April 24, 2025 • 31 mins
Pelicans TV sideline reporter/host Andrew Lopez joins Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast to recap Herb Jones' 2024-25 NBA season.
“He is one of the premier defenders in the NBA. For a while, the Defensive Player of the Year was whoever had the most blocks, or the most steals sometimes. For the most part, it was a big-man award… Now we’re starting to skew more toward perimeter guys. He has the capability to win a Defensive Player of the Year in his career. Being on a winning team helps – when you win 49 games (as New Orleans did in 2023-24), you get those kinds of accolades. He can go back to being that type of player.” – Pelicans TV sideline reporter Andrew Lopez on the future for Jones when he returns to action from injury
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans Podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right, welcome back to New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
If it's a podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, Claire Profiles,
we continue Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, c Jim McCollum, and
now it's time to talk a little bit about Herb
Jones with Andrew Lopez. That's coming up here shortly. We
started a little bit already this week, Jim talking about
Joe Dumars being introduced officially as the executive vice president
of basketball Operations.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
He likes the core of this team.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It's going to set Prince guidelines standards is kind of
something he's gonna be focusing on on the early going
here of this off season. Anything else stand out to
you before we move on facially into the offseason with him, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Think I'm just I'm interested to hear, you know, some
of the way and really maybe more so just watch,
not necessarily listen to or hear watch some of the
ways that he reshapes the roster, ways that he figures
out what the identity of the team is going to be.
And I think, regardless of what that actually ends up being,
I think trying to figure out ways for them to
(01:32):
be better defensively. As I've touched on eight million times
on this podcast over the course of the season.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
The player that we're going.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
To talk about today is a very instrumental part of
that effort in terms of Herb Jones being All NBA
First Team defense this season. Before this year, he only
plays twenty games, So I think having him back and
hopefully on the court for you know, the majority of
the season all the season, will make a big difference.
But I think it's not gonna be the kind of
(01:59):
thing where it's like, just Herb Jones, you're the one
that's gonna We're gonna put it all on you to
make the team better defensively. They're gonna have to come
up with a bunch of other ways that they can
improve at that end of the floor.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And that said, he missed some time when he came
back very first game he came back, Jim, what did
he do herb Jones?
Speaker 5 (02:14):
He locked Devin Booker at the buzzer to win.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
A game again, one against the one of the I
think one of the most fun wins of the season,
one of the ones games. Afterwards, You're I was thinking,
you know, I'm encouraged. Now, Okay, this team's going to
head in the right direction. Unfortunately, that today's.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Called earning your extension right there, That literally just shows
you exactly how important he is. When I think of
this roster with the Pelicans, two things stand to mind.
We'll find out May twelve where the Pelicans will draft,
so that's gonna be important obviously as to where that goes.
The other thing, obviously, is Zion Williamson. He's we saw
the efficiency what he could play when he's healthy and
(02:49):
ready to play. Towards the end of this year, Joe
Dumars talked about both of those things. Here is first
his thoughts on Big Zi.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Well, I'll shay this at the league office.
Speaker 7 (02:58):
I've had to talk to Zign a few times, so
I do have a relationship with.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Zions that started in my role at the league office.
I won't go into those conversations there.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
But we've talked since this, and I've talked to Zions
since since I became EVP here, and we had exceptional
conversations on the phone.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Actually, I've talked to every player.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Willie and I talked what five minutes Willie on the
phone something like that, Like we talked for a couple
of minutes on the phone. But I've talked to every
player onfore, I called every player and talked to each
one of them individually. So yeah, I tried to reach
out and make sure that I touched, you know, touch
these guys and let them know let's go, it's time.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
It's time here in New.
Speaker 8 (03:41):
Orleans, all right?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Love that?
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah, I mean, are we going to have like people?
I feel like you could sell to the local media.
You could sell the access to the phone call between
Joe Dumars and Zion the first time that they meet.
You could sell that for like maybe six figures. So
maybe we could put that up for auction, because I
feel like people would be fascinated to hear them kind
(04:04):
of meet and talk for the first time and just
kind of discuss the future and what you know, they're
looking for Zion going forward. So yeah, I mean that's
obviously that's a huge part of the future as far
as you know, decisions that they're gonna make and and
what Joe Dumars is going to do here.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
So it was it was interesting.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You also hear him say that he's he had already
spoken to everyone on the roster. I mean, his phone
must have been blazing if he talked to all, you know,
eighteen nineteen guys on the team just in the first
day or so that he was on.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
The job, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And again, as we mentioned the lottery coming up, where
the Pells will pick, will.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It be a top four, top five, the top pick overall?
Who knows?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Regardless though Jim I thought it was interesting, Joe Dumar said,
this doesn't matter what pick it is. There's something particular
he's looking for.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
I think, whether it's the top four pick or whether
it's the fiftieth pick. The approach to guys take to
this region, like, look, you you're not gonna be successful
just with talent alone, Like there are some intangibles that
you have to have, like you have to have, like
you you gotta wanna be great, Like every player in
(05:11):
the NBA is not striving to be just great. And
so you gotta you, you gotta figure that out, like
does this guy really wanna be great? You've got to
have the intangibles. Is he a worker, is he gonna
show up?
Speaker 6 (05:25):
Does he have toughness?
Speaker 7 (05:28):
You know, all of those intangible things besides the he
can run fast, he can jump high, he can shoot
the ball. Once you get past that, uh, I can
see that. Anybody in here can see that. What you
don't know is what's here, Like does this guy have it?
And so that's the part that you have to put
tremendous amount of emphasis in with your staff to dig
(05:49):
in to find out what's this guy made of?
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Like does this guy really wanna be great? Is he
gonna come here and be a part of the culture.
Is he gonna buy in?
Speaker 7 (05:58):
Those are the things for me, whether the draft, free agency, trade,
those are.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
Things I want to know more than anything else.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
And all of my staffs I've always said that, like
I need Look, here's the thing I would just say this,
whether you draft a player, sign a free agent, or
make a trade for a guy, there's two people walking
in that building.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
There's the player and the person.
Speaker 7 (06:21):
You better know who the person is because the player
can walk in there and look beautiful, but the person
may not be the right person for your building.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
And so for me, I always put a tremendous illness.
