New Orleans Pelicans: 3 ways Stan Van Gundy will improve the defense

We took a deep dive into how Stan Van Gundy will fix the New Orleans Pelicans’ defense.

The New Orleans Pelicans had the 21st ranked defense in the NBA this season, which is part of the reason why Stan Van Gundy is the new coach.

We already took a look at how his offense might fit the team, but how about SVG’s defense?

Van Gundy’s teams have been very good defensively, finishing in the top ten most of the seasons he’s been a coach. In fact, the Detroit Pistons were never outside the top-ten in Van Gundy’s tenure, and this was a team that wasn’t loaded with talent.

That’s why the New Orleans Pelicans should be excited about Van Gundy, as they had the 4th best offense in the league and can probably make the playoffs if they just improve defensively.

But how is Van Gundy going to do it? First, let’s take a look at his defensive philosophy and how it might improve the Pelicans.

New Orleans Pelicans: Stan Van Gundy’s defensive Philosophy

Van Gundy is fairly conservative when it comes to defense and a lot of his philosophy starts on the offensive end. Here are the basics of what Van Gundy believes about defense:

1. It starts on offense by limiting turnovers. Getting back on defense to limit transition is one of the foundations of Van Gundy’s defense. Since transition buckets are often the highest percentage shots, his defense revolves around limiting them.
2. Don’t give up points in the paint. The Milwaukee Bucks were terrible at defending the 3-point shot this season but had the league’s #1 defense. How? By stopping easy baskets in the paint. 3-Point shots are all the rage but layups are still easier, so force teams to shoot from distance.
3. Stay on the ball. Van Gundy likes to pressure the ball and close out on the perimeter. Most importantly, he wants his defenders to do this without fouling. Foul shots are another source of easy points that Van Gundy wants to limit. If you can keep teams from getting easy points in the paint and reduce their free throws, you are in good shape.
4. Finally, he preaches defensive rebounding over running out. Defensive rebounds are how you close out possessions, so he wants his teams crashing the boards rather than trying to cherry-pick on the other end.

Let’s take a look at how this defensive philosophy will help improve the New Orleans Pelicans.