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New Orleans Pelicans: How Stan Van Gundy’s offense fits the team

By Aaron Kellerstrass

Bob Beyer can help Zion Williamson improve in Stan Van Gundy's offense for the New Orleans Pelicans (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Bob Beyer can help Zion Williamson improve in Stan Van Gundy's offense for the New Orleans Pelicans (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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We take a deep dive into Stan Van Gundy’s offense and what it might look like for the New Orleans Pelicans.

The New Orleans Pelicans finally got their head coach in Stan Van Gundy and now it is time to get to work.

Van Gundy was undoubtedly brought in to fix the Pelicans’ woeful defense and to help clean up their problems with turnovers.

Pros and Cons of Stan Van Gundy as head coach. light. Related Story

The Pelicans were 4th in scoring overall last season, so the offense was not necessarily the problem, though their turnovers often led to easy buckets on the other end, thus affecting the defense.

Van Gundy should help to clean up the turnovers, but what about his offense? Can the Pelicans be even better on that end?

Before we get into some of the plays that Van Gundy likes to run and how they might suit the Pelicans, let’s first take a look at Van Gundy’s offensive philosophy.

New Orleans Pelicans: Stan Van Gundy’s offensive philosophy.

Van Gundy has been consistent with his approach to offense as a coach. He has a fairly straight forward philosophy that he carried with him from Orlando to Miami to Detroit and isn’t going to change in New Orleans.

Here is what Van Gundy believes about offense:

  1. Reducing turnovers is key. Not only do turnovers take away offensive opportunities but they lead to easy buckets.
  2. Forget offensive rebounding. Van Gundy’s teams in Detroit did well in this category thanks to Andre Drummond but Van Gundy believes strongly in selling out on offensive boards to get back on defense and limit transition buckets.
  3. He likes to run. Van Gundy’s teams have always pushed the pace, which suits this team well.
  4. The big man is key in the offense. Most of Van Gundy’s offenses worked from the inside-out.
  5. Finally, he believes in being unselfish, moving the ball and making really quick decisions that lead to quality shots.

Van Gundy is known for his one-in, four-out offense in Orlando, but he has added some wrinkles and will continue to evolve in New Orleans.

Let’s take a look at how his offensive philosophy translates into plays and how it might work for the Pelicans.

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