Speaker 7 (06:32):
On who's the person. I can see the talent, but
I need to know who the person is. So we'll
do that here. We'll put a tremendous amount of inphasis
on the person and not just the beautiful talent that
you can see with your own eyes.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
I mean, some of those comments remind me of something
that I've I learned the first few years, maybe that
I worked in the NBA, and.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
This is not a Pelicans thing, this is a league
wide thing.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
A lot of the younger players need to, like college players,
for example, that are going to come out in the
draft this year, or even high school players who have
a dream to play in the NBA someday, you get
watched twenty four hours a day. A lot of the
players think that when you're younger, you think only when
I have the ball in my hands, our scout's paying
attention to me.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
Or only when I'm on the court.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
But you realize when you talk to people that work
in front offices that a lot of the evaluation they
do in terms of what is this person like as
a what is his player like as a person? Is
all the time when no one they think no one's watching,
you know, It's like, how do you interact with your
teammates in the huddle? Are you just if you're the
best player on the team and somebody throws a bad pass,
(07:36):
do you give the guy a dirty look?
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Do you know.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Turn around and look at the coach and be like,
get this guy off the court, you know. So it's
just what kind of teammate you are is a huge
element of that.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
There's just so.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Many things that that players need to realize that they're
constantly being evaluated. It's not just when they think they are,
it's just all the time. And that's also one of
the reasons why and I'm sure Joe Dumars has done this,
every GM or scout has across the entire league. It's
why they get to the games early sometimes and they
sit there in the sideline and they watch how does
(08:08):
this guy warm up before the game?
Speaker 5 (08:10):
That's that's crucial as well. I think teams want guys
who are.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Out there early before the game, taking it seriously, getting
a lather up, making sure that they're prepared both physically
and mentally. So, I mean, those were some of the
things I think that he addressed was that it's not
just about while the clock is ticking and you're playing
your minutes. It's so many other things that lead up
to the point that make you successful, so that when
(08:37):
the ball gets thrown up in the opening tip and
the lights are on and there's twenty thousand people in
the stands, that you've done all the work that you
can to be ready to be successful at that point.
You don't just show up and say, Okay, hey guys,
I'm here, I'm ready to play. So I think that
was also, you know, interesting to hear from him and
something that I think is something that people can think about.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Well, one guy absolutely always ready to play, and it
was such a joy earlier this season where we spoke
to his high school basketball coach to find out the
beginnings of who Herb Jones is, and Herb's been Herb
from the get go when he played from high school
to college team in the pros. Andrew Lopez sits down
with us now to go over a shortened season of
(09:21):
Herb Jones. All Right, welcome back, mister Andrew Lopez. Silent
reporter for your New Orleans Pelicans. Of course, you can
see him or saw him throughout the season over on
the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Seja McCollum, you
gave us a little insight as to what it's like
to see him professionally go through a season, especially a
season like this, and yet still he performs Herb Jones
(09:42):
season coming off of getting the honor that he won
and making that first All NBA Defensive Team.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And doing that, and then.
Speaker 8 (09:50):
This season happens. As we go through these podcasts, I
think there's gonna be a lot of going into it
with his because I mean, there was so many unfortunate injuries.
And I know there's a lot of fans who look,
they look at all the injuries, Man, what's going on
over there? And it's like there were so many injuries
(10:12):
that were just unlucky. And I think Herb is on
that list of you die for a loose ball in
a game again, you know you're on the West Coast,
this first game of a back to back, and you
know you're diving for loose ball and a player falls
on your arm. You try to come back from that.
(10:35):
It's just not right, and then you end up needing
another surgery and it's like, man, it just it feels tough.
And this was a guy who was top you know,
first team on defense last year, top five and Defensive
Player of the Year. Some people's picked to win it
this year. A big reason why you felt good about
(10:59):
some of the moves you made last summer and being
able to put somebody who you know, between Herb and Dejonte,
The amount of deflections that you could generate from your
backcourt was going to be incredible, and you know that
shoulders bothering them all year and it's just a very
(11:21):
tough year. But watching Herb continue to be around the team,
be on all these trips, get his work in, try
to fight through it before he needs the surgery, it
kind of just goes to show you that, look, this
is this is a guy who is going to go
(11:41):
out there and he's going to try and compete as
much as he can for you, and it's a guy
you still want to to make sure you're building around.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
You know, you mentioned the combination of Herb and Dejonte.
It was interesting because I looked up the Steels leaders
this season and I was thinking I'll just look up
anyone who's played in any game. I'm not going to
go by the official leaders because obviously neither of those
guys played enough games.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
But to qualify.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
But Dejonte was still third in steels per game and
Herb was fifth. So in the tiny sample that we
saw of Herb Jones playing twenty games and Dejonte playing.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Thirty one, we did see a glimmer of that.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
But I mean even some of that, I don't think
that they even necessarily overlapped. That there were stretches where
one or two of them were out as well, So
I mean we didn't even really get to see much
of that. But you know, you talk about Herbs, you
know how determined he was to get back on the core.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Everyone knows that you've been around the team for a.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
While Andrew with other roles with ESPN and previous stops.
Did you learn anything about him in terms of him
off the court or the way he approaches the game,
or what was some of the insight that you kind
of gathered from just being around him on a closer
basis day to day.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Just that he is he's just a very like you
knew he was a chill guy like you knew, like
he was very much. I mean, I haven't told stories
before about Herb's off seasons where like where hey man,
I need you to go. I think Larry Nance, I
think told the story at media Day a couple of
years ago about hey, Herb, you need to go do this,
(13:20):
like I go take a break, Like I'll pay for
you to go take a vacation. And Herb's idea of
taking a vacation was going to Alabama fishing one weekend
and immediately being back in New Orleans on that Monday
to continue getting shots up. He is, like you hear
all these things and then you think, like, no, he
really is just the epitome of a hard worker, a
(13:43):
guy who went from was hardly a three point shooter
in college. That was, you know, not something he was doing.
I think he made thirty thirty four to three total
when he was at Alabama on the shorter three point
line to somebody who was season ago shot forty two
(14:03):
percent from three. Now that number came back down this year.
He shall only tried thirty thirty point six. But again,
his the shoulder is hurting. Yeah, you know, he's not
ever really able to find a rhythm, So I expect
that number to kind of go back up. But this
is a guy who is, you know, as as committed
(14:26):
to this as he could be, as as somebody who
is going to try to continue to get better.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I mentioned in the written recap season and review, I've
heard that you can really his entire season basically was
one week at the beginning of the season, in a
five week span. You mentioned, you know, obviously his three
point shooting went down, but we're talking a super small
sample compared to the previous years.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
I mean, can we.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Take anything away from the season that he had or
is it better to just be like, let's fold this
thing up and let's let's.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Move forward with it.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
Well, I think if if you go back to twenty
three twenty four, he starts that season shooting around thirty
percent from three and then because I remember looking up
numbers toward the end of twenty three twenty four where
it was like, man, his percentages are like he's like
fifty something from one corner. He was really hot for
(15:18):
most of that season, you know, look like he was
on that same trajectory. I think you can also see,
you know, shocker, you take away the guy who made
first team on defense and how much things you know
didn't look great on that end because you're missing a
lot of guys and I think you look at guys
(15:40):
like Herb who you know what. To take it back
to the last question, the one thing I've learned about him,
You see a bunch of these moments where he is
looking at all these other like he's directing on the sidelines.
