Is Alvin Gentry The Right Man For The New Orleans Pelicans?
By Mark Nilon
With Wednesdays season opener already in the books, and tonights just on the horizon, New Orleans fans are waiting tirelessly to see their teams first victory since April 12th. When discussing the Pelicans, one cannot ignore the fact that they have not sniffed a postseason birth since 2015. With guys like Jrue Holiday, DeMarcus Cousins and, of course, Anthony Davis on the roster, “a lack of talent” is not a viable excuse in regards to their playoff drought. And, while it takes an entire team effort to succeed in Basketball, sometimes it can take just one person to hold a franchise back. In regards to the New Orleans Pelicans, is it possible that head coach Alvin Gentry is that one person keeping this organization in lackluster purgatory?
To start off, let me say that I actually like Alvin Gentry. I do not know him personally but, from what I hear, being labeled as both “likeable and approachable” by many who know him, overall he seems like a genuinely good human being. Alvin Gentry the person is someone I really admire. Alvin Gentry the coach, however? Well, that’s a different story.
Gentry’s NBA head coaching career dates back to 1994, when then Miami Heat head coach Kevin Loughery was fired from the franchise after compiling a 17-29 record in the first 46 games of the season. With no prior experience to date, Gentry was seen merely as a “temporary filler” for the South Beach ball club.
Finishing the year with a 15-21 record, Gentry simply did not do enough to secure a long term deal with the organization. Miami ended up signing the most recently departed Knicks head coach Pat Riley while Gentry landed with Detroit.
After just a few short years, Gentry again found himself in an interim position, filling in for Doug Collins with only 37 games left in the season. Although the team finished with a less than stellar 16-21 record under his control, Detroit decided he would come back the following season as their main man.
Following his short tenure with the Pistons (2 seasons) Gentry managed to ink a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers to take the helm as head coach.
And while this was actually his first team in which he was the head man from day 1, like his other gigs, the marriage did not last long. For the third time in his career, the team Gentry was on made a coaching change before the end of the season.
Only this time, it was he who was being ousted.
After his firing, it took Gentry 6 years to finally get another crack at a head coaching job. Similar to 2 of his previous 3 positions, he was the beneficiary of a layoff. In 2008-09, Gentry replaced Terry Porter after 51 games in Phoenix. With the remaining 31 games, Gentry actually shined with his up-tempo system, finishing with a respectable 18-13 record.
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Gentry found quite a bit of success while in Phoenix. In his first full season, the Suns finished with a 54-28 record and ended up in the Western Conference finals, losing to the eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers in 6. Unfortunately, however, this was the peak of his success.
In his 5 years with the team, Phoenix made the playoffs just once (Western Conference Finals loss). Every year preceding 2009, the Suns seemed to progressively get worse and worse. And, like his previous job, Gentry was let go before the end of the 2012-13 season.
His first 12 years with head coaching experience accumulated to a 335-370 record; a winning percentage of only 47%. Now, after two full season with the New Orleans Pelicans, that winning percentage has fell to 45% (30-52 in 2015 and 34-48 in 2016). When looking at his coaching records throughout the year, one will notice that he’s only had 2 seasons in which his team won more games than they lost (1998 and 2009).
In the case for New Orleans sure, one can say health has contributed to their two pedestrian seasons under Gentry but, at the end of the day, it’s up to the coach to succeed with what’s given to him. And now, with an almost 100% healthy roster, minus Rajon Rondo, the Pelicans again are off to a slow start.
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In the Pelicans season opener on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, the team disappointed greatly. While the usual suspects of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins did their thing (61 points, 28 rebounds and 8 blocks among the two of them) the rest of the supporting cast was quite underwhelming.
Jrue Holiday put up a whopping 4 points, 4 assists and 3 turnovers.
Jordan Crawford had 5 points, 3 assists and 2 turnovers.
If your third and fourth scoring options are putting up a combined 9 points amongst themselves, it’s safe to say there’s reason for worry. And, although the players underperforming may not entirely be the fault of the coach, the play calling surely can have an impact.
Throughout the game it appeared as though the Pelicans did not have any in-depth plays to run. By this, I mean, it seemed as if Gentry wrote on his dry erase board “pass it to AD and Boogie and see what happens.”
Stagnant offenses will get you NOWHERE in this league. And, though Gentry is widely known as an offensive minded coach (Phoenix averaged 110.2 PPG in 2009), for some reason he cannot seem to find that success that made him such a highly sought after coaching candidate in the summer of 2015. Since taking the reigns of the organization, New Orleans has ranked 13th and 18th (respectively) in the league in PPG averages. To say Gentry’s tenure thus far with the Pelicans has been a letdown would be an understatement.
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Inheriting a team that gave the eventual Golden State Warriors a run for their money in the first round of the 2014 playoffs, losing by point differentials of 7, 10, 4 and 11, fans expected the team to come back stronger the next season under their new head man. Now, 3 years since then, the Pelicans have finished 12th and 10th respectively in the Western Conference standings.
To see a team rostering talents such as Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and Jrue Holiday struggle as much as they have is a bit concerning. And while tonights game only marks the second on the season, if they come stumbling out of the gates like they did Wednesday in Memphis, it should only be a matter of time before big changes are made in New Orleans.
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Maybe Gentry’s coaching style just isn’t the right fit for the big man oriented NOLA roster. Maybe once Rondo comes back, all the Pelicans offensive woes will be forgotten. Whatever way you view this situation, the Pels’ still have many games to play and try and figure things out. However, if they don’t start winning soon, it could lead to the end of the Gentry era in New Orleans.
All statistics and records are provided by ‘NBA.com‘ and ‘basketball-reference’.