The New Orleans Pelicans have had a disappointing season, largely due to injuries. After winning 46 games and making the playoffs last year, expectations soared. New coach Alvin Gentry changed up the offense, assistant Darren Erman simplified the defense and superstar Anthony Davis was supposed to join the MVP conversation. With three weeks left in the regular season, the Pelicans are 26-45, Davis is sidelined and the organization needs to figure out where it goes from here.
Part of the problem has been friction between Gentry and general manager Dell Demps, according to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Demps was unhappy with former coach Monty Williams, who did an incredible job with that team a year ago, winning 46 games and reaching the playoffs. Williams was fired and Dell Demps hired Alvin Gentry as his coach, and sources tell me that he spent way too much of this year second-guessing his own hire as a head coach, often in very public ways within earshot of players, staff and even opponents. Anthony Davis right now is the least of New Orleans' worries.
Gentry has had an extremely tough job this year, given that he was trying to completely change the way New Orleans played while dealing with a banged-up roster at the beginning of the year. As the season went on, the Pelicans never quite hit their stride and players kept getting hurt. Still, the coach is not beyond criticism. In an effort to improve their awful defense, Gentry has often played lineups almost completely devoid of shooting. When Tyreke Evans was healthy, he mostly played point guard, which did not particularly suit him.
When a general manager has problems with a coach, though, airing them publicly rarely solves anything. This report is troubling because it means that players knew there was a disconnect. That is not necessarily why New Orleans has struggled so badly, but it is the kind of drama that can tear a team apart.