(16:02):
I think that's probably the thing that being being the
sideline reporter, you are typically close to the bench.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 8 (16:13):
But I gonna name any arenas where you were.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Not Joel and Antonio did that for you.
Speaker 8 (16:17):
Yeah, they're way different most of the time. Though even
at those other arenas.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
You're still close proximity, right, and sometimes.
Speaker 8 (16:27):
You're even like behind the bench in a corner you
don't have a great view of the game, which you
have a great view of the bench. And watching him
coach and try to teach and point things out is
probably the thing that stood out to me the most.
As he you know, we we we've talked a lot
about him using his voice, and it seems like this
(16:50):
is like maybe the next step of Herb Jones is
him using his voice a lot more and I think
maybe using that off to the side is with something
that he can then use you know forward.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
That's interesting, almost feel like kind of full circle.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
He'll do.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
You remember earlier in the season we spoke to his
high school basketball coach. Yeah, right, and and he it
was at Herb Jones's you know, retirement retirement. Yeah, And
if you remember, he specifically talked about basically you just
said he came in as a high school kid and
like he was like a.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Coach on the floor.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Then immediately so as you were saying that, before you
just finished it, I was going to follow up with this,
could you see coaching in the future for a guy
like that?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But it's interesting to think about that.
Speaker 8 (17:27):
It's it's funny because I don't know if people are
going to be able to play defense the way Herb
Jones wants to coach, So he might he might say yeah,
he thinks he can. Then he watches somebody play defense
and he's like, oh, and he just gets frustrated with them.
But going back to that, you want to talk about.
Another thing that's about is the kind of teammate he is.
Is how many people went to his Jersey retirement ceremony,
(17:50):
I mean basically the whole team was there. I think
that that also kind of speaks to just the teammate
that he is.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, you know you mentioned a second ago you mentioned
the drop off defensively.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
We did not practice this.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
You actually set me up perfectly for the two pelistats
I'm going to give you and you can decide which
one you want to discuss.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Maybe it's both.
Speaker 8 (18:16):
I like that we now have a name for it.
We did not for CJ.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Yes, no, yes, pelistats.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So the first number is twenty nine and that is
New Orleans ranking and defensive efficiency this season. It's very
important to note that in the previous two seasons they
were sixth both years and defensive rating and efficiency.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Herb only played twenty games this season.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
As we mentioned, he played two seasons before they played
sixty six and seventy six. So and then the second
number is four and that is the charges drawn by
Herb this season, which was actually tied for the New
Orleans team lead with Kelly Olenick, even though Herb only
played the thirteenth most total minutes on the roster. So
which of those two pelistats do you want to discuss?
Speaker 8 (18:57):
I don't think i'd I'd hope that there was somebody
else was up there a little bit more in charge
of I think Lester keyone's got one late, and I
was like, man, he might might vaulta like second on
the list. But let's talk about defensive rady because I think,
you know, that's something that assistant coach Jaron Collins have
kind of you know, hung his hat on the last
couple of years, and the Pels in general and Willie Green,
(19:19):
and it's almost like, man, you might need your starters
to play very good defense. And there's times where your
your concepts just you know they're gonna be the same,
and you want those to kind of be there. But
when you take away a Herb Jones and you take
away a de Jante Murray, and it just hurts. I
(19:42):
mean it really, it really does. You lose a lot
of schematically what you're trying to do, Like you can
do certain things because you have a Herb Jones on
the floor, You could do certain things because you have
a de Jonta Murray on the floor. I'm very interested
to see go back and look at some of these
lineups that like had a Herb in a an Eve
(20:04):
on the floor. At the same time, you know, what
what what that's going to look at like in the
future as Herb tries to you know, continues to get better,
starts to use his voice. I think it's there's there's
a lot to it. And to to Herb's credit, I think,
you know, he he does have a lot to do
(20:24):
with that, and I think that's why he you know,
he was he was honored the way he was last year.
But it just goes to show you it's very difficult
to to build out a good offensive, good defense when anything,
when oh, hey you look down at the roster and
top nine guys are out tonight. Hey, you look down
at the roster and Eve me C is the highest
paid player playing tonight, it makes things a little bit
(20:49):
more difficult on your coaching staff.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
If Mec led the team in games played, and by
the way, he's a rookie, right, he was a rookie.
Speaker 8 (21:00):
The way one fourteen point three was the defensive rating
with those two on the floor together, which I think,
let's see where that were. Let's just see where that ranks. Yeah,
you want to take a guess where that would rank
if they were they were a defensive team by themselves.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
I'm gonna say about tenth maybe.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
One fourteen this season since they want to since NBA
dot Com wants to go to playoffs, automatically, one fourteen
would have got you to about fifteen sixteen. So you
go from twenty ninth to sixteenth with those two on
the floor in a little over four hundred minutes, a
(21:39):
lot of those early with Eve. It kind of shows
you how things were starting to kind of turn around
or was better with those guys on the floor. Some
you know, things change, and looking forward to seeing what
those two can do, especially with Dejionte on the floor.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Yeah, I mean, Gus will tell you I tried to
single handedly change this. But it always feels like defense
is the thing that we talk about the least. You know,
people always are discussing like, Okay, how does things fit
with Ion? How what kind of shots are they getting?
How come they're struggling to shoot three pointers? But to me,
the quickest explanation of the drop off this season was
at the defensive end of the floor. The fact that
(22:17):
they fell so far, So I mean that that was
really difficult. Lastly for me, I mean we talked about
how Herb only played twenty games and you know, played
five hundred plus minutes, which is nothing compared to his
previous years.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
What do you expect from him?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
What's the outlook for him as far as next season,
him coming back from his injury, and maybe what are
some of the things that you want to see from
him go in his I guess what would be his
fifth season.
