Where the Pelicans sit with Willie Green entering a brutal five-game stretch

How seemingly stuck with the last place New Orleans Pelicans get ready to embark on a brutal match of five games the temperature around Willie Green’s office chair from warm to hot. Understandable, given the 2-8 start to the season and the body language on display in the locker room.

However, despite mounting external pressure, sources within the organization indicate that a decision on the embattled coach’s future is weighed against the pre-season schedule and a brutal run. Zion Williamsoninjury luck, not a small 10 game sample.

Through four-plus seasons, ownership has remained in Green’s corner, showing patience and tenacity in a market where both have been in short supply. His 150-188 overall record, including just 25 wins in his last 100 games, is not flattering, to be sure. However, it exists understanding within the organization that few coaches were extended a more chaotic hand.

Green led the Pelicans to multiple postseason appearances (NBA playoffs and playoff tournament) despite rosters ravaged by injuries and slow starts. Williamson has only played 219 games since 2019, while missing 272 and counting. Brandon Ingram missed over 150 games over the last four seasons before being traded to the Toronto Raptors.

Williamson is now back on the injury report, Ingram throws bottles in Torontoand Dejounte Murray He is not expected to return until well after Thanksgiving.

So, as one team source asked ClutchPoints, “What’s the rush? What has changed to make the decision now?”

Another echoed the same sentiment. Even as the Pels started the new season 0-6, the focus remained on “winnable games” until Murray and Williamson returned.

“You think it’s all roses? Anyone?” added the same source. “Win the games, that’s it.”

The Pelicans have gone 2-2 since being crushed by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the team has played just three games at home all season.

There are several winnable games on the calendar before the start of December. Beyond wins and losses, the organization has prioritized developing rookies and evaluating which veterans are long-term fits alongside Williamson and Trey Murphy III. Saddiq Bey emerged as a bargain acquisition, as Jordan Poole continued to post disappointing numbers before his injury.

As rotations settle down, Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver can make some adjustments before the trade deadline.

This team is probably just five shots away from a .500 record, according to at least one glass-half-full executive. New Orleans is two wins out of 10th place in the West and three wins behind Portland for a home play-in game.

If Kawhi Leonard had missed that one Hollywood shot, or if a few calls had gone the other way in Memphis, or if maybe the overtime heartbreaker in the home opener ended up being the game-winner in regulation, it would have been a lot less focus on Green’s job security.

Pelicans under pressure

Those jumps did not favor Big Easy, and the internal mood is dark. Multiple representatives and employees described how the overall internal “vibes are bad” and how keeping Green makes one “want to collapse.”

There is pressure leaked out of the organizationwith local influencers and national platforms, like Barstool’s Pardon Me Take, taking note.

Win or lose, Willie Green has one thing going in his favor: Not many postseason-proven NBA coaches wanted to inherit that kind of instability.

Jacques Vaughn specifically turned down an opportunity to mentor young Zion Williamson before the Pelicans found Green with the input of Brandon Ingram, sources said. Charles Lee, another leading contender at the time, ended up with LaMelo Ball’s Charlotte Hornets.

Simply put, drafts loaded with discarded veterans don’t attract the best prospects, especially in the midst of a disappointing season. As one league source explained, “Nobody wants to take a job without guidance.

It gets worse as multiple sources describe an organization gripped by anxiety and self-preservation as “Dumars talks about wanting to completely clean house. One person close to the team told ClutchPoints he fears the front office is quietly looking for someone to “completely shake up the organization and reset the culture.”

Fear has caused players to play shyly and coaches to train quietly. The “force and purpose” Green likes to be quoted so often in media arguments that he has disappeared. Instead of collaborating on solutions, Green was left to deal with the crisis largely alone.

Trainers talk about “putting your head down and doing the work,” but a gym where everyone is looking at their feet is more likely to be tripped up by some heads-up opponents.

Others in the building sometimes question the overall tone and seriousness, pointing out that Troy Weaver’s baggy basketball pants and Adam Sandler-esque vacation wardrobe are pretty routine. Although, as one inside source said, “Sometimes you’ll see him (Weaver) dressed up.”

Many point to the team skipping Green’s announcement as head coach during pregame introductions as an undeniable negative signal for the city. Fans willing to pay good money to boo, to let their voice be heard, end up losing.

“We are professionals. We should do our job,” Trey Murphy III said at the beginning of November. “Our job is to play the best basketball we can. We didn’t do that as a team. We have to get back on track and figure it out ourselves.”

Wins cure all ills, but it’s hard to see more than a few wins before the holidays for this team.

Willie Green waits for Zion Williamson

The plan was always to give Willie Green and Zion Williamson at least 15 gamesmaybe 20-25, depending on injuries and tough schedule.

It was the first window in the pits, to use a racing term for a quick change, if the team wasn’t doing well. Unfortunately, Murphy III’s “let’s figure it out” statement is the exact opposite of a team-wide group effort. Green had to admit that after allowing Grayson Allen to score 42 points in 27 minutes Monday night.

“We have to stop waiting as a team to get hit and then start fighting,” Green began. “We are again below our standard of where we want to be.”

That starts with the starting lineup and rotation patterns.

Kevon Looney provides little, especially when Derrick Quinn’s development is now far more important. Rookie production is also better by most metrics. Karlo Matković made the most of his time. Jose Alvarado also “deserves” more respect, according to one source.

Green can’t wait for Williamson to fix the problems.

In fact, a win over the All-Star-less visiting Portland Trail Blazers is needed to keep them on the job. After a respectable loss to the Los Angeles Lakers it would be acceptable.

The team could say they’ve turned a competitive corner, as Murphy talked about at practice last week. Until that corner is turned, however, fans have every right to be sour after Dumars spent months selling a sharp, competitive product.

After hosting the Trail Blazers, which is an inevitable victory for the optics as well as the record, the Pelicans face the Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.

The consensus is clear that Green is unlikely to survive this brutal stretch without a win over Portland. Another humiliating defeat, especially for the team whose coach was recently in FBI custodywould be the final, embarrassing straw for the Crescent City’s most cautious decision makers.

In less than 24 hours, Willie Green’s fate could be decided.