New Orleans Pelicans new head coach Alvin Gentry was twice an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, once with Gregg Popovich and once under him. Later Gentry went to coach the Clippers (the old Clippers, that is) where a losing — but not abysmal — record was considered pretty good. So Gentry saw the top and bottom of pro basketball early in his career. He comes to the Pelicans from the top again — last year he was an associate head coach of NBA champion Golden State Warriors, working under Steve Kerr.
The Pelicans wanted Gentry badly; they lured him out of Golden State — despite the good job, good life, good team. That early Spurs experience will come in handy now for Gentry. Because if all goes according to plan, the Pelicans young superstar Anthony Davis will have a career like the Spurs all-world veteran Tim Duncan — who Gentry saw up close in Duncan’s early years in the league. Davis just played his third year in the NBA. Duncan’s second and third year stats (below) match up nicely with Davis’ numbers. Davis and Gentry would like his next 14 years to match Duncan’s too, rings and all.
PPG: Davis 20.8, 24.4; Duncan 21.7, 23.2
Rebounds: Davis 10.0, 10.2; Duncan 11.4, 12.4
Blocks: Davis 2.8, 2.9: Duncan 2.5, 2.2
