The Philadelphia 76ers just saw one of their biggest antagonists from not so long ago move up the ranks this summer after a sudden switch-up this offseason.
Jared Dudley, who was most recently an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks under head coach Jason Kidd’s wing, has gotten a huge glow-up. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Dudley has agreed with the Nuggets on a new deal that will make him the top assistant in Denver for newly installed coach David Adelman.
This movement on the bench further exhausts a Mavericks coaching circle that had already lost associate head coach Sean Sweeney to San Antonio and longtime player development coach God Shammgod to Orlando.
But of course, this is a sweet promotion for Dudley, who immediately went on to be in the coaching profession as soon as he retired in 2021 after spending 14 seasons in the league. Known for his basketball IQ and leadership skills, Dudley making the immediate leap was far from unprecedented.
Bitter 76ers enemy Jared Dudley move up the ranks this offseason
Dudley was never a big name in the NBA, but he is a rather memorable figure in Philadelphia, albeit for all the wrong reasons. As fans can probably recall easily, he engaged in a public feud with former 76ers star Ben Simmons in 2019.
During Philly’s first-round matchup in that year against the young and upstart Nets, Dudley famously said that Simmons, who was one of the brightest young stars in the league, was an average player when you keep him in the half court.
Amusingly, Dudley ended up dishing out a prophetic statement that would succinctly describe what Simmons’ career trajectory would look like later on. Still, he became public enemy No. 1 in Philadelphia for a short period, and to this day, he will probably not get a lot of fans in Philly.
Anyway, this is a great move for Denver, which seems to be hellbent on fortifying their coaching staff under Adelman following the abrupt exit of Michael Malone. And given the Nuggets’ aggressive moves in free agency (unlike the 76ers), they should be right back in the loop of title contenders next season with Nikola Jokic still at the peak of his powers.
Time passes, and in a rather interesting twist of fate, Jared Dudley turned out to be correct about the former Philadelphia 76ers star. That is an impressive degree of foresight, and it would be hard to toss it up as mere coincidence. Perhaps, that might be the reason why he is an NBA assistant coach now.