Boston Celtics defensive guru Darren Erman reportedly is leaving the team to join the New Orleans Pelicans and new head coach Alvin Gentry.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein first reportedly early Tuesday morning, citing league sources, that the Pelicans were “in advanced negotiations” with Erman. A few hours later, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported per league sources that the Celtics assistant had reached an agreement to become the Pelicans’ associate head coach under Gentry.
Erman informed the Celtics on Tuesday morning of his new position, per Wojnarowski’s sources.
Erman has spent two coaching terms in Boston — one under Doc Rivers, another under Brad Stevens — and one in Golden State, where he helped transform the Warriors’ defense into one of the NBA’s best from 2012 to 2014.
“Darren’s really a great defensive coach,” Stevens told reporters in October 2014, via MassLive.com. “He’s more than that. I think sometimes we pigeon-hole guys because he’s obviously specialized in that. But he is detail-oriented as detail-oriented gets. If your hands aren’t in the right place as you’re guarding in a pick-and-roll, or if your body positioning’s not at the right angle, or you don’t guard the post in the exact right way, he’ll stop it and he’ll correct it.”
The Toronto Raptors also pursued Erman this offseason, sources told Wojnarowski, with hopes of making him their defensive coordinator.
Gentry, who currently serves as associate head coach under Warriors boss Steve Kerr, was hired Saturday by New Orleans.
In other Celtics coaching news, former Butler player Alex Barlow on Monday informed The Indianapolis Star he has joined Boston’s staff as a video assistant.
“Two years ago, when (Stevens) left to work for the Celtics, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Barlow, who played two seasons under Stevens with the Bulldogs, told the Star. “I don’t know that I could have told you that I’d work for the Celtics out of college. Two years later that opportunity has presented itself, and it’s everything I could have asked for.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@thebirdwrites
