The New Orleans Pelicans need a defensive mind who teaches discipline.
Defense and Discipline
Anyone who watched the New Orleans Pelicans in the bubble can tell you that their defense needs help. A LOT of help.
They couldn’t stop anyone in Orlando, let lesser players destroy them, seemed to have no scheme, effort and just plain stunk on defense.
This was the case all year, as the Pelicans used their high-powered offense to cover up their defensive limitations.
This finally caught up with them, culminating in a shocking 49 point first quarter for the Kings in a must-win game.
The next head coach needs to have a background in defense and a strong track record of teaching it.
Some of the limitations can be fixed by balancing the roster with more wing defenders and bigs. The Pels are lucky to go into the offseason with clear needs and an offense that is already a finished product.
But they also need internal improvements on defense, especially Zion and Ingram, who are as gifted offensively as anyone in the league, but don’t defend their positions well if at all.
They have to get a coach who preaches defense and knows how to teach it. If this team can jump into the top-10 defensively, they will be a title contender, as the offense is already there.
Another huge problem the Pelicans had was turnovers. They are so sloppy with the ball at times, and often go through stretches where they throw it away several possessions in a row.
This was probably my biggest issue with Gentry, as he never figured out how to get his team to take better care of the ball. Most of this is on the players, of course, but Gentry never held players accountable for making egregious errors.
Lonzo throws two or three inexplicable passes per game that end in turnovers. This has to end. Jrue Holiday jumps constantly with no plan and throws the ball away. Can’t have it.
The Pelicans top seven players all averaged at least a turnover per game, which is unacceptable at any level.
The next coach not only has to teach defense, but instill some discipline in this young team. There have to be consequences for continuing to make the same mistakes, which never happened under Gentry.