Both the New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards announced that they will part ways with their head coaches. The New Orleans Pelicans parted way with Stan Van Gundy, and the Washington Wizards parted ways with Scott Brooks.
Stan Van Gundy-New Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans part ways with head coach Stan Van Gundy after one season. In Van Gundy’s only season in New Orleans, the Pelicans finished the regular season at 31-41.
New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin released the following statement,
“This was a difficult decision as I have tremendous respect for Stan both personally and professionally, but we agreed it is in the best interest of our team to move forward in a different direction.”
executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin
This move is rather surprising as Van Gundy had one year to turn around the Pelicans into a playoff organization. However, in this past year, the Pelicans only had three players who are in their 30s. With young players like Zion Williamson and Lonzo Ball, the general thought is a veteran coach can help develop the talent. However, with a young core, the Pelicans should have a wide variety of candidates for their head coaching vacancy.
Scott Brooks-Washington Wizards
Wednesday afternoon, the Washington Wizards will part ways with head coach Scott Brooks. Brooks has had a difficult tenure in the nation’s capital in four of his five seasons with the Wizards; they were either eliminated in the first round or missed the playoffs. However, In his first season with the Wizards, they went to the conference semifinals but there has not been much postseason success after that year.
Washington Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard released the following statement,
“We have been committed to taking the proper steps over the last two seasons to develop our young players, bring in pieces to complement Bradley Beal and build a winning environment that will ultimately lead to sustained on-court success,”
Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard
The Wizards vacancy will be an interesting position as the team has a mix of the superstars between Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal and a mixture of young talent. So whoever gets this job will have their handful trying to manage the personalities and develop a team for a city that has had championship success in recent years.
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