New Orleans Pelicans: Welcome to the Stan Van Gundy era

The New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to a deal making Stan Van Gundy the next head coach. Can he lead the team to championship glory?

Finally! After months of waiting, the New Orleans Pelicans have found their man, Stan Van Gundy is the next head coach. The man who previously coached the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons is returning to coach one of the most talented young rosters in the league.

To be honest, I couldn’t be more thrilled. Stan Van Gundy’s history from coming up under Pat Riley to developing young teams into winning teams makes me excited for this era of Pelicans basketball.

I believe that Van Gundy will make a positive impact on the team’s young core, specifically franchise stars Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. In fact, we’ve already predicted that the Pelicans will be the best team in the Southwest division this year and this hiring is only solidifying that view.

It’s safe to say that the Pelicans are one step closer to contention now, and should be a playoff team with Van Gundy at the helm next season.

Of course, I have to calm down my elation because I’m still stuck with one question, can Stan Van Gundy bring a championship to the New Orleans Pelicans?

It’s a fair question to ask given Van Gundy’s history. People don’t remember but when the Miami Heat won the championship in 2006, they started the season poorly to the point that Pat Riley fired Van Gundy and took the reigns himself.

Van Gundy made a trip to the Finals in 2009 with the Orlando Magic, but they lost to a superior Los Angeles Lakers team. You can also argue that if the Boston Celtics had a healthy Kevin Garnett, Van Gundy wouldn’t have even made it there.

That’s the only concern Pelicans fans should have, is Van Gundy the coach that can take this team to a title, or is he just a mentor that’ll guide the team to their maturity?

We don’t know the answer but I believe Stan Van Gundy can take the Pelicans to the championship down the line. After all, this will be the most talented team Stan Van Gundy will coach in his career, and the Pelicans didn’t hire him to lose.

Every Pelicans fan should be happy and share in some excitement because, after all the silence and criticism of David Griffin, it looks like he made the right choice by hiring Stan Van Gundy.

Now it’s time to see what the New Orleans Pelicans do in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft and free agency. Will the team begin to go all-in, or is this still a progressive build? We’ll have to wait and see.

Of course, we’ll be exploring how the Pelicans will operate under Van Gundy and what it means for this upcoming season as it progresses. For now, we’ll just leave it at welcome to the Stan Van Gundy era!