Pelicans Making the Smartest Possible Move in Picking Up Alvin Gentry's Contract Option
By Brian Cass
The New Orleans Pelicans' starting five will look a lot different this fall. After landing the No. 1 pick in this year's draft and trading All-Star Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for a treasure trove of assets, it appears the team will be giving head coach Alvin Gentry one last shot to prove he's the coach that'll lead the Pelicans to the promise land.
According to the latest reporting, New Orleans will be picking up Gentry's option for the 2020-21 season. And they had every reason to do so.
The New Orleans Pelicans have picked up the team option of head coach Alvin Gentry for the 2020-2021 season, league sources tell ESPN.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) June 17, 2019
After the DeMarcus Cousins experiment ended with a torn Achilles in 2018 and Anthony Davis halted last season's campaign with his infamous trade request, it's only fair that a steady hand like Gentry gets a chance to coach all the newcomers that New Orleans has acquired -- and will acquire -- this offseason.
The sports world isn't always fair, but it's hard to imagine that the New Orleans brass would attempt to make their head coach any kind of scapegoat. Cousins is a known head case even before he got hurt, and rarely do you see teams thrive after a top-five player in the league says he wants out. It would've been hard for any NBA coach to deal with all the drama, let alone have a winning record. Given his unflappable approach, new GM David Griffin would have been crazy to make Gentry feel like he was suddenly coaching for his job given all these changes.
David Griffin has believed Alvin Gentry’s style of play fits the personnel he’s assembling with Pels — and now commits to another year on his coach’s contract. https://t.co/aucDgyWIxv
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 17, 2019
Gentry will have a handful of new toys to play with. Along with Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart, the Pelicans also have two top-five picks in the upcoming draft. The No. 1 overall pick is unanimously expected to be Duke phenom Zion Williamson, while their fourth overall selection could be flipped for an impact player if they decide to trade it away.
The combination of Lonzo and Zion should be a high-wire act. And while questions remain about Ingram and Hart, the Pelicans won't be forced to feed them the kind of minutes the Lakers did. Gentry will have his chance to muster up some success in New Orleans, and he'll have more than enough talent to do so given how much the landscape in the Western Conference has changed.