According to reports, the New Orleans Pelicans have signed a multi-year with Stan Van Gundy, who will become the franchise’s next head coach.
Van Gundy is an experienced leader, who has 11 years of experience as a head coach. He has been chosen to shape the young Pelicans team into a competitive squad. New Orleans finished 13th in the Western Conference last season and didn’t make the playoffs.
Van Gundy is known as being an excellent teacher who is especially good at establishing a strong defensive identity for the teams that he has coached. The 61-year-old coach has a 523-384 career record as a head coach and has been to the NBA Finals once, with the Orlando Magic in 2009.
While the Pelicans team is still young and inexperienced, there is a good core to work with, including last year’s first overall draft pick Zion Williamson, who was the runner up for last year’s Rookie of the Year award. The other building block is Brandom Ingram, who was named the league’s Most Improved Player last season.
They also have 2019 lottery pick Jaxson Hayes and the No. 17 pick in last year’s draft, Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The team could also be looking to extend their two young guards Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart and has the No. 13 pick in the upcoming draft as well as three second-round picks.