Speaker 8 (22:44):
Herb was like a like very close to a fifty
forty ninety last year in twenty three twenty four, shot
forty nine point eight from from from the field, forty
one point eight from three, eighty six point seven from
the free throw line. I don't know if he gets
back to those numbers, but I do think that he
has shown enough to where the three point percentage can
(23:05):
probably climb back up into the thirty seven thirty eight range. Again,
going back to our conversation from CJ the other day,
it's a lot of guys in league who would take
thirty seven point three as their three point percentage from
the season. Let's just say he gets to there. I
think he you know, he's back in contention for an
(23:26):
All defense. You know, next season you go back and
there were probably quite a few people who had him
preseason Defensive Player of the Year, your preseason all defensive tier,
whatever you want to call it. He is one of
the premiere defenders in the NBA, and that's just what
it is. And I think now as you were starting
(23:47):
to skew, I think I think for a while, this
is more NBA discourse than Herb Jones discourse. But for
a while, the defensive Player of the Year was whoever
had the most blocks or rim protector, whoever had the
most steals sometimes, but for the most part, was a
big man's award. And you know, when you're anchoring defenses
(24:09):
and you're calling things out, you're the quarterback of the defense.
That makes a little bit of sense. But I think
now we're starting to skew more to perimeter guys, and
I think that you know, he has the capability to
win a Defensive Player of the Year in his career.
You know it. Being on a winning team helps. Obviously,
(24:32):
when you know, you in forty nine games, you get
these accolades. I think he definitely can can go back
to being that type of player when you know he's
playing more than a handful of games where he's not
dealing with some sort of injury, but he's definitely the
kind of guy that can definitely bounce back from that.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
We did a season ticket event.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Man, as we wrap up here this past weekend, the
thing that stood out to me listening to you talk
about kind of teammate is how he's committing all those
different things. He's out there in a sling feeding fans
the ball so they can practice shooting in the facility.
Fans got a chance to kind of go through a
(25:14):
couple of stations and stuff, and I just happen to
see a photo of it, and I'm like, is that
Herb Jones?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Like?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Herb's there?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Because the reason I bring that up is I can't
think of a better player. Because we did see some
positive and some bright moments of players like Eve me
c Antonio reve some of these younger players, even Carlo
Makovitz there as well. You know, Herb's gonna be here
this summer. Eve said, right, he's staying the summer. I'm
just thinking, like, some of these younger players who better
to work out with? Because I can see it now
(25:42):
they're probably et lunch together, out together, work out together,
and I don't.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Know, I mean, can you lighten us a little bit
on that.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I mean, can you see that guy working out with
those guys doing that again?
Speaker 8 (25:52):
Herb doesn't leave. Herb doesn't. Herb's gonna go fishing one
weekend and then pretend then, no, I took a vacation,
right Like, he is going to kind of lead by example,
and I think that's what he does. He's getting better
at being more vocal, but he's a lead by example
(26:12):
guy and he's gonna be in there and I know,
look you look at it. He's not gonna be happy
with with anything that happened this season, and his way
to fix that is getting back at there and work,
and then that's what he's gonna do.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Herb is like the warm blanket, the comfortable shoes to me.
I mean, we went through a brutal season. I mean
that's that's not breaking news. It was it was at
times it was miserable, and I do think going forward
to next season, you just think that, I mean, we
only got we only got so little amount of Herb Jones.
If we get what we got before, I just feel
(26:45):
like it's gonna make everything better. It's gonna make everyone happier.
I mean, the games are gonna be more entertaining.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
I mean, you name it.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I just think that getting him back and having him
play a ton of games next season and having him
on the floor is going to just be kind of
the alixir for a lot of things that happened this season.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Let's be honest. The injurys he suffered is here.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
We're doing what he's hustling, right.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I mean, it's not one of those miraculous ones him
and Andrew slipped coming off the airplane on the roads.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
You know, it's it's literally diving.
Speaker 8 (27:15):
Through a film of when I slipped off the plane.
I heard about it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I heard about it, but you didn't.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
You still perform again, only one game is this entire season,
and that was due.
Speaker 8 (27:25):
To the birth of your journey. So there you go.
What do you do with plan?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You're gonna hang out. Your wife goes here, You go as.
Speaker 8 (27:32):
Yeah, baby, uh, she goes back to work and like
in a week and that it's daddy, take care for
the rest of the summer. So we won't see it
this September. If you do, you might there might be
a car seat in here.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
While Jim will tell you Carver is a is a
regular to sit in here during the podcast, so feel
free might test that out there you go. Thank you
for your time, man, appreciated, got it, Thank you, thank you?
All right, thanks to Andrew Lopez for I mean in
there and look, man, we.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Know his importance. I mean, we can't wait to get
him to come back.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
And again, just it just thinks his injuries, literally him
hustling try to get the ball going the extra mile.
You could have watched that ball go aside instead he
dove on it and all those different So I think
Herb's gonna be Herb Man.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
So I can't wait to see him next year.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, a lot of ways, he's kind of the foundation
of the team. He's the pillar that a lot of
things are built on, especially at the defensive end of
the floor. So I mean there's guys that have better
offensive stats and flashier highlights maybe, but I mean I
feel like you really you just have to have him
on the court, and with some of the defensive losses
that they had in terms of personnel over the previous offseason,
(28:42):
his role was even more important as far as you've
been able to hold up at that end of the floor.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
All right, sir, anything else you want to hit on
here before we get out of here at on the postseason.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Let's talk briefly, you know, on this Thursday episode, let's
talk briefly about the next couple nights of the playoffs.
A couple quick storylines. Thursday night, Detroit versus New York
Game three, the Pistons went from fourteen wins to forty
four wins. What a story. Hopefully the Pelicans will be
able to make some kind of jump like that. I
don't know if they can win thirty more games than
they did this year, but I mean that we would
(29:11):
take that definitely. Detroit had their first playoff win since
two thousand and eight. Can you imagine going that many
years between winning a playoff game. Pelicans haven't won a
playoff game since twenty twenty two, which is only three
years ago, and that feels like forever to me. So
and then another game tonight, I think that's super interesting.
The Clippers are hosting Denver. That's the first playoff game
(29:31):
ever in the Into It Dome. So I'm curious to
see what that atmosphere is going to be like and
how wild the wall is going to be.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
I know people have talked about how.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
There's some stats to back up that visiting teams struggled
on free throws when they were shooting towards the wall
in that arena, so we'll see if that can continue.
And then lastly, just a couple quick things I think
over the next two nights, I'm interested to see the
Grizzlies against OKAC on Thursday night and then Milwaukee Friday
night against Indiana, teams that have two of the biggest
(30:01):
names in the league, John Moran and Giannis Antentakoopo. Can
they both can they get back in the series or
are they going to beat down three and just kind
of quietly, meekly have their season potentially end this weekend.
