'Brow unleashed: Former Suns coach Mike D'Antoni attends Pelicans camp

By foxsports
Published

Mike D'Antoni was the architect of the famous "seven seconds or less" Phoenix Suns offense, and new Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry was on his staff as an assistant during that time.

Gentry is a firm believer in playing at a faster pace, and he's expected to immediately make that a priority in New Orleans. And there's perhaps no better way to do that than to have his mentor in attendance for the first day of Pelicans' practice.

In their first day of training camp at The Greenbrier Tuesday, New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said music played at the start of drills and he invited his mentor, former NBA coach Mike D'Antoni, to observe practice and offer input.

Gentry learned the up-tempo offensive system from D'Antoni that involves around spacing, ball movement and scoring quickly. Before landing the Suns' head coaching job in 2009, Gentry worked as an assistant for the Suns four seasons under D'Antoni, who has been out of coaching

''He's great,'' Gentry said. ''He should be in our league coaching right now. I really believe that. All this garbage about you can't win that way (up-tempo) is such as crock. He's proven that and he's won championships in Europe. I bounce a lot of stuff off him. Basically, what I do as a head coach, 80 percent of it comes from him. ''

D'Antoni isn't going to be joining the team in an official capacity. But he is an experienced coach with a wealth of NBA experience, and Gentry's relationship with him can only help as he looks to transform the New Orleans offense.