Jim Eichenhofer: Gentry on Lonzo Ball’s performance in March at the time #NBA season was suspended: “He was probably playing as well as any guard in the league during that stage.” Ball shot 21/36 on threes in #Pelicans last four games, which is 58%
Alvin Gentry Rumors
Jim Eichenhofer: Alvin Gentry likened Josh Hart’s role with #Pelicans to that of utility player, covering whatever team needs in different situations: “He can play (positions) 2, 3, 4 for us. He did a good job of giving us energy… he’s very beneficial to our team because of his versatility.”
How did you compare to Zion Williamson as a dunker? David Thompson: Zion is more of a power dunker. He’s got the bulk and the size and the weight, and he can really get up high. I probably could maneuver more in the air. But Zion is awesome. I really like him. Plus he plays for my cousin’s team (Alvin Gentry, Thompson’s cousin, is the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans). Alvin and I grew up together. We sang in the church choir together. We were like brothers at one point.
“What we are going to have is a lot of virtual fans, believe it or not,” Gentry said. “It will help the environment in the arena as far as the players and them playing without real fans in the stands. I think the communication part will be a lot of easier because we won’t have the 20,000 fans in the stands. It will be all new to everyone, so we’re just going to have to see.”
Oleh Kosel: Alvin Gentry on whether all the Pelicans who traveled to Orlando tested negative: “Everyone’s here. I don’t really know the details of everything, but I know all of our guys are here and they’re ready to go.”
Jim Eichenhofer: Alvin Gentry on #Pelicans multi-week preparation for restart: “Planning practicing 20 days in advance is pretty tough. By the 30th, we want to make sure we’re back in basketball shape, back in basketball timing and everyone is feeling good about shooting the ball and defensively”
Christian Clark: Pelicans had their first practice in four months today. Alvin Gentry said he got the go-ahead from the NBA the day New Orleans left for Orlando. “I wish it would’ve been sooner. It wasn’t. I’m here.”
Will Guillory: Alvin Gentry says assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik isn’t in the bubble with the team but “he’ll be involved in every practice, he’ll be involved in every game, he’ll be involved in every game plan.” Says Bzdelik will still play crucial role with team.
Alvin Gentry cleared to travel to Orlando
Adrian Wojnarowski: New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry has been cleared to travel with the Pelicans to the Orlando bubble, sources tell ESPN.
Orlando bubble: No decision on Alvin Gentry
Meanwhile, multiple sources tell ESPN no decision has been made yet on Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry’s status heading into Orlando. Sources say the Pelicans are supportive of Gentry, 65, being able to join the team for the remainder of the season and have been working with the league in order to ensure he can make it to Orlando.
Orlando bubble: No decision on Alvin Gentry
Meanwhile, multiple sources tell ESPN no decision has been made yet on Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry’s status heading into Orlando. Sources say the Pelicans are supportive of Gentry, 65, being able to join the team for the remainder of the season and have been working with the league in order to ensure he can make it to Orlando.
Jim Eichenhofer: Alvin Gentry on one important factor in a no-fan environment: “(Assistant coach) Chris Finch said your bench is going to be really important, from an enthusiasm standpoint. I think that’s where all of the energy is going to come from. You’re going to need a really good bench.”
How much have you seen Zion in the past few weeks and what do you think we should expect from him once he gets back on the floor? Alvin Gentry: I’ve seen him a lot and we’ve talked a lot about things we expect him to do when everyone is back. I think he’s worked extremely hard during the time away. I think, to some degree, you’ll see everybody a little rusty when we come back because we’ve been away for so long. But he’ll get himself right, and I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t pick up right where he left off.
There were some concerns that coaches over the age of 65 (Gentry is 65) may be forced to sit away from their teams during games or not go to the bubble at all over concerns from the coronavirus. Do you plan on coaching the team in Orlando, and has the league told you if you’ll even be allowed to go? Alvin Gentry: No one has told me that I’m not (allowed to coach the team in Orlando). I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to getting back and watching the guys play and enjoying it. Hopefully, we can continue the run that we made before the shutdown. But I plan on coaching without any restrictions. We’ll see if the league comes up with a different plan.
How impressed have you been with the way players on the team and around the league have used their voices to get involved with some of these causes? Alvin Gentry: I think there was a time when there were dire consequences for speaking out like that. I just go back to the Bill Russells and Muhammad Alis, and we had Tommie Smith come and speak to the team (during the season). He sacrificed basically his whole career because he held up a glove that represented injustice in the Olympics. This is a time when everyone needs to come together. We talked about having tough conversations. This is a time to have tough conversations and just be real with each other.
