Metairie, La. — If Pelicans fans were excited about Boogie and The Brow at the end of last season, how about adding NBA champion and 4-time All-Star Rajon Rondo, and a healthy Jrue Holiday to the mix now too? Not only is it more talent on the floor, but Rondo also brings veteran leadership to the team as well.
“I think any time you can add an All-Star player, obviously it takes some of the weight off the stars you have on your team,” said Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry. “Adding him to the team is really like adding another coach to the team.”
“Having those guys here, you know when we march on the floor, Rondo can be that guy that’s like ‘Look, this is what we need to do in these types of situations,’” said Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis. “He’s been there before. He knows what to do. So we’re excited about it. We’re excited about him coming in and being that floor general on the floor.”
“You know Cousins, AD, Jrue– I want to be here with these guys,” said Pelicans Forward Dante Cunningham. “We started something here and I think with the changes we made, the new guys and the leadership we have now—I think all the puzzle pieces are in the right direction.”
Part of working the new guys into the fold, will be following the lead of new Assistant Coach Chris Finch, who is hard at work with the rest of the coaching staff putting the pieces together.
“Adding Chris Finch to our coaching staff is going to mean an awful lot also because I think he’s dealt with situations where you’ve had two big guys that have been star players,” Gentry said. “Then how to take that and incorporate it into what we’re trying to do, from the standpoint of still playing an up-tempo basketball game.”
“He wants our pace to be up, different types of shots, try to cut out the long twos,” Davis said. “He told us a little bit today but I think he adds more as the season goes on—play some games and see where we need to improve.”
