5:02 pm | April 9, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Pelicans will end a tumultuous season without Anthony Davis, who showed up to Tuesday’s season finale against the Golden State Warriors wearing a “That’s All Folks” T-shirt in reference to the famous Porky Pig line at the end of Looney Tunes cartoons.
Davis missed Tuesday night’s game — and he has not played since March 24 — because of what the Pelicans are calling lower back spasms.
Davis’ entrance to the Smoothie King Center wearing the Looney Tunes T-shirt was posted to the Pelicans’ Instagram story — but was later deleted. The All-NBA center is expected to address the media Wednesday morning at the end-of-season news conference.
Before the game, head coach Alvin Gentry struggled to find the right words to contextualize what the Pelicans have endured this season thanks to Davis’ midseason trade request that rocked the organization.
“Interesting is not what I would use as a way of describing [the season],” Gentry said. “I’m not sure if there’s an adjective out there that you could describe it with. It’s been eventful, I’ll say that. It’s been a very eventful season and it’s really unfortunate because the way we started the season, I thought we would play that way the entire season and then obviously injuries and other factors factored into it which changed the whole season but it’s what it is. You have to just adjust and go on and I think that’s what we did.”
In the aftermath of Davis’ request, and the decision to hold on to him until after the trade deadline, the Pelicans opted to fire GM Dell Demps in mid-February and are currently conducting interviews for his replacement. Gentry says he isn’t worried as the organization figures out who will replace Demps.
“I’ve been in this league 31 years,” Gentry said. “Nothing makes me uneasy, OK? I don’t have anything to do with that part of it. I’m the coach of the team and I’ll be the coach of the team until they tell me I’m not. It’s just really that simple. It’s not anything that I worry about. But number one, I think they’re going to do a great job and hire somebody really good. And whatever happened from there we’ll see. I’m hired to coach the team and that’s where I put all my efforts. I don’t worry about any of the other stuff that I can’t control.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted that he “feels” for Gentry after such a tumultuous season. Gentry served on Kerr’s staff during the Warriors’ 2014-15 championship season.
“Alvin’s seen it all,” Kerr said. “At least he thought he had until this year. But he’s been in this league a long time, he’s got a great way about him. Everybody loves him. His disposition is such that he rolls with the punches and keeps coaching, keeps doing his job. But this has to be as difficult as anything that he’s ever faced and I feel for him for sure, we all do.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday that the Pelicans interviewed interim GM Danny Ferry for the full-time position. It’s a choice that Kerr thinks would be “great.”
“He grew up in the league,” Kerr said. “Danny grew up with his father as a GM, obviously played in the league for many years, and has been a GM in Cleveland. So he’s a really, really bright person and knows the game and knows how to run an organization. So I don’t know what the process is here, how they’re going to go about it. I know that Danny would be a great choice.”
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