The Greensboro Swarm have a new head coach – At The Hive

The Charlotte Hornets and Greensboro Swarm have announced that the G League organization has a new head coach–DJ Bakker.

Join us in welcoming new @greensboroswarm head coach D.J. Bakker! 💜

🔗 https://t.co/jNB4nuSzc6 pic.twitter.com/DmRmuj38LP

— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) August 27, 2024

Bakker has a wide range of coaching experience at both the NBA and the G League level. He got his start as a video coordinator with the Bulls, which is an increasingly common starting point for eventual assistant and head coaches. He went on to work for a number of other organizations, including a stint as head coach of the Grand Rapids Drive in the G League, where he amassed a 39-25 record.

As far as I can tell, Bakker hadn’t crossed paths with either Hornets head coach Charles Lee or general manager Jeff Peterson at any of his previous stops. It seems like this hire was purely based on the interview process and a feeling that Bakker fits the culture and values of the Hornets new look organization.

We’ll see who fills out the staff and what the roster looks like in the coming weeks and months. The organization has historically treated the Swarm as an afterthought, but I don’t expect that will be the case with Peterson and company. At the very least, they’ve brought in a coach that has proven he can win in the G League. That doesn’t really mean anything too significant for the varsity squad, but it’s better than having a team that has no success and provides no viable NBA talent for its NBA affiliate.

If you want a little bit of insight on how Bakker coaches, there’s actually a course that he has available on transition offense. It’s $30 to buy the whole course, which I’m not going to do, but there are some free videos sprinkled in there to see what he’s about. I’ve liked what I see in there–heavy emphasis on running, player empowerment, positionless basketball, and limiting called sets. Also the Hornets were on defense in a lot of the example clips, which is kinda funny.