In part one of a two-part series, we highlight some of head coach Alvin Gentry’s recent comments on his New Orleans Pelicans team.
Head coach Alvin Gentry recently made some interesting comments during a podcast interview with NBA super insider Adrian Wojnarowski as well as a Q&A with Pelicans.com.
During both interviews, plenty of topics were covered, from Mike D’Antoni influence on his coaching career to his stint in Golden State and working alongside Steve Kerr. More importantly, however, Gentry touch on a few topics pertaining to the New Orleans Pelicans.
In this first installment, Gentry speaks about adapting to the addition of DeMarcus Cousins and upgrading perimeter shooting around both bigs, Anthony Davis and Cousins.
Alvin Gentry on how the acquisition of DeMarcus Cousins has changed the team’s style of play:
"“I think with the two big guys, the one thing we have going for us is that they are very skilled guys. DeMarcus shot almost 37 percent from three. AD didn’t shoot it very well from three but he’s very capable of doing that. They both are willing passers. Both can get up and down the court.“They both are very cerebral players so… we’ll play a lot of high-low stuff. We’ll still have situations where we try and get out in the open court. Spacing is still going to be very important. But I think those two guys can co-exist easily because both of them can shoot the basketball. Both can put the ball down. They’re both willing passers. So I see something that is really good. I think AD can guard that stretch-3, stretch-4 so as long as you got that, we can still play big.”"
Because of the versatility of both big men, it sounds like Gentry doesn’t think a huge overhaul of his system will be needed. As he alluded to, both men can get up and down the court, shoot the three and effectively move the ball in his offense due to their ability willingness to pass.
Now obviously, the idea and mantra of getting shots up in seven seconds or less will for the most part fall by the wayside. However, Alvin Gentry believes that his team can play big while still maintaining an up-tempo style of basketball.
Gentry also noted how AD has the ability to defend the stretch-3 and 4 positions, which will allow the Pelicans to keep both bigs on the floor when matching up with smaller lineups.
Alvin Gentry on upgrading perimeter shooting around AD and Cousins to take advantage of opponents double-teaming:
"“We’re gonna have to upgrade there and the players we have are also going to have to show vast improvements over the summer. If you’re going to play the two big guys that we have, obviously there’s gonna be a lot of double teaming… there’s gonna be a lot of those guys that are gonna have to make decisions… when there’s two-on-one basketball, they (AD and Cousins) got one guy with two defenders on them, there going to have to make decisions.“But in order to make that work… we gotta make perimeter shots to make the defense honest… that’s gonna be something that we’re gonna have to improve on in order for us to make a playoff run. Cause we’re not jumping one team, we gotta jump four or three teams to get there.”"
If the Pelicans want to be successful going forward, it’s not only going to be up to Davis and Cousins to dominate together. Rather, the burden of success will also rely on the other guys the team surrounds both bigs with. Keeping that in mind, opponents will inevitably send double-teams towards the Pelicans’ two best players and guys on the perimeter will have to take advantage of the added opportunities that will be open up.
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The team struggled with outside shooting this past season and is more than aware of this issue. As Gentry noted, they will not only look outside the current roster for help in upgrading that area this offseason, but also expect guys like Jrue Holiday (if brought back), E’Twaun Moore, Solomon Hill and hopefully a healthy Quincy Pondexter to help the team improve on the perimeter.