It felt like foreshadowing that, as part of the team’s flashy pregame introductions before home games this season, the Pelicans chose not to introduce head coach Willie Green (an unusual move by league norms). He was simply not mentioned. That was again the case before the Pelicans fell to 2-10 on the season Friday night, losing to the Lakers.
The Pelicans have fired Green as head coach after four-plus seasons, the team announced Saturday morning. New Orleans assistant head coach James Borrego — the former Charlotte coach — will take over as the interim head coach.
“After careful evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at head coach,” Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars said in a statement. “I have the utmost respect for Willie Green, and I’m sincerely appreciative of his contributions to the Pelicans organization and the New Orleans community. We wish him and his family all the best in the future.”
“As I have stated, Joe Dumars is in charge of basketball operations decisions, and as one of the best basketball minds in the business, I trust him to make the right decisions for our franchise,” Benson said. “I have tremendous admiration and respect for Willie Green, and I truly appreciate all he has done for our organization over the last few years. This is a tough business and these are difficult decisions. My expectation is to be a winning team that competes for championships, and I remain steadfast in our commitment to building a championship-caliber organization for our players, partners, and above all, our fans.”
Green had been on the hot seat after a slow start to this season and listless play nightly — this did not look like a team playing to help its coach keep his job. Rumors had been swirling around the team and the move to fire Green was not a surprise.
In his four-plus seasons at the helm, Green amassed a 150-190 record, leading the Pelicans to the playoffs twice (both times they fell in the first round). Green had to deal with a roster built around Zion Williamson, who was constantly in and out of the lineup due to injuries — he is currently out, recovering from a strained hamstring for the fourth consecutive season — and had plenty of other players suffer key injuries as well (such as Brandon Ingram). However, there was other talent on this roster that never seemed to be maximized, and this season seemed stuck in the mud.
A coaching change alone isn’t going to right the ship in New Orleans — yes, it’s been poorly coached, but it’s also been poorly managed. This is a team that traded away Dyson Daniels — who went to Atlanta and won Most Improved Player while being named to an All-Defensive Team — and two first-round picks for Dejonte Murray. That’s not even getting into Dumars’ move to trade the rights to the Pelicans’ first-round pick next June (which looks like a high pick in a deep draft at the top) to move up and get Derik Queen (who has played well for New Orleans and might need to be moved into the starting five, but that price was steep). Dumars was hired last offseason just days David Griffin was fired with no search for a replacement — Benson had a good relationship with Dumars going back, she hired her buddy, the person she knew, even though we’re more than two decades from him winning a title as the head of the Pistons, and more than a decade since he had run a team at all.
That said, it was time for a coaching change in New Orleans. We’ll see what Borrego can do as a coach to juice this roster (he should get Zion back soon, which will help).