New Orleans’ 2015-16 season had ended only a few hours prior – the Pelicans arrived home at 2 a.m. Thursday after a postgame flight from Minneapolis – but Alvin Gentry was already behind a microphone before lunchtime, wrapping up the campaign to reporters. That’s how eager the Pelicans and their head coach were to quickly put a frustrating, 30-win season in the rearview mirror. A season that began with high expectations and hopes of back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since ’09 instead was ruined by an unprecedented number of injuries.
“It was a tough year, a very tough year,” Gentry recapped of 2015-16.