Stan Van Gundy Coaches Pelicans To Winning Season

While a lot of credit will be given to his players, Stan Van Gundy will deserve a lot of love for what he is going to accomplish with the New Orleans Pelicans this year. Van Gundy has not coached since being let go by the Detroit Pistons in 2018, but has a solid overall career record of 523-384 (57.7%), making the playoffs in 8 of his 12 seasons as a head coach in the NBA. SVG is a winning head coach and should make an immediate impact with the young players on the Pelicans roster this season.

He is a fantastic head coach who is able to create great relationships with his players and given the abundance of youthful talent on this roster, Van Gundy’s experiences in the league will be able to aid them a lot. By becoming the Pelicans’ 7th head coach in the history of the organization, Stan Van Gundy is also reunited with sharpshooting guard, J.J. Redick, who he had the pleasure of coaching for 5 years with the Orlando Magic. 

The New Orleans Pelicans finished 30-42 last season, finishing 3.5 games back from being able to compete in the play-in game in the Western Conference, but given Stan Van Gundy’s coaching pedigree and the talent he inherits on this roster, the Pelicans should be looking at 35-40 wins this season and a potential playoff berth. 

This is definitely a team on the verge of making the playoffs and could very much break through in Stan Van Gundy’s first season as the head coach. They have the scoring abilities, the versatile defenders and the experienced coaches to be a force in the Western Conference not just this upcoming season, but for many years to come.