So those are some of the things I'm looking forward
to over the next couple nights in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
All right, mister Jim, I can offer, as always appreciated,
don't forget go to Pelicans dot com each and every
one of these podcasts as an accompanying written feature on there.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Thank you, Jim, appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah, for sure, we'll see you next time the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on Pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X at Jim Underscore I Can Offer
(30:52):
and Gcap Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelican This Podcast
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans Podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right, welcome back to New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
If it's a podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, Claire Profiles,
we continue Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, c Jim McCollum, and
now it's time to talk a little bit about Herb
Jones with Andrew Lopez. That's coming up here shortly. We
started a little bit already this week, Jim talking about
Joe Dumars being introduced officially as the executive vice president
of basketball Operations.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
He likes the core of this team.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It's going to set Prince guidelines standards is kind of
something he's gonna be focusing on on the early going
here of this off season. Anything else stand out to
you before we move on facially into the offseason with him, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Think I'm just I'm interested to hear, you know, some
of the way and really maybe more so just watch,
not necessarily listen to or hear watch some of the
ways that he reshapes the roster, ways that he figures
out what the identity of the team is going to be.
And I think, regardless of what that actually ends up being,
I think trying to figure out ways for them to
(01:32):
be better defensively. As I've touched on eight million times
on this podcast over the course of the season.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
The player that we're going.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
To talk about today is a very instrumental part of
that effort in terms of Herb Jones being All NBA
First Team defense this season. Before this year, he only
plays twenty games, So I think having him back and
hopefully on the court for you know, the majority of
the season all the season, will make a big difference.
But I think it's not gonna be the kind of
(01:59):
thing where it's like, just Herb Jones, you're the one
that's gonna We're gonna put it all on you to
make the team better defensively. They're gonna have to come
up with a bunch of other ways that they can
improve at that end of the floor.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And that said, he missed some time when he came
back very first game he came back, Jim, what did
he do herb Jones?
Speaker 5 (02:14):
He locked Devin Booker at the buzzer to win.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
A game again, one against the one of the I
think one of the most fun wins of the season,
one of the ones games. Afterwards, You're I was thinking,
you know, I'm encouraged. Now, Okay, this team's going to
head in the right direction. Unfortunately, that today's.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Called earning your extension right there, That literally just shows
you exactly how important he is. When I think of
this roster with the Pelicans, two things stand to mind.
We'll find out May twelve where the Pelicans will draft,
so that's gonna be important obviously as to where that goes.
The other thing, obviously, is Zion Williamson. He's we saw
the efficiency what he could play when he's healthy and
(02:49):
ready to play. Towards the end of this year, Joe
Dumars talked about both of those things. Here is first
his thoughts on Big Zi.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Well, I'll shay this at the league office.
Speaker 7 (02:58):
I've had to talk to Zign a few times, so
I do have a relationship with.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Zions that started in my role at the league office.
I won't go into those conversations there.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
But we've talked since this, and I've talked to Zions
since since I became EVP here, and we had exceptional
conversations on the phone.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Actually, I've talked to every player.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Willie and I talked what five minutes Willie on the
phone something like that, Like we talked for a couple
of minutes on the phone. But I've talked to every
player onfore, I called every player and talked to each
one of them individually. So yeah, I tried to reach
out and make sure that I touched, you know, touch
these guys and let them know let's go, it's time.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
It's time here in New.
Speaker 8 (03:41):
Orleans, all right?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Love that?
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah, I mean, are we going to have like people?
I feel like you could sell to the local media.
You could sell the access to the phone call between
Joe Dumars and Zion the first time that they meet.
You could sell that for like maybe six figures. So
maybe we could put that up for auction, because I
feel like people would be fascinated to hear them kind
(04:04):
of meet and talk for the first time and just
kind of discuss the future and what you know, they're
looking for Zion going forward. So yeah, I mean that's
obviously that's a huge part of the future as far
as you know, decisions that they're gonna make and and
what Joe Dumars is going to do here.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
So it was it was interesting.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You also hear him say that he's he had already
spoken to everyone on the roster. I mean, his phone
must have been blazing if he talked to all, you know,
eighteen nineteen guys on the team just in the first
day or so that he was on.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
The job, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And again, as we mentioned the lottery coming up, where
the Pells will pick, will.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It be a top four, top five, the top pick overall?
Who knows?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Regardless though Jim I thought it was interesting, Joe Dumar said,
this doesn't matter what pick it is. There's something particular
he's looking for.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
I think, whether it's the top four pick or whether
it's the fiftieth pick. The approach to guys take to
this region, like, look, you you're not gonna be successful
just with talent alone, Like there are some intangibles that
you have to have, like you have to have, like
you you gotta wanna be great, Like every player in
(05:11):
the NBA is not striving to be just great. And
so you gotta you, you gotta figure that out, like
does this guy really wanna be great? You've got to
have the intangibles. Is he a worker, is he gonna
show up?
Speaker 6 (05:25):
Does he have toughness?
Speaker 7 (05:28):
You know, all of those intangible things besides the he
can run fast, he can jump high, he can shoot
the ball. Once you get past that, uh, I can
see that. Anybody in here can see that. What you
don't know is what's here, Like does this guy have it?
And so that's the part that you have to put
tremendous amount of emphasis in with your staff to dig
(05:49):
in to find out what's this guy made of?
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Like does this guy really wanna be great? Is he
gonna come here and be a part of the culture.
Is he gonna buy in?
Speaker 7 (05:58):
Those are the things for me, whether the draft, free agency, trade,
those are.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
Things I want to know more than anything else.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
And all of my staffs I've always said that, like
I need Look, here's the thing I would just say this,
whether you draft a player, sign a free agent, or
make a trade for a guy, there's two people walking
in that building.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
There's the player and the person.
Speaker 7 (06:21):
You better know who the person is because the player
can walk in there and look beautiful, but the person
may not be the right person for your building.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
And so for me, I always put a tremendous illness.
Speaker 7 (06:32):
On who's the person. I can see the talent, but
I need to know who the person is. So we'll
do that here. We'll put a tremendous amount of inphasis
on the person and not just the beautiful talent that
you can see with your own eyes.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
I mean, some of those comments remind me of something
that I've I learned the first few years, maybe that
I worked in the NBA, and.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
This is not a Pelicans thing, this is a league
wide thing.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
A lot of the younger players need to, like college players,
for example, that are going to come out in the
draft this year, or even high school players who have
a dream to play in the NBA someday, you get
watched twenty four hours a day. A lot of the
players think that when you're younger, you think only when
I have the ball in my hands, our scout's paying
attention to me.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
Or only when I'm on the court.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
But you realize when you talk to people that work
in front offices that a lot of the evaluation they
do in terms of what is this person like as
a what is his player like as a person? Is
all the time when no one they think no one's watching,
you know, It's like, how do you interact with your
teammates in the huddle? Are you just if you're the
best player on the team and somebody throws a bad pass,
(07:36):
do you give the guy a dirty look?
