The New Orleans Pelicans made the playoffs last year, but Dell Demps still fired Monty Williams and was hoping Alvin Gentry would take the team to the next level.
Gentry was coming off a successful season as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors and received considerable credit for their offense.
"Demps was unhappy with former coach Monty Williams, who did an incredible job with that team a year ago winning 46 games and reaching the playoffs. Williams was fired and Dell Demps hired Alvin Gentry as his coach. Sources tell me that he spent way too much of this year second-guessing his own hire of a head coach, often in very public ways within earshot of players, staff and even opponents.