three-pointers and getting to the free-throw line a bunch (top five in both stat categories).