The Pelicans are a fringe playoff team in the Western Conference, competitive enough to keep striving for the postseason but not quite ready to shed the mediocre label and genuinely compete. Unsurprisingly, Pels fans have started calling for head coach Alvin Gentry‘s job, William Guillory of The Times-Picayune writes.
While axing a head coach is often the first knee-jerk reaction that fans – and sometimes teams – have when things aren’t going as well as they could be, this could be a particularly bad time for the Pelicans to let Gentry go. For one, it would display a sense of desperation that could send a negative signal to their pair of superstar big men.
Guillory writes that both the coaches and the players should be to blame for the Pelicans’ woeful defense. They’ve ranked dead last in defensive efficiency this month, futile enough to overpower any offensive strides the team has taken.
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Nerlens Noel deal has been more of a disappointment than an outright mistake, Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News writes. Sherrington cites how little the Mavs had to give up for the big man as the reason why the trade isn’t as disastrous as, say, the Rajon Rondo deal back in 2014.
- The Pelicans are pleased with what they’ve seen out of Jrue Holiday off the ball this season. Scott Kushner of The Advocate writes that the converted point guard has enjoyed a career year at shooting guard.
- Does the pairing of Mike Conley and Marc Gasol have a future beyond this season? That’s what Chris Herrington of the Memphis Commercial Appeal asks, arguing that the Grizzlies tandem could conceivably fare well together into their late 30s.
I don’t know if I would really call the Rondo/Mavs deal disastrous. Pretty much the only useful parts Dallas gave up was Jae Crowder and what became a mid 1st rounder (Yabusele) who the jury is still out on. Rondo wasn’t exactly great in Dallas, but they didn’t REALLY give up that much in hindsight either.
Jae has turned into a damn good player that I would love to have back. You can never have too many of those type players
He’s overpaid now which makes him a negative asset
He’s usually more than $6.8!– but not this year. Does he not fit in with a competitive new bunch, or is it a LT decline? Maybe a bit of both.
“Usually *WORTH* more than $6.8”
The Noel deal would have been a disaster had he accepted that contract this past offseason. He had generational changing money offered to him. Noel has every right to bet on himself, but he’s going to be regretting that for the rest of his life.
As a Philly fan, I always thought that Jrue would have been better playing off the ball. He’s a good PG, but he has (and is showing) the ability to be an efficient scorer in an offense where he is not the focal point.