You have to hand it to New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry: The team’s hellhole of a season hasn’t killed his spirit.
Not totally, anyway.
Following the Pelicans’ Monday night win over the New York Knicks, Gentry cracked a ton of jokes at the expense of New Orleans’ roster situation. Riddled by injuries, including to projected starters Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans, the Pelicans trotted out a starting five comprising Alexis Ajinca, Omer Asik, Luke Babbit, Dante Cunningham and Jrue Holiday. Oh what a time to be alive.
Anyhow, the Pelicans won and Alvin Gentry was apparently feeling pretty good, per ESPN.com’s Justin Verrier:
An all-time press conference from Alvin Gentry. Made a call for a voodoo doctor or anyone who can exorcise Pelicans' injury issues.
— Justin Verrier (@JustinVerrier) March 29, 2016
First of many good ones from Gentry on the need for a "voodoo doctor." pic.twitter.com/Df7gF5ZPAZ
— Justin Verrier (@JustinVerrier) March 29, 2016
Gentry also said the Pelicans had "more people in our [team] picture than the Saints did."
— Justin Verrier (@JustinVerrier) March 29, 2016
More Gentry: "Every guy in the D-League right now is sitting by his phone going, ‘Ohhhh-K. This might be my chance.’ What are we gonna do?”
— Justin Verrier (@JustinVerrier) March 29, 2016
Laughing beats crying, am I right?
Look, this season hasn’t even come close to going as planned. The Pelicans earned a playoff berth last season and were supposed to build upon that. Some idiots, like me, had them contending for the West’s fifth seed. And yet, even during those brief stints when they were healthy, the Pelicans weren’t impressive by any means. There is a clear lack of talent around Davis, and the Pelicans must address it over the offseason.
Fortunately for them, that’ll become much easier with the salary cap jump, in addition to the top-five or -seven pick they’re probably going to own. They should have no problem adding three to four visibly impactful players before 2016-17—which is good, if only so the Pelicans aren’t forced to cycle through the entire D-League ranks once again.
