New Orleans Pelicans: Major strengths and weaknesses entering 2021

Stan Van Gundy’s history of winning and developing players will help the New Orleans Pelicans become a much better team in 2021

Strength #2- Stan Van Gundy’s Coaching

In my eyes, one of the biggest elements holding last year’s Pelicans back was coaching. Alvin Gentry is a good offensive mind, but he’s never been an elite head coach. He’s often too lenient and friendly with his players, and he rarely takes command of the defensive end of the floor.

That coaching style caused many of this team’s younger players to lose focus and play inconsistently for many stretches of last season, including during the NBA bubble where the team had a wide-open road to making the playoffs.

That shouldn’t happen this year with Stan Van Gundy at the helm. Van Gundy is one of the NBA’s most consistent coaches. He can be an authoritarian figure at times, but it’s always to benefit the team. In the end, many players tend to thank him for that and even find out that he’s one of the best teachers in the game.

I’m excited to see how that plays out for the New Orleans Pelicans this year. I’m predicting it might be a slow start at the beginning, but once players start to endear themselves to Van Gundy, and he gets his system in place, I think he’ll be an added x-factor that helps the Pelicans win games.

Specifically, I think Van Gundy’s presence and his history means that this team will play a more organized and disciplined brand of defense while limiting their turnovers on the offensive end of the floor.

Don’t pop out of here just yet though, I think there’s one more area of concern to address with this year’s New Orleans Pelicans. Let’s check that out.