One of the lead assistant’s on the favorites to win the 2015 NBA Finals will be leaving the team at the end of the season. It is all but a foregone conclusion that the New Orleans Pelicans will bring in Golden State Warriors assistant coach Alvin Gentry as their new head coach.
Gentry and the Pelicans have gone back and forth for a short time now, even allowing Gentry to already get a new staff in place when he gets to New Orleans.
ESPN’s Marc Stein was first to report that Gentry will be joining the Pelicans as their new head coach and it was immediately confirmed by multiple NBA insiders.
ESPN sources say the New Orleans Pelicans have chosen Alvin Gentry as their new head coach
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 30, 2015
Gentry will finish out playoffs with Warriors and then take over as coach of Anthony Davis and the Pelicans
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 30, 2015
Gentry comes into one of the best situations out of all the coaching vacancies this summer. The Oklahoma City Thunder vacancy had more talent but the expectations are way too high, the Chicago Bulls front office is not the easiest to deal with, the Orlando Magic has a roster that isn’t quite there yet and the Denver Nuggets are in rebuild mode. When it was announced that Monty Williams was fired, the New Orleans Pelicans job immediately became the one to take. The job includes the great task of coaching Anthony Davis, so i’m sure it was a no-brainer for Gentry to decide to get back into coaching with one of the future NBA stars being his go-to guy.
The last time we saw Alvin Gentry patrolling the sidelines as a head coach he was fired as the coach of the Phoenix Suns. Gentry has a career record of 335-370 with a 12-9 playoff record. His most successful season was in 2009-10 with the Phoenix Suns when he led Phoenix to the Conference Finals.
Gentry has long been talked about being one of the NBA’s good guys and always having a positive attitude with anything throughout his life. ESPN’s Amin Elhassan raves about Gentry and how great of a man he is. Gentry now has the task of coaching the brightest star in the NBA, Anthony Davis and it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.
