Apparently one season was all the New Orleans Pelicans needed to see of head coach Stan Van Gundy, who has been officially fired following an underwhelming 31-41 record, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Andrew Lopez.
Van Gundy and Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin have been discussing things for weeks, according to the report.
“It was a hard year personally because when I took the job, we didn’t know when training camp was going to start or any of that stuff,” Van Gundy said, at the conclusion of the season. “I had not really given a ton of thought to condensed training camp, condensed season, COVID protocols. That stuff was really, really difficult from a personal standpoint. For me to go into Detroit and have my kids nearby and I can’t see them. That kind of stuff. Having to limit people being able to come and visit us and things like that. On a personal level it was difficult.
“But on a basketball level, I thought this was a great situation basketball wise and it’s better than what I thought it was. I wasn’t happy with the results. I wasn’t happy with myself on some things basketball wise. But as far as looking at the job as a whole, it’s even better than I expected and I expected it to be good.”
