New Orleans Pelicans: The offense is still potent under Stan Van Gundy

Looking at how Stan Van Gundy reengineered the New Orleans Pelicans offense to make them even better in the preseason

Looking at what Stan Van Gundy has done with the Pelicans offense, it’s clear that he wasn’t content with just rolling out the same approach that the team used last season, even if that approach made them a top-5 scoring offense.

With Van Gundy in place, Alvin Gentry’s free-flowing pick-and-roll and fire away offense has gone by the wayside. The thing is, it hasn’t been replaced by Stan Van Gundy’s offense from Orlando or Detriot either.

Sure, Van Gundy still carried over elements from his previous offenses, with emphasis on his go-to “Horns” play and a good amount of pick-and-roll, but it’s different. This isn’t the spread pick-and-roll attack from Orlando either.

What Van Gundy has done, is turned this offense into an old-school wrecking crew. He’s made the New Orleans Pelicans shift from a team that plays with speed and finesse to a team that plays with physicality and attacks the paint with its frontcourt of Zion Williamson and Steven Adams.

This approach has seen the Pelicans get 37 free throw attempts per game which are far and away better than they were last year. But if you still think this team possibly lost a step, think again. In the preseason, the Pelicans are second in scoring with 120 points scored a game on average.

Now, the team’s assist numbers are down but I believe that’s because the team is employing multiple ball-handlers and attacking the basket more which are strategies that require less passing. This also seems intentional by Van Gundy because it’s helped bring the Pelicans turnover numbers down from 16 to 12.

Now I know, it’s only preseason, but if people can hype Van Gundy’s defense up right now, then we can certainly give some recognition to his offensive approach too. Now it’ll be interesting to see how this offense fairs against one of the NBA’s most perplexing defenses in the Toronto Raptors in only a few days.