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Do you know.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Turn around and look at the coach and be like,
get this guy off the court, you know. So it's
just what kind of teammate you are is a huge
element of that.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
There's just so.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Many things that that players need to realize that they're
constantly being evaluated. It's not just when they think they are,
it's just all the time. And that's also one of
the reasons why and I'm sure Joe Dumars has done this,
every GM or scout has across the entire league. It's
why they get to the games early sometimes and they
sit there in the sideline and they watch how does
(08:08):
this guy warm up before the game?
Speaker 5 (08:10):
That's that's crucial as well. I think teams want guys
who are.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Out there early before the game, taking it seriously, getting
a lather up, making sure that they're prepared both physically
and mentally. So, I mean, those were some of the
things I think that he addressed was that it's not
just about while the clock is ticking and you're playing
your minutes. It's so many other things that lead up
to the point that make you successful, so that when
(08:37):
the ball gets thrown up in the opening tip and
the lights are on and there's twenty thousand people in
the stands, that you've done all the work that you
can to be ready to be successful at that point.
You don't just show up and say, Okay, hey guys,
I'm here, I'm ready to play. So I think that
was also, you know, interesting to hear from him and
something that I think is something that people can think about.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Well, one guy absolutely always ready to play, and it
was such a joy earlier this season where we spoke
to his high school basketball coach to find out the
beginnings of who Herb Jones is, and Herb's been Herb
from the get go when he played from high school
to college team in the pros. Andrew Lopez sits down
with us now to go over a shortened season of
(09:21):
Herb Jones. All Right, welcome back, mister Andrew Lopez. Silent
reporter for your New Orleans Pelicans. Of course, you can
see him or saw him throughout the season over on
the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Seja McCollum, you
gave us a little insight as to what it's like
to see him professionally go through a season, especially a
season like this, and yet still he performs Herb Jones
(09:42):
season coming off of getting the honor that he won
and making that first All NBA Defensive Team.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And doing that, and then.
Speaker 8 (09:50):
This season happens. As we go through these podcasts, I
think there's gonna be a lot of going into it
with his because I mean, there was so many unfortunate injuries.
And I know there's a lot of fans who look,
they look at all the injuries, Man, what's going on
over there? And it's like there were so many injuries
(10:12):
that were just unlucky. And I think Herb is on
that list of you die for a loose ball in
a game again, you know you're on the West Coast,
this first game of a back to back, and you
know you're diving for loose ball and a player falls
on your arm. You try to come back from that.
(10:35):
It's just not right, and then you end up needing
another surgery and it's like, man, it just it feels tough.
And this was a guy who was top you know,
first team on defense last year, top five and Defensive
Player of the Year. Some people's picked to win it
this year. A big reason why you felt good about
(10:59):
some of the moves you made last summer and being
able to put somebody who you know, between Herb and Dejonte,
The amount of deflections that you could generate from your
backcourt was going to be incredible, and you know that
shoulders bothering them all year and it's just a very
(11:21):
tough year. But watching Herb continue to be around the team,
be on all these trips, get his work in, try
to fight through it before he needs the surgery, it
kind of just goes to show you that, look, this
is this is a guy who is going to go
(11:41):
out there and he's going to try and compete as
much as he can for you, and it's a guy
you still want to to make sure you're building around.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
You know, you mentioned the combination of Herb and Dejonte.
It was interesting because I looked up the Steels leaders
this season and I was thinking I'll just look up
anyone who's played in any game. I'm not going to
go by the official leaders because obviously neither of those
guys played enough games.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
But to qualify.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
But Dejonte was still third in steels per game and
Herb was fifth. So in the tiny sample that we
saw of Herb Jones playing twenty games and Dejonte playing.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Thirty one, we did see a glimmer of that.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
But I mean even some of that, I don't think
that they even necessarily overlapped. That there were stretches where
one or two of them were out as well, So
I mean we didn't even really get to see much
of that. But you know, you talk about Herbs, you
know how determined he was to get back on the core.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Everyone knows that you've been around the team for a.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
While Andrew with other roles with ESPN and previous stops.
Did you learn anything about him in terms of him
off the court or the way he approaches the game,
or what was some of the insight that you kind
of gathered from just being around him on a closer
basis day to day.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Just that he is he's just a very like you
knew he was a chill guy like you knew, like
he was very much. I mean, I haven't told stories
before about Herb's off seasons where like where hey man,
I need you to go. I think Larry Nance, I
think told the story at media Day a couple of
years ago about hey, Herb, you need to go do this,
(13:20):
like I go take a break, Like I'll pay for
you to go take a vacation. And Herb's idea of
taking a vacation was going to Alabama fishing one weekend
and immediately being back in New Orleans on that Monday
to continue getting shots up. He is, like you hear
all these things and then you think, like, no, he
really is just the epitome of a hard worker, a
(13:43):
guy who went from was hardly a three point shooter
in college. That was, you know, not something he was doing.
I think he made thirty thirty four to three total
when he was at Alabama on the shorter three point
line to somebody who was season ago shot forty two
(14:03):
percent from three. Now that number came back down this year.
He shall only tried thirty thirty point six. But again,
his the shoulder is hurting. Yeah, you know, he's not
ever really able to find a rhythm, So I expect
that number to kind of go back up. But this
is a guy who is, you know, as as committed
(14:26):
to this as he could be, as as somebody who
is going to try to continue to get better.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I mentioned in the written recap season and review, I've
heard that you can really his entire season basically was
one week at the beginning of the season, in a
five week span. You mentioned, you know, obviously his three
point shooting went down, but we're talking a super small
sample compared to the previous years.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
I mean, can we.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Take anything away from the season that he had or
is it better to just be like, let's fold this
thing up and let's let's.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Move forward with it.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
Well, I think if if you go back to twenty
three twenty four, he starts that season shooting around thirty
percent from three and then because I remember looking up
numbers toward the end of twenty three twenty four where
it was like, man, his percentages are like he's like
fifty something from one corner. He was really hot for
(15:18):
most of that season, you know, look like he was
on that same trajectory. I think you can also see,
you know, shocker, you take away the guy who made
first team on defense and how much things you know
didn't look great on that end because you're missing a
lot of guys and I think you look at guys
(15:40):
like Herb who you know what. To take it back
to the last question, the one thing I've learned about him,
You see a bunch of these moments where he is
looking at all these other like he's directing on the sidelines.
