Pelicans officials determined that Stan Van Gundy’s style was not a match for the team’s young core and that contributed to the decision to fire the veteran head coach after just one season, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
Executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin wanted Van Gundy to give more playing time to first-round picks Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Kira Lewis, and Jaxson Hayes, but Van Gundy was more comfortable with veterans such as Eric Bledsoe, Fischer continues.
Parting ways with Van Gundy was also a means of currying favor with Zion Williamson, Fischer adds. Griffin had urged Van Gundy to make Williamson more of a lead ball-handler in the team’s offensive scheme.
We have more on the Pelicans:
- While assistant coach Teresa Weatherspoon has been rumored to be a potential replacement for Van Gundy, Griffin downplayed that possibility, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets. Griffin said her candidacy is “premature” and that people may have read too much into her being named the team’s Summer League coach, Guillory adds.
- On the other hand, assistant Fred Vinson will get serious consideration for a promotion, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Vinson has been with the organization since 2010.
- The Pelicans hit the jackpot when they won the 2019 lottery and selected Williamson. They’re hoping lightning strikes twice, Christian Clark of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes. The Pelicans enter next Tuesday’s drawing with a 4.5% chance of getting the top pick and a 20.3% chance of moving into the top four.
- Getting rid of Van Gundy so quickly isn’t a good look for Griffin, Jeff Duncan of The Athletic writes. Next season will be pivotal for the franchise and they need to hit a home run with their next coaching hire to help convince Williamson to sign a long-term extension next summer. Zion didn’t demand Van Gundy’s ouster, Scott Kushner of the Times Picayune reports, but New Orleans’ franchise player has often expressed dissatisfaction and frustration with the team’s inability to be a consistent winner. Making a coaching change now is a way of excising the possibility of Williamson becoming discontented with the franchise.
wait,,,Van Gundy wasn’t a good match? Who knew?
Stan Van Gundy was an absolute disaster. Brought in his negative cloud of hostile radical politics that alienated many…did not relate to the players…was a terrible strategist (why was Bledsoe playing – he is awful!)…and molded a team David Griffin called “low iq basketball” that continually imploded in the 4th quarter.
Are you confused about what website you’re on? This isn’t the Breitbart comments section.
Lol imagine being the person who wrote that comment, haha alright Karen dunbar99
But… true? Jason would seem to agree that politics can bring problems.
(IDK in SVG’s case)
Popovich has done it, but he has had a mediocre team of late.
The pelicans are such a terribly run franchise
Pelicans could be a good team. They need to dump Bledsoe and probably move BC of his contract. Maybe they line up as a partner for Kemba. NBA would benefit from a better team around Zion.
Considering they were terrible defensively. You would think Stan could of worked there. But you have to get along with your main players. I don’t see real player leadership on this team. They are young still. Zion is no playmaker. So that’s a terrible idea. He’s a scorer. They need the right coach I guess.
Van Gundy is allergic to rookies…nothing new there
I have to question this report. They’re the ones that brought in Steven Adams, and had several bigs on their roster, taking time away from Hayes, and giving them spacing issues. They also traded Jrue Holiday for Eric Belsoe, thinking he would give them a lesser version of what they had. SVG was the main one that started talking about getting Zion more opportunities above the break with the ball in his hands. The other issue is their defensive issues on the wing, which doesnt really help with playing guys like NAW, or Kira Lewis, who struggle on that end. I also feel like Lewis was overhyped. Had him a lot lower heading into the draft. I see him as a remedial Mario Chalmers, with more speed and less consistency with the jump shot…
They need to keep Josh Hart, more than anyone, but also, having Ball and Bledsoe play together in the same lineup as Zion and Adams kills their spacing. They mid want to look at a floor spacing big to potentially pair with Zion, and some help defensively at the guard spot/on the wing