No Real Change In Pelicans Star Herb Jones' Role Yet, But Hope Is Still There

The New Orleans Pelicans have seemingly sidelined a fan favorite to start this season, and the coach gave some hope that things would change. However, Jones' usage remained confusing in Wednesday night's loss.

Herb Jones, through four games, is averaging a career-low 17.5 minutes per game. His previous low was 28.4, so this is a massive drop-off. This is a surprise given his defensive acumen and the emphasis that head coach Jamahl Mosley has placed on that side of the ball.

Jones is not starting or finishing games, despite remaining one of the team's best defensive options. After watching the first few games finish with a star guard cooking the Pelicans each time they got the ball late (Tyrese Haliburton and Jamal Murray especially) fans had gotten frustrated. Why was their defensive ace not out there while the guard play dipped and the wing defense was not good enough?

Mosley seemingly agrees that Jones needs to be on the court more. Oleh Kosel asked Mosley about Jones' role on the team after practice on Tuesday and this is what the coach had to say:

"In this moment right now, Herb is the ultimate professional in where he is and finding more time for him is going to be a key priority for me. And I know that as a defensive coach, there’s no way for me to look around it.

We talked about doing things in a five-game sample size and seeing what it looks like and where it can be and what we can do, but again, high priority to make sure that we continue to see Herb on the floor more."

Despite those comments, Jones still played just 19 minutes. He was taken off the floor in the fourth quarter after his defense helped get the team back into the game. It sounds like Mosley wanted to put Jones back in, but wasn't able to before things got out of hand. This is part of that process of "finding minutes"

Here is was Mosley had to say after Wednesday's loss:

"I loved his aggression. I loved how he changed the game defensively for us. I thought that was big. I was trying at the last moment; when we went on the run, I was gonna bump him back in. And then [Derik Queen] got going downhill a couple of times, so it was a combination of trying to figure out when you get him back in the game, and by the time they had blown it up, I didn't want to bring him back in those moments." 

Playing Jones more is one of the simplest ways to improve the team's on-court results. New Orleans had a +26.0 net rating with him on the court this year going into Wednesday night, per Databallr. It's a small sample size, and that number will go down over time, but it tracks with his history. He does impact winning that much. Last year he was at +7.3, and the year before was at +8.5, for context.

It does seem like the coaching staff recognizes this, at least. It was just one game, after all, but the frustration of the fanbase seeing him leave and not being able to get back in after helping claw them back within striking distance is also fair.

Perhaps there will be a bigger shift on Thursday night when they face the Sacramento Kings. This is a chance for the Pelicans to build some momentum, as they are going to be favored over the Kings, who are also 0-4. As Jordan Poole deals with an ankle injury, there could be some minutes opening up at the guard spot.