NBCA executive director Dave Fogel and president Rick Carlisle have concerns that several assistants and three head coaches — Houston’s Mike D’Antoni (69 years old), New Orleans’ Alvin Gentry (65) and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich (71) — could be restricted from leading their teams and some could face considerable challenges in resuming their careers.
Warren LeGarie, the agent for D’Antoni and Gentry, told ESPN on Wednesday: “I hope there is a basketball solution to this issue rather than a legal one.” The 113-page health and safety protocols sent to teams late Tuesday outlined a multi-layered process for the identification and potential “protection” of team employees designated as higher-risk. All team staffers will fill out a questionnaire probing for individual risk factors, including: asthma; heart problems; ongoing cancer treatments; smoking habits; a body mass index above 40 as a measure of obesity; kidney or liver diseases; and other indications of a compromised immune system.
One of the significant factors in establishing risk for health complications due to the coronavirus is advanced age, which leaves three head coaches among those in the league’s 22-team July restart — New Orleans’ Alvin Gentry (65), Houston’s Mike D’Antoni (69) and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich (71) — perhaps vulnerable to recommendations of those evaluations, sources said.
Limitations to D’Antoni, Gentry and Popovich could leave their three teams at a significant competitive disadvantage in Orlando. Executives with the three franchises — and elders of the National Basketball Coaches Association — have been in consistent contact with the league office on the matter, sources said. D’Antoni and Gentry have been publicly and privately frustrated with the possibility that they could be left off the team’s bench — or even left out of the bubble — and fear a decision to limit or omit them could become death knells to their careers.
Because of that Silver said “some older coaches may not be able to be the bench coach in order to protect them.” D’Antoni has said he’ll definitely be in Orlando coaching and sounded annoyed. “I am sure they want to keep everyone safe, but to start singling people out with more risk, well, I would hope they wouldn’t want to get into that,” D’Antoni told ESPN. Gentry told ESPN, “That doesn’t make sense. How can I coach that way?”
Ramona Shelburne: Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry on Adam Silver’s remark on @NBAonTNT that “certain coaches” might not be on the bench when play resumes. “That doesn’t make sense. How can I coach that way? ” Gentry, who is 65, says he doesn’t think older coaches “should be singled out.”
Adrian Wojnarowski: These are the kind of complex issues that await the NBA’s return in Orlando. D’Antoni and Gentry share an agent, Warren LeGarie, who told ESPN that he worried about “stigmas” getting assigned to older coaches with these possible protocols.
Older coaches not able to sit on the bench?
Tim Reynolds: Adam Silver says it is possible that “certain coaches” may not be able to be the bench coach when play resumes at Disney “in order to protect them.” Gregg Popovich is 71. Mike D’Antoni is 69. Alvin Gentry is 65. The CDC says people 65 and older are at higher risk.
Among the 22 teams going to Orlando, several have coaches or staff members around or beyond 60 years old — including Mike D’Antoni (69), Gregg Popovich (71), Alvin Gentry (65), Terry Stotts (62) and Rick Carlisle (60). It is expected that they will all take part, but doing so will only add to the concern about the potential for positive tests within the bubble.
New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry believes his former team is on the right path. It’s because he believes the right guy is in charge. Gentry on Thursday praised first-year Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams and thinks the franchise is on a path toward success despite the playoff drought that ended in 2010, when Gentry was at the helm. “I think it’s about as good as a situation that can happen there,” Gentry told Bickley & Marotta Thursday on Arizona Sports. “No. 1, he’s such a standup guy. No. 2, he’s a very, very good basketball coach.”
Alvin Gentry: “Some of the things he will change and has changed there: I think you’ll see a little more discipline out of the team, I think he will demand that they guard and given the opportunity to make that thing what I think he can make it, the Suns are in a great situation now.”
“You’ve just got to be very cautious and very careful about everything, and I don’t think you can take anything for granted,” said Alvin Gentry, 65, the coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. He is one of three N.B.A. head coaches who are 65 or older. When the N.B.A. abruptly suspended play on March 11, Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers feared he was done for the season, no matter what. Nance, 27, learned in high school that he had Crohn’s disease, which is often treated with medication that can put users at higher risk of infections.
Zion Williamson to have minutes restriction if season resumes?
