Dell Demps refuted a report that the New Orleans Pelicans received a "playoffs or else" mandate from the team's ownership.
"'I am hoping to keep the focus on the Pelicans and our playoff run,'' Demps said Thursday.''To answer the question, I did not receive a mandate to make the playoffs from ownership or anyone else. That conversation did not happen. Our ownership group has been very supportive, patient and given us all the resources to be successful."
'There is no truth to that story, there is no mandate issued,'' Greg Bensel said in an email exchange on Thursday.
The Pelicans reached the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference at 45-37.