Stan Van Gundy is out after just one season as the head coach of the Pelicans, as GM David Griffin will be tasked to fill in that vacancy for the second consecutive offseason.
New Orleans is expected to revisit some candidates that they were looking at a year ago, which includes Jason Kidd, Jacque Vaughn, Ime Udoka and Charles Lee, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Woj adds that the Pelicans are also expected to look at current assistant coach Fred Vinson, who has been with the organization since 2010.
Teresa Weatherspoon is also expected to be considered a candidate for the job, as she was named the team’s summer league coach. However, Griffin says that the speculation of her taking over as head coach is “premature,” according to Will Guillory of The Athletic.
More Pelicans Notes
- Griffin letting Van Gundy go after one season isn’t a great look for him, Jeff Duncan of The Athletic writes. The Pelicans will need to get their next hire right in order to convince Zion Williamson to remain with the team long-term.
-
Williamson never demanded for Van Gundy to be dismissed from the team, according to Scott Kushner of nola.com. However, Williamson has expressed deep frustration for the team’s consistent losing ways, which prompted the Pelicans to make a change before things could reach a potential breaking point.
-
ICYMI: Van Gundy had strained relationships with several players on the team, as many of them didn’t prefer his X’s and O’s style of coaching rather than trying to build personal relationships. More on that can be found here.
