The New Orleans Pelicans had a frustrating season that showed big potential at times but also a whole lot of problems.
The Pelicans clearly have some glaring holes to fix in the offseason if they want to make the leap from fringe play-in contender to the playoffs, which is what fans will expect in Zion Williamson‘s third year in the league.
The young Pels had a challenging season, like all NBA teams, as COVID made practices few and far between, which wasn’t easy for a team with a new coach and a lot of young players.
But fans and the Pels’ front office aren’t going to have endless patience with losing either, and at some point someone will be held accountable if they don’t start winning.
That person will almost certainly be Stan Van Gundy.
New Orleans Pelicans: Winning fixes everything
There have been some reports of “friction” in the Pelicans’ locker room between Van Gundy and some of the Pelicans’ players.
This comes with losing, but Van Gundy also has a no-nonsense style and doesn’t hold back in calling players (and himself at times) out when they make mistakes.
This is part of the reason Van Gundy was hired, to bring accountability to a young team and to establish a culture of consistency and winning.
If the Pels make the right offseason moves and start out strong next season, all of this will be forgotten and there will be nothing but love and peace coming out of the locker room reports.
But if the Pels start out slowly and frustrations start to mount, these types of things lead to coaches losing their jobs, especially considering the Pelicans are going to be desperate to please Zion Williamson with a winning team and a coach he likes.
Winning fixes everything, so SVG isn’t on the hot seat yet, but patience will be in short supply next season when fans expect to see results and are going to let the team know about it if they don’t get them.