Ex-Pistons coach Alvin Gentry hired by Pelicans
By Dan Feldman
"The New Orleans Pelicans named Alvin Gentry the team’s head coach, it was announced today by Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Dell Demps."
"“We are excited to announce that Alvin Gentry is the new head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. We warmly welcome Alvin and his family to the Pelicans organization,” said Demps. “After assessing our team, along with the core values of the Pelicans, we created a list of characteristics and qualities we wanted in our head coach. We conducted an extensive coaching search that identified Alvin Gentry as the right person to lead our team.”Demps continued, “Alvin is a well-respected coach that brings many years of experience, a wealth of knowledge, creativity and leadership. Alvin and I have a shared vision and we look forward to working together in achieving sustained success for Pelican fans and the New Orleans community.”“We are thrilled to have Alvin join our organization,” stated Pelicans Owner Tom Benson. “He has proven himself as a winner and is in the midst of helping the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. We look forward to having him lead our team.”"
"Gentry, who currently serves as the associate head coach for the Golden State Warriors, will begin his duties with the Pelicans immediately following the 2015 NBA Finals.“I’m truly honored for the opportunity to lead the Pelicans as their head coach and am anxious to get started,” said Gentry. “However, my responsibilities with the Pelicans will begin immediately after the NBA Finals are completed. Until then, my complete focus for the next two-plus weeks will be with the Warriors and the NBA Finals. We’ve had an incredible season under Steve Kerr’s leadership in the Bay Area, but still have a lot of work to do as we prepare for the Cavaliers and a tough series.”"
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
"Alvin Gentry, New Orleans agree to a four-year, $13.75M deal, including a $4M team option in final season, league sources tell Yahoo Sports."
Gentry has coached the Pistons, Suns and Clippers. Looking back at each stop, hindsight treats him better than perception did at the time.
In Detroit, Gentry went 16-21 after taking over midseason for Doug Collins in 1997-98, 29-21 during the lockout-shortened 1999 season and 28-30 before being getting fired. Gentry’s successor, George Irvine, didn’t exactly prove the coach was the problem.
Gentry isn’t one of the seminal figures in Pistons history, but he was a Piston nonetheless and seems affable. I’m rooting for him to succeed with Anthony Davis in New Orleans.