Another year, another new coach for the New Orleans Pelicans who will be tasked with improving the team’s defense. Can coach Willie Green turn it around?
The Pelicans were 23rd in defensive rating last season under Stan Van Gundy, a slight improvement from the year before but still not enough to get the Pels into the playoffs.
Willie Green will have a much different roster to work with around Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, two guys who are not known for their defense.
Can coach Green manage to build a quality defense that can propel the Pelicans into the playoffs? He’s got the resume.
New Orleans Pelicans: Willie Green and the Phoenix Suns’ defense
Willie Green was the assistant in charge of defense for the Phoenix Suns last year under head coach Monty Williams.
The Suns have never been a team known for defense, but Williams and Green changed that last season, as the Suns were one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
They ended up 6th in defensive rating and were top-5 in several key categories, which is one of the reasons they were able to make a deep run in the playoffs last season.
This was partially due to some key veteran additions, specifically Chris Paul and Jae Crowder, whose experience and quality team defense helped make everyone else better on that end.
Coach Willie Green was also a big part of that improvement, so can he do the same thing for the New Orleans Pelicans? Here are some ways his defense should be different.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels will communicate on defense
One thing that Stan Van Gundy noticed about his team last season is that they were quiet.
Their two star players are not outspoken leaders yet and the Pelicans lacked a strong veteran presence to vocally lead them on the defensive end.
That was not the case in Phoenix, who had Chris Paul shouting out instructions and switches. You can see (and hear) their work here as they keep forcing the Celtics’ stars into tough shots that are always contested.
We already got a peek at how the Pelicans might be different through their undefeated run in Summer League.
If you watched the games, the Pels were communicating much better, especially Naji Marshall, who was not only vocal on the floor but also from the bench.
Green will stress communication on the defensive end and will use guys like Marshall and Josh Hart to lead the team defensively, call out switches and keep the team motivated.
The Pels have much more of a position-less roster that should be more versatile and dynamic defensively and coach Green will have them talking.
New Orleans Pelicans: Willie Green will have the Pels defending the 3-point shot
The 3-point shot has become a lot more common over the past decade and now just about every team is following the analytics that say you should should more of them.
Some teams, namely the Milwaukee Bucks, have decided to let teams shoot them and to double down on stopping the easier shots in the interior. This worked for the Bucks, who have one of the league’s best defenses, but they also have Giannis Antetokounmpo, an otherworldly defender who makes any strategy look good.
Stan Van Gundy tried the same strategy with the Pelicans, doubling down on interior defense and daring the other teams to shoot. And they did.
The Pelicans were 26th in the NBA in opponents’ 3-point percentage, which is one of many reasons their defense was terrible last season. They allowed way too many wide-open 3-point shots, and the rebounds they were able to rack up did not offset the damage other teams were doing from behind the arc.
The Phoenix Suns were 3rd in the NBA in opponents’ 3-point percentage, and were much better at defending the perimeter and closing out on shooters.
The Suns also have better individual defenders, so it wasn’t all just strategy but coach Willie Green will have the Pels much more focused on stopping the 3-ball or at least making it more difficult.
The New Orleans Pelicans are a younger team than they were last season and it will likely take some time for them to gel defensively, but let’s hope that over the course of the season Willie Green can get them playing harder and smarter on that end.