Jannero Pargo Named As Assistant Coach For Windy City Bulls

On Friday afternoon, the Windy City Bulls posted a tweet announcing the coaching staff that will be surrounding Conner Henry this season. At first glance, things seemed relatively normal as former coordinator of basketball operations Josh Kreibich was promoted to Windy City’s bench. Also Julian Terrell was named to Henry’s staff after spending the prior season as an assistant coach for Austin Peay University.

While those two names are definitely going to make an impact with Windy City this year, there was another name that caught the eyes of many people. That name was Jannero Pargo, who will be starting out his coaching career with Windy City.

Prior to his hiring, Pargo spent 15 years as pro guard where he played in the NBA, G League and overseas. During that time, Pargo played with nine NBA teams which included him putting up a career-high 13.5 points per game during the 2003-04 season with the Chicago Bulls. His solid play with the Bulls carried over into the following season as the 6-foot guard put up 10.4 points in five games during the 2005 NBA playoffs.

Looking past that two-year run with the Bulls, Pargo also spent time with the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans), Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets and the Washington Wizards. During that combined time with the team, Pargo put up 6.4 points, 2 assists, 1.4 rebounds and .5 steals on 39% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc in only 15 minutes per game.

After spending his last NBA season with the Charlotte Hornets in 2014-15, Pargo decided to end his career in the G League where he spent some time with the OKC Blue. During his final year with the Blue in 16-17, Pargo put up 12.1 points and 3.2 assists per game on 38% from field and 39% from beyond the arc on 7 perimeter attempts per game.

Pargo’s wide array of experience should allow him to immediately be a solid mentor to the Bulls roster. Although Henry or Kreibich may be bringing more coaching experience, its rare to find a coach that has the kind of on-court experience as Pargo. For a group of young players that are trying to figure out how their career will play out, its going to be good for them to be able to lean on someone that spent fifteen years traveling the globe playing everywhere from the NBA and G League to the Euroleague.

While he’ll look to be helping the entire Bulls staff, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he paid extra attention to two-way projects Antonio Blakeney and Ryan Arcidiacono. Not only is that because they’re currently getting paid by the Bulls organization, they’re both young guards that are trying to figure out how to make that next step in their basketball career. Although Pargo is just starting out as a coach, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him make a positive impact during his first season.