Robert Pack’s numerous New Orleans-area friends and family have provided him with overwhelming support throughout his six-year NBA coaching career, but sometimes a line needs to be drawn. In the spring of 2015, with Pack serving as an assistant coach for Oklahoma City and the Thunder vying with the Pelicans for eighth place in the Western Conference, some of the Big Easy backing of Pack became a bit less fervent.
“We were fighting the Pelicans to get in the playoffs,” remembered a smiling Pack, a New Orleans native. “So I had some people in New Orleans who were (straddling) the line.