Pelicans: Why Pels’ fans should be excited about Willie Green

The New Orleans Pelicans finally announced their new head coach, Willie Green, former assistant for the Phoenix Suns.

The Pelicans are hoping that Green’s past experience with defense and point guards will be just the thing they need to get the most out of this young roster.

Unlike Stan van Gundy, who never really seemed like the right fit, Willie Green checks all of the boxes for what the Pelicans need as a he is a young communicator who knows the intricacies of the game and should be able to convey them to his young team.

But there are some specific reasons that fans of the New Orleans Pelicans should be excited about this hire, even if they don’t know much about Willie Green.

Pelicans: Unlike Stan van Gundy, the players will like Willie Green

Stan van Gundy is a well-liked figure around the league, mostly because of his commentating and his outspoken political views, but you rarely hear players saying many nice things about him as a coach.

Van Gundy is symbolic of the old school, hard-nosed kind of coach that some players have a hard time connecting with, which seemed to be the case with the Pelicans.

I’m not saying Willie Green is some kind of soft, “player’s” coach but he gets high reviews from peers like Chris Paul, who have both played with Green and been coached by him.

Chris Paul went as far as to say that Willie Green will be

"“…the most humble, prepared coach you ever seen in your life.”"

Paul is one of the most respected players in the league, so his words will carry a lot of weight. Willie Green is a guy the young Pelicans should like and relate to, which should help him succeed in areas where SVG struggled, namely getting his team to play hard all of the time.

Pelicans: Willie Green is a winner and has the rings to prove it

Willie Green has had more success as an assistant coach than most do by his age after winning two titles with the Golden State Warriors and getting to the Finals with the Suns, where he was in charge of the team’s defense, which was 6th-best in the league.

Green has been around winners and knows what it takes for a team to get to the top level, experience that will be invaluable for a Pelicans’ team that has little to no history of playoff success.

Being around multiple Finals’ teams should give Green the perspective he needs to get the most out of this team and convey to them just how hard it is to be tops in the NBA.

Fans should be excited about Willie Green, who is going to bring a whole new era of basketball to New Orleans.