page_title: History of the New Orleans Pelicans
section_title: 2015: Return to the playoffs
hierarchical_section_title: History of the New Orleans Pelicans / New Orleans Pelicans / 2015: Return to the playoffs
caption_attribution_description: English: Golden State Warriors associate head coach Alvin Gentry visits the US Department of Defense.
context_page_description: The New Orleans Pelicans are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association. Until the conclusion of the 2012–13 season, the team was named the New Orleans Hornets. The name change came along with the purchase of the team by its new owner, Tom Benson. Early on in the purchasing process, Benson made it clear that he intended to change the name to something more "local". Inspiration for the name change is given to Louisiana's state bird, the brown pelican. The Pelicans have an overall franchise record of 498–552, along with six playoff qualifications. Their achievements include one playoff series victory and one division title.
context_section_description: For the second season under the name Pelicans, the team qualified for the playoffs with a 45–37 record as the number 8 seed in the Western Conference. They owned the tie-breaker over the Oklahoma City Thunder by winning the regular season head-to-head series 3–1, and they faced the Golden State Warriors in the first round; the Warriors swept the Pelicans in four games. After the season, the Pelicans fired coach Monty Williams despite qualifying for the playoffs.
  On May 31, 2015, the Pelicans hired Alvin Gentry as the franchise's 6th head coach.
caption: Alvin Gentry is the New Orleans Pelicans current head coach.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.24", "Image DateTime": "2021:06:21 01:23:25", "Image ExifOffset": "200", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "169", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "256", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "982", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8501", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:02:25 19:51:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:02:25 19:51:24", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "870723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "86797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "14", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "70", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "44855751/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "44855751/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "14", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "2049398", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[14, 24, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8"}