How will you handle Zion Williamson regarding minute restrictions? Alvin Gentry: “We’ll have those conversations. Obviously, his health will be the number one priority, but the restriction was really off after his first 5-6 games. So, he was playing the minutes that he would normally play, considering with any situation really. But, it will be something that we talk about when we do resume and as far as how it looks for Zion from a minute standpoint, and we’ll do that really with some of the other players. This is unprecedented, really. You play in a basketball game, you play 60 games and then all of a sudden the season ends, and then now it’s going to start back up. So, this is going to be something that is different for every single player that has ever played in the NBA or is playing in the NBA now.
Alvin Gentry: So, as far as – I mean we’ll get with our medical people. I mean obviously Aaron (Nelson), (Head Athletic Trainer) Tom (Maystadt), and those guys are going to have a big say-so into how we play our rotations and how we practice and how long we practice, and this along those lines. I’ll sit down with those guys, and they’ll have input into all of those situations.”
It would be unfair to place all the blame for the team’s early-season struggles on Gentry’s shoulders, but the fanbase hasn’t been shy about sharing its frustrations with some of his decisions along the way. Gentry is a beloved figure in the locker room and throughout the organization, but again, Griffin will have to face a crucial point in this rebuilding process over the summer. Making a move without a clear upgrade available wouldn’t make much sense, but there’s no question coaches will be lining up for an opportunity to lead this talented roster.
It would be unfair to place all the blame for the team’s early-season struggles on Gentry’s shoulders, but the fanbase hasn’t been shy about sharing its frustrations with some of his decisions along the way. Gentry is a beloved figure in the locker room and throughout the organization, but again, Griffin will have to face a crucial point in this rebuilding process over the summer. Making a move without a clear upgrade available wouldn’t make much sense, but there’s no question coaches will be lining up for an opportunity to lead this talented roster.
Will Guillory: Gentry was asked about the Utah-OKC situation. He said the focus is on getting through tonight’s game. David Griffin has been in constant communication with the league. It’s still uncertain what the next steps will look like.
Christian Clark: Alvin Gentry on likelihood of playing games in empty arenas: “I think it’s important to remember that this is not a minor thing by any stretch of the imagination, not just in this country but in the world. You have to contain it and manage it as best you can.”
Christian Clark: Just my opinion, but I’m not sure Alvin Gentry has a bigger pet peeve than guys passing on open shots. “The way we play, passing on open shots is almost as bad as taking bad shots,” he said at practice. “When you pass on open shots, it takes away the flow of the offense.”
Barry Jackson: Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry mentions Bam as candidate for most improved player award, says he is now doing some things offensively that few expected
Oleh Kosel: Alvin Gentry wasn’t particularly happy on being asked, “How do you think Zion has held up conditioning wise?” “I think he’s fine. We’re worried about him too fricking much. Okay. He’s fine. He’s 19 years old. He’ll be fine.”
Christian Clark: Pelicans have gone 20-12 since the 13-game skid. They’re 6th in defense and 11th in offense over that stretch. “We pulled together from Gentry all the way down,” Jrue Holiday said. “We knew what kind of talent we had. From there, it’s been pretty good.”
ShowtimeForum: “I’m just amazed that they talk about anybody other than him for MVP…I’m not sure what the definition of MVP is.” -Alvin Gentry on @LeBron James 🦁 pic.twitter.com/g153j8JYjI
Jim Eichenhofer: Alvin Gentry on Lonzo Ball: “I’ve been a fan of Zo since he came in the league. I just think playing in a system like we’ve got was going to enhance his game, and give him the opportunity to be who he really is.” NOLA No. 5 in #NBA in offense since Ball became permanent starter
Pierce is one of seven African-American head coaches in the NBA, and the roll call was quite easy when he was prompted: Doc Rivers, Alvin Gentry, Nate McMillan, Dwane Casey, J.B. Bickerstaff and Monty Williams. That number may seem paltry, considering there are 30 teams and around 75 percent of the players are black, but it’s better than the other major professions sports, particularly the NFL.
Given all of this, it should come as no surprise that both the Pelicans themselves and the folks in their town have been discussing this possible playoff series in recent weeks. After all, they know better than anyone why it would be must-see hoops TV. “That’s something that’s been talked about amongst everybody that I’ve seen around town,” Ingram, the All-Star whose Pelicans enter play 3 ½ games behind Memphis for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, told The Athletic after a win over the Warriors on Sunday night. “The coach (the Pelicans’ Alvin Gentry) has mentioned it a little bit. Of course the team likes to stay in the moment. We don’t look that far ahead, but the coaches have mentioned it a little bit. It would be fun to try to battle against them and see (if) we can get the best of them.”
