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New Orleans Pelicans: Alvin Gentry Finally Introduced As Head Coach

By Owen Sanborn

Jun 22, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry holds up a jersey during a press conference at the New Orleans Pelicans Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 22, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry holds up a jersey during a press conference at the New Orleans Pelicans Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Alvin Gentry has not been shy when it comes to his basketball crush on Anthony Davis. He made it evident immediately after the Warriors won the NBA title, and he didn’t hold back during his introductory press conference on Monday.

”We got the best player in the NBA, not named LeBron James,” Gentry told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. ”But I’m really excited. I look at the roster and a lot of these guys I have a special relationship with.”

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Didn’t Stephen Curry just lead his team to a championship and win the league MVP award? Isn’t Kevin Durant still in the league? 

These are probably thoughts running through your head right now. And look, I get it. Davis may not have reached that point yet in the general public’s eye. But he is coming. And coming quickly. (Cue the snickers from every teenage boy in America.)

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Apparently, Gentry sealed the deal with the Pelicans by incorporating a bunch of analytics and charts during his interview to better showcase how he was going to coach this roster to the next level. That is a good direction for the Pelicans to venture in moving forward as Gentry already seems to be showing more imagination than Monty Williams did during his tenure as coach.

Gentry’s initial focus of improvement has to lie within the team’s defensive structure. He figures to play the offense at a much faster pace than Williams ever did (the Pellies ranked 27th in pace last season), forcing the points allowed per game stat to possibly be misleading going into next year.

A faster pace does foreshadow more possessions for each team and thus more chances to put points on the board.

Instead, the focus will be shifted to defensive efficiency, where he helped coach the Warriors to a league leading mark. Gentry was on the Phoenix coaching staff during the “Seven Seconds or Less” days, so he knows a few things about squeezing out at least a league average defense while playing with pace.

Secondly, it is imperative for Gentry to help Davis reach the next level on the offensive side of things. Davis lacks a go-to move at this stage of his career, instead relying on his freakish mid-range shooting stroke, quicks and length to stumble his way into about 24 points per night.

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    • Given Gentry’s gushing about Davis already, it can be safely assumed that he has stayed up for the past few nights drawing up plays to utilize the talents of The Brow.

    Golden State was one of the best teams to watch on offense that I can remember because of the way the used motion and bended defenses in whichever direction they pleased.

    Curry was their gravitational force (having Klay Thompson certainly helps as well), soaking up attention from both primary and secondary defenders, which opened up previously clogged up lanes for his teammates to either drive or cut through.

    Davis could potentially be a similar kind of force (although not as strong as Curry’s because he does his damage beyond the arc) and I will strongly bet on Gentry being the right man to unlock all of the untapped talent that is oozing out of Davis offensively. The rest of the Pelicans should benefit from it, and I am eager to see this athletic roster finally be unleashed as a run and gun menace.

    Think of the Pelicans as a Corvette that was being driven like it was a Ford Taurus. It is needless to say that I’m excited that Gentry has now been given the keys.

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