There was a feud between whether or not they should make alterations to their starting rotation. The General Manager Cyrisnyte ended up moving quite a few players in Cameron Payne, Sterling Brown and Isaiah Hicks. The return on the hall was Jeff Teague, Miles Plumlee and Sinan Guler. It has become apparent the Gregg Popovich valued his players over his team.
Gregg Popovich hit free agency as his contract was up at the end of the season. Golden State was not going to be bringing him back after the front office dust up. Read more about the drama here.
Sources stated that as many as 5 teams were interested in signing Popovich to a long term contract. Gregg Popovich boasts some great statistics on his coaching resume. His overall record is 1178-740 with a clip rate to win at 61.4%. He has 20 playoff appearances with 4 championships. He tends to run his offense at a slow pace but really utilizes his players to their best abilities. As far as defense, he runs an average defense with a knack for shutting teams down.
New Orleans Pelicans had signed Phil Jackson last season to a 5 year contract. Phil Jackson was able to take the Pelicans into the first round of the playoffs this past season after they missed the year before. Unfortunately, the organization lost their coach in retirement this year due to health conditions.
Now the Pelicans were back in the market looking for that coach that can push them into the second round and make a run at a championship. As soon as news broke that Gregg Popovich would not be resigning with the Golden State Warriors, the Pelicans were in hot pursuit to sign there man.
As rumor has it, there was a significant desire among teams to sign an elite coach like Popovich. An elite coach does not come around often. A source close to the New Orleans Pelicans organization said, “General Manager Raidercj had locked Popovich in the room in a one on one and wouldn’t let him leave until they got a contract finalized.”
Gregg Popovich signed a 5 year deal worth $8,000,000 per season according to the rumors. The expectations for the Pelicans are to exceed the last year’s outcome.
Welcome to New Orleans!
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