(16:02):
I think that's probably the thing that being being the
sideline reporter, you are typically close to the bench.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 8 (16:13):
But I gonna name any arenas where you were.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Not Joel and Antonio did that for you.
Speaker 8 (16:17):
Yeah, they're way different most of the time. Though even
at those other arenas.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
You're still close proximity, right, and sometimes.
Speaker 8 (16:27):
You're even like behind the bench in a corner you
don't have a great view of the game, which you
have a great view of the bench. And watching him
coach and try to teach and point things out is
probably the thing that stood out to me the most.
As he you know, we we we've talked a lot
about him using his voice, and it seems like this
(16:50):
is like maybe the next step of Herb Jones is
him using his voice a lot more and I think
maybe using that off to the side is with something
that he can then use you know forward.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
That's interesting, almost feel like kind of full circle.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
He'll do.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
You remember earlier in the season we spoke to his
high school basketball coach. Yeah, right, and and he it
was at Herb Jones's you know, retirement retirement. Yeah, And
if you remember, he specifically talked about basically you just
said he came in as a high school kid and
like he was like a.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Coach on the floor.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Then immediately so as you were saying that, before you
just finished it, I was going to follow up with this,
could you see coaching in the future for a guy
like that?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But it's interesting to think about that.
Speaker 8 (17:27):
It's it's funny because I don't know if people are
going to be able to play defense the way Herb
Jones wants to coach, So he might he might say yeah,
he thinks he can. Then he watches somebody play defense
and he's like, oh, and he just gets frustrated with them.
But going back to that, you want to talk about.
Another thing that's about is the kind of teammate he is.
Is how many people went to his Jersey retirement ceremony,
(17:50):
I mean basically the whole team was there. I think
that that also kind of speaks to just the teammate
that he is.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, you know you mentioned a second ago you mentioned
the drop off defensively.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
We did not practice this.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
You actually set me up perfectly for the two pelistats
I'm going to give you and you can decide which
one you want to discuss.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Maybe it's both.
Speaker 8 (18:16):
I like that we now have a name for it.
We did not for CJ.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Yes, no, yes, pelistats.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So the first number is twenty nine and that is
New Orleans ranking and defensive efficiency this season. It's very
important to note that in the previous two seasons they
were sixth both years and defensive rating and efficiency.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Herb only played twenty games this season.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
As we mentioned, he played two seasons before they played
sixty six and seventy six. So and then the second
number is four and that is the charges drawn by
Herb this season, which was actually tied for the New
Orleans team lead with Kelly Olenick, even though Herb only
played the thirteenth most total minutes on the roster. So
which of those two pelistats do you want to discuss?
Speaker 8 (18:57):
I don't think i'd I'd hope that there was somebody
else was up there a little bit more in charge
of I think Lester keyone's got one late, and I
was like, man, he might might vaulta like second on
the list. But let's talk about defensive rady because I think,
you know, that's something that assistant coach Jaron Collins have
kind of you know, hung his hat on the last
couple of years, and the Pels in general and Willie Green,
(19:19):
and it's almost like, man, you might need your starters
to play very good defense. And there's times where your
your concepts just you know they're gonna be the same,
and you want those to kind of be there. But
when you take away a Herb Jones and you take
away a de Jante Murray, and it just hurts. I
(19:42):
mean it really, it really does. You lose a lot
of schematically what you're trying to do, Like you can
do certain things because you have a Herb Jones on
the floor, You could do certain things because you have
a de Jonta Murray on the floor. I'm very interested
to see go back and look at some of these
lineups that like had a Herb in a an Eve
(20:04):
on the floor. At the same time, you know, what
what what that's going to look at like in the
future as Herb tries to you know, continues to get better,
starts to use his voice. I think it's there's there's
a lot to it. And to to Herb's credit, I think,
you know, he he does have a lot to do
(20:24):
with that, and I think that's why he you know,
he was he was honored the way he was last year.
But it just goes to show you it's very difficult
to to build out a good offensive, good defense when anything,
when oh, hey you look down at the roster and
top nine guys are out tonight. Hey, you look down
at the roster and Eve me C is the highest
paid player playing tonight, it makes things a little bit
(20:49):
more difficult on your coaching staff.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
If Mec led the team in games played, and by
the way, he's a rookie, right, he was a rookie.
Speaker 8 (21:00):
The way one fourteen point three was the defensive rating
with those two on the floor together, which I think,
let's see where that were. Let's just see where that ranks. Yeah,
you want to take a guess where that would rank
if they were they were a defensive team by themselves.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
I'm gonna say about tenth maybe.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
One fourteen this season since they want to since NBA
dot Com wants to go to playoffs, automatically, one fourteen
would have got you to about fifteen sixteen. So you
go from twenty ninth to sixteenth with those two on
the floor in a little over four hundred minutes, a
(21:39):
lot of those early with Eve. It kind of shows
you how things were starting to kind of turn around
or was better with those guys on the floor. Some
you know, things change, and looking forward to seeing what
those two can do, especially with Dejionte on the floor.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Yeah, I mean, Gus will tell you I tried to
single handedly change this. But it always feels like defense
is the thing that we talk about the least. You know,
people always are discussing like, Okay, how does things fit
with Ion? How what kind of shots are they getting?
How come they're struggling to shoot three pointers? But to me,
the quickest explanation of the drop off this season was
at the defensive end of the floor. The fact that
(22:17):
they fell so far, So I mean that that was
really difficult. Lastly for me, I mean we talked about
how Herb only played twenty games and you know, played
five hundred plus minutes, which is nothing compared to his
previous years.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
What do you expect from him?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
What's the outlook for him as far as next season,
him coming back from his injury, and maybe what are
some of the things that you want to see from
him go in his I guess what would be his
fifth season.
Speaker 8 (22:44):
Herb was like a like very close to a fifty
forty ninety last year in twenty three twenty four, shot
forty nine point eight from from from the field, forty
one point eight from three, eighty six point seven from
the free throw line. I don't know if he gets
back to those numbers, but I do think that he
has shown enough to where the three point percentage can
(23:05):
probably climb back up into the thirty seven thirty eight range. Again,
going back to our conversation from CJ the other day,
it's a lot of guys in league who would take
thirty seven point three as their three point percentage from
the season. Let's just say he gets to there. I
think he you know, he's back in contention for an
(23:26):
All defense. You know, next season you go back and
there were probably quite a few people who had him
preseason Defensive Player of the Year, your preseason all defensive tier,
whatever you want to call it. He is one of
the premiere defenders in the NBA, and that's just what
it is. And I think now as you were starting
(23:47):
to skew, I think I think for a while, this
is more NBA discourse than Herb Jones discourse. But for
a while, the defensive Player of the Year was whoever
had the most blocks or rim protector, whoever had the
most steals sometimes, but for the most part, was a
big man's award. And you know, when you're anchoring defenses
(24:09):
and you're calling things out, you're the quarterback of the defense.
