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

New Orleans Pelicans: Stan Van Gundy’s defense reduces second-chance points

Close out the Possession!

The final way Stan Van Gundy will immediately improve the Pelicans’ defense is by ensuring they close out possessions with defensive rebounds.

The Pelicans were very good on the offensive glass but were just 18th in defensive rebounding percentage, which led to a lot of second-chance points.

In fact, the Pelicans were 26th in the NBA in second-chance points allowed, giving up 13.6 per game.

Van Gundy took the Pistons from 18th in this category to 2nd in just one season, then finished 1st and 5th in the following.

Van Gundy preaches boxing out on the defensive end and not selling out by trying to leak out early. This is one area where Zion Williamson needs to improve. He often tries to leak out for easy fast-break dunks, especially when he switches on the perimeter.

This leaves the Pelicans undermanned in the paint, which is one of the reasons they let up so many offensive rebounds and second-chance points.

While it was fun to watch Lonzo Ball throw full-court alley-oops to Zion, it wasn’t fun watching the other team constantly getting buckets on easy putbacks.

Van Gundy will teach rebounding on the defensive end and it could potentially save the Pelicans 5-6 points per game.

If the New Orleans Pelicans can reduce the easy buckets by getting back on defense, protecting the paint and grabbing defensive boards, they have a chance to make a huge leap defensively next season.

If they can get into the top-15 on defense, this is going to be a very difficult team to beat.