New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green smiles after New Orleans Pelicans guard Antonio Reeves (12) hits a break away slam dunk against the Brooklyn Nets during the first half of the basketball game at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
The Willie Green era has come to and end.
The New Orleans Pelicans fired their head coach on Saturday morning.
Joe Dumars, executive vice-president of the Pelicans, announced the decision.
"After careful evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at head coach," Dumars said in a statement. "I have the utmost respect for Willie Green, and I'm sincerely appreciative of his contributions to the Pelicans organization and the New Orleans community."
Green, 44, was in his fifth season as Pelicans head coach. The Pelicans are 2-9 this season, including four losses by at least 20 points. His final game was Friday's 118-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
A day earlier, Pelicans' owner Gayle Benson said in an interview that she was disappointed at the way the season has started.
"We need to improve immediately, " Benson said. "Our roster is built for success right now."
But she made it clear that she was leaving that decision up to Joe Dumars, hired in April to be the team's executive vice-president of basketball operations.
"I really like Willie Green," Benson said. "But I hired Joe Dumars to assess our basketball operation. And that’s what he is doing."
Green was asked after a Wednesday night loss to the Portland Trail Blazers about how he is handling the scrutiny that has come with the team's slow start.
"The main thing for me is control what I can control." Green said. "Continue to put the focus on pouring into our players, Pouring into our staff. I totally understand the frustration. We are frustrated as well. We want to go out and step on the floor and we wan to compete every night. We want to compete every night and have a chance to win more games."
That chance is now over for Green.
James Borrego, who has been an assistant under Green since 2023 will serve as interim head coach. Borrego spent three seasons as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.
The Pelicans finished 21-61 last season under Green. It was the second worst record in an 82-game season in franchise history. The 2004-'05 team finished 18-64.
Green was hired as Pelicans' head coach in July of 2021 by David Griffin, the Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations at the time. Griffin was fired in April and replaced by Joe Dumars.
Despite the Pel's struggles last season, Dumars decided to bring Green back this season.
"I'm looking forward to going forward and working with Willie and to push us to success," Dumars said in May. "You've got to set the bar. And that's what we're going to do."
Dumars went on to say that Pelicans' fans would be proud of the product on the floor this season.
"The style of play — resilience, toughness, playing hard, never quit — that’s’ what we want people to see right away," Dumars said.
That wasn't the case to start the season.
Green compiled a 150-190 record. He went 24-76 in his last 100 games. He led the Pelicans to the playoffs in his first season, the play-in tournament his second season and then the playoffs again in the 2023 -'24 season.
The 49-33 record in the 2023-'24 season tied for the second most wins in franchise history.
Last season, his Pelicans were hit hard by injuries and never could recover. Because of injuries, Green used 47 different lineups last season.
Green is just the second coach in franchise history fired during the season. The only other one was Byron Scott, fired after a 3-6 start in the 2009-'10 season.
"I have tremendous admiration and respect for Willie Green," Benson said in a statement Saturday morning. "And I truly appreciate all he has done for our organization over the last few years. This is a tough business and these are difficult decisions. My expectation is to be a winning team that competes for championships and I remain steadfast in our commitment to building a championship-caliber organization for our players, partners and above all, our fans."