A couple days before the New Orleans Pelicans traveled down to the NBA’s bubble, Zion Williamson and Jeff Bzdelik were chatting after a practice. The 67-year-old associate head coach told the superstar rookie that he wouldn’t be joining the team in Florida. Instead Bzdelik, one of the NBA’s most experienced and respected teachers, would fly to his permanent home in Denver, where, for precautionary reasons on the recommendation of several doctors, he’d support the team while being separated from them. (Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Lionel Hollins, 66, will also work from outside the bubble due to an underlying medical condition. Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni, 69, and Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry, 65, were “red-flagged” by the NBA earlier this month, but both are inside the bubble.)
Williamson wished Bzdelik well, then asked a question.
“‘Will you please just stay on top of me. Text me what I need. Stay on top of my defense’,” Bzdelik remembered. Shortly after that, Williamson received his first reminder: Young players have a tendency to relax off the ball. They have a tendency to react instead of anticipate. Have an awareness, be in early when you need to be. Have vision on man and ball, assess the situation.
Since he cracked the NBA in 1988, Bzdelik has developed a reputation as one of the sport’s most meticulous coaches. Occasional further reinforcements have been sent (Bzdelik doesn’t want to overwhelm players who are already receiving instructions inside the bubble), but nothing could prepare him for something like this.
Bzdelik’s choice, supported by the Pelicans, wasn’t easy: “I would have no problem feeling safe and comfortable in the bubble. None whatsoever. But this is not about me. I have one surviving brother. I have two beautiful children and a wife—we’re going to be married 45 years,” Bzdelik said. “I’d like to try and continue working the odds to stick around to enjoy my life with my loved ones. As much as I hate not being there with my fellow coaches and players, I’ll do everything I can from afar to help them.”
Despite being on the outside, Bzdelik keeps himself involved in New Orleans’ day-to-day strategic planning as if he were on the ground. There aren’t daily Zoom calls. He doesn’t participate in film sessions or address the team as a whole like he ordinarily could. Instead, Bzdelik holds a continuous stream of individual phone calls with coaches. “It’s like OK, I’m not there. I’m not in the trenches with them right now,” he said. “But I’m doing everything I can to give my thoughts.”
In some ways, Bzdelik’s relentless workload is no different to what he’d normally do: In addition to watching film of every practice, drill, scrimmage, and game multiple times—“If there’s a lengthy practice sometimes you can have 180 clips to go through,” he said—Bzdelik also spends hours on the phone every week with Gentry, associate head coach Chris Finch, and assistant coach Jamelle McMillan, who Bzdelik calls his “right-hand man.” The vast bulk of his exchanges are with Pelicans assistant coach Fred Vinson, who’s spearheading the team’s defense in Bzdelik’s place. “I talk to Fred more than I talk to my wife on a daily basis,” he said.
The most obvious difference is felt during actual games. Instead of sitting next to Gentry on New Orleans’ bench, close enough to shout out defensive instructions and reinforce different schemes and habits built in practice, Bzdelik watches the Pelicans at his kitchen table, in front of a laptop, with some fruit, a bowl of nuts, and a glass of water within arm’s reach.