INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Willie Green of the New Orleans Pelicans looks on in the first quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on November 25, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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The New Orleans Pelicans haven’t been making a ton of great decisions lately. It all started when they chose Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver to lead their front office after parting ways with David Griffin – the two most prominent figures in the Detroit Pistons’ 15-year drought.
Since then, they made a risky draft day trade to select Derik Queen with the 13th overall pick. Queen has flashed a nice skillset, but it will take a lot for him to warrant all the capital they sacrificed to get him. Then, they traded CJ McCollum, a respected veteran leader, for a very similar player with another year left on his contract in Jordan Poole (who has not had a strong start to the 2025-26 season).
Now, I believe they are making another poor decision, dismissing head coach Willie Green after a 2-10 start to the season.
Why The New Orleans Pelicans Fired Willie Green
After winning 49 games in 2023-24, things have gone downhill fast for the Pelicans. Last season was an absolute nightmare for the team, as they were second in cash lost due to injuries (per Spotrac), leading to a 21-61 campaign. Now, with all the incentives in the world to win this season (since they traded their 2026 first round pick to the Atlanta Hawks), the Pelicans sit at the bottom of the Western Conference.
Why It May Have Been A Mistake
While the Pelicans have been a combined 23-71 since the end of that 2023-24 season, it is hardly Green’s fault. I mentioned their injury woes earlier. Well, the start of this season has been much of the same. Zion Williamson, Dejounte Murray, Kevon Looney, and Poole have all missed time due to various injuries. As it stands, they are sixth in cash lost to injuries to start this season. Green has basically been coaching with one arm tied behind his back this entire time.
Yes, I understand that this regime didn’t hire Green, and that is always a tricky situation to navigate. We also aren’t privy to the interpersonal dynamics between Green and the players. Maybe he lost the locker room. That is something we may never know.
What we do know is that, when the Pelicans were healthy, Green had a lot of great indicators as a coach.
One area where coaches can have a great deal of impact is on the defensive side of the floor. Offense is so heavily tied to talent, but, on defense, you can go pretty far with effort, communication, trust, and strong coaching (at least in the regular season).
We saw this in 2022-23 and 2023-24 when the Pelicans boasted top seven defenses, despite not having a true rim-protecting anchor at the five spot (sorry, Jonas Valanciunas). Some of this was due to good opponent shooting luck, but New Orleans was also top six in deflections per game (per NBA.com), which tells us that they were incredibly active – an attribute that comes from great coaching.
Another area we can look at is team performance on after-timeout (ATO) plays. Most of the time, teams don’t run set plays anymore. They install concepts/principles and let their players read and react out of that infrastructure. Nowadays, the only time that coaches get to try their hand at play-calling is in plays immediately following a timeout.
Last season, despite having the 26th-ranked offense overall, the Pelicans were eighth in points per possession on ATOs. They were also third in this category in 2022-23 (another season in which they had a bottom ten offense overall). This is a testament to Green’s basketball IQ, and his unique ability to set his team up to succeed when things are actually in his control.
I get how sports work. It isn’t so much about what you’ve done in the past as it is what you have done lately. I also get that the Pelicans are massively underperforming their own preseason expectations, and someone has to take a bullet for the company when that happens. Unfortunately, that scapegoat is usually the coach.
But this isn’t Green’s fault, and while I respect James Borrego a great deal (particularly his offensive concepts), he shouldn’t have had to take the fall here.