New Orleans Pelicans: 3 uncomfortable conversations the Pels don’t want to have

Teams that overreact to one loss tend to make bad decisions, so the New Orleans Pelicans can’t make too much out of last night’s heartbreaker to the Portland Trail Blazers.

But this wasn’t just one loss.

This season has been a pattern that looks like a volatile stock, spiking up one game only to plummet for the next several.

It’s still way too early to give up on this season, as the New Orleans Pelicans are still inexplicably in the playoff hunt even though they have a losing record.

The Pels are still just three games behind the Nuggets for the 8th seed, but their inconsistency has not inspired much hope.

But it has inspired fans to ask some uncomfortable questions about the present and future of this team.

Here are a few awkward conversations that may have to happen soon. I took these questions from various fans on Twitter and I will try to answer them.

New Orleans Pelicans: Was Stan Van Gundy the right choice for head coach?

I’ve seen some variation of this question (usually with a lot more cursing) posed on Twitter nearly every day since the Pels hired SVG to take over for Alvin Gentry.

My answer to this would be “Pending.”

There are certainly some things to like about what SVG has done. The Pelicans have cleaned up some of their problems but others have surfaced in their place.

For example, the Pels are now one of the best teams in the league at preventing points in the paint, which was a big problem last season, but they’ve gotten way worse at defending the 3-point line.

This isn’t all Stan Van Gundy’s fault, which is why I think it’s way too early to say he was the wrong choice.

SVG was handed a team full of young players and a bench that is the worst in the NBA. He would rightfully shoulder some of the blame, but a bigger portion has to go on David Griffin’s roster construction.

Which brings me to my next point.