That makes a little bit of sense. But I think
now we're starting to skew more to perimeter guys, and
I think that you know, he has the capability to
win a Defensive Player of the Year in his career.
You know it. Being on a winning team helps. Obviously,
(24:32):
when you know, you in forty nine games, you get
these accolades. I think he definitely can can go back
to being that type of player when you know he's
playing more than a handful of games where he's not
dealing with some sort of injury, but he's definitely the
kind of guy that can definitely bounce back from that.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
We did a season ticket event.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Man, as we wrap up here this past weekend, the
thing that stood out to me listening to you talk
about kind of teammate is how he's committing all those
different things. He's out there in a sling feeding fans
the ball so they can practice shooting in the facility.
Fans got a chance to kind of go through a
(25:14):
couple of stations and stuff, and I just happen to
see a photo of it, and I'm like, is that
Herb Jones?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Like?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Herb's there?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Because the reason I bring that up is I can't
think of a better player. Because we did see some
positive and some bright moments of players like Eve me
c Antonio reve some of these younger players, even Carlo
Makovitz there as well. You know, Herb's gonna be here
this summer. Eve said, right, he's staying the summer. I'm
just thinking, like, some of these younger players who better
to work out with? Because I can see it now
(25:42):
they're probably et lunch together, out together, work out together,
and I don't.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Know, I mean, can you lighten us a little bit
on that.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I mean, can you see that guy working out with
those guys doing that again?
Speaker 8 (25:52):
Herb doesn't leave. Herb doesn't. Herb's gonna go fishing one
weekend and then pretend then, no, I took a vacation,
right Like, he is going to kind of lead by example,
and I think that's what he does. He's getting better
at being more vocal, but he's a lead by example
(26:12):
guy and he's gonna be in there and I know,
look you look at it. He's not gonna be happy
with with anything that happened this season, and his way
to fix that is getting back at there and work,
and then that's what he's gonna do.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Herb is like the warm blanket, the comfortable shoes to me.
I mean, we went through a brutal season. I mean
that's that's not breaking news. It was it was at
times it was miserable, and I do think going forward
to next season, you just think that, I mean, we
only got we only got so little amount of Herb Jones.
If we get what we got before, I just feel
(26:45):
like it's gonna make everything better. It's gonna make everyone happier.
I mean, the games are gonna be more entertaining.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
I mean, you name it.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I just think that getting him back and having him
play a ton of games next season and having him
on the floor is going to just be kind of
the alixir for a lot of things that happened this season.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Let's be honest. The injurys he suffered is here.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
We're doing what he's hustling, right.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I mean, it's not one of those miraculous ones him
and Andrew slipped coming off the airplane on the roads.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
You know, it's it's literally diving.
Speaker 8 (27:15):
Through a film of when I slipped off the plane.
I heard about it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I heard about it, but you didn't.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
You still perform again, only one game is this entire season,
and that was due.
Speaker 8 (27:25):
To the birth of your journey. So there you go.
What do you do with plan?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You're gonna hang out. Your wife goes here, You go as.
Speaker 8 (27:32):
Yeah, baby, uh, she goes back to work and like
in a week and that it's daddy, take care for
the rest of the summer. So we won't see it
this September. If you do, you might there might be
a car seat in here.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
While Jim will tell you Carver is a is a
regular to sit in here during the podcast, so feel
free might test that out there you go. Thank you
for your time, man, appreciated, got it, Thank you, thank you?
All right, thanks to Andrew Lopez for I mean in
there and look, man, we.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Know his importance. I mean, we can't wait to get
him to come back.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
And again, just it just thinks his injuries, literally him
hustling try to get the ball going the extra mile.
You could have watched that ball go aside instead he
dove on it and all those different So I think
Herb's gonna be Herb Man.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
So I can't wait to see him next year.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, a lot of ways, he's kind of the foundation
of the team. He's the pillar that a lot of
things are built on, especially at the defensive end of
the floor. So I mean there's guys that have better
offensive stats and flashier highlights maybe, but I mean I
feel like you really you just have to have him
on the court, and with some of the defensive losses
that they had in terms of personnel over the previous offseason,
(28:42):
his role was even more important as far as you've
been able to hold up at that end of the floor.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
All right, sir, anything else you want to hit on
here before we get out of here at on the postseason.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Let's talk briefly, you know, on this Thursday episode, let's
talk briefly about the next couple nights of the playoffs.
A couple quick storylines. Thursday night, Detroit versus New York
Game three, the Pistons went from fourteen wins to forty
four wins. What a story. Hopefully the Pelicans will be
able to make some kind of jump like that. I
don't know if they can win thirty more games than
they did this year, but I mean that we would
(29:11):
take that definitely. Detroit had their first playoff win since
two thousand and eight. Can you imagine going that many
years between winning a playoff game. Pelicans haven't won a
playoff game since twenty twenty two, which is only three
years ago, and that feels like forever to me. So
and then another game tonight, I think that's super interesting.
The Clippers are hosting Denver. That's the first playoff game
(29:31):
ever in the Into It Dome. So I'm curious to
see what that atmosphere is going to be like and
how wild the wall is going to be.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
I know people have talked about how.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
There's some stats to back up that visiting teams struggled
on free throws when they were shooting towards the wall
in that arena, so we'll see if that can continue.
And then lastly, just a couple quick things I think
over the next two nights, I'm interested to see the
Grizzlies against OKAC on Thursday night and then Milwaukee Friday
night against Indiana, teams that have two of the biggest
(30:01):
names in the league, John Moran and Giannis Antentakoopo. Can
they both can they get back in the series or
are they going to beat down three and just kind
of quietly, meekly have their season potentially end this weekend.
So those are some of the things I'm looking forward
to over the next couple nights in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
All right, mister Jim, I can offer, as always appreciated,
don't forget go to Pelicans dot com each and every
one of these podcasts as an accompanying written feature on there.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Thank you, Jim, appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah, for sure, we'll see you next time the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on Pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X at Jim Underscore I Can Offer
(30:52):
and Gcap Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelican This Podcast
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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