New Orleans Pelicans: A roster battle to watch this offseason

The New Orleans Pelicans will have a much different roster next season with a host of young players battling it out for minutes.

The Pelicans will be replacing three starters in Lonzo Ball, Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe, with Jonas Valanciunas and Devonte’ Graham the most likely to win two of the spots.

Of course, the first-year head coach Willie Green could go with a jumbo lineup with Brandon Ingram at the two and Naji Marshall playing the wing.

Predicting the starting lineup, 6th man and closers is hard enough, but when you get to the bench, that’s where the competition really starts.

Rookie Trey Murphy III and veteran Josh Hart will certainly have big roles, as will second-year point guard Kira Lewis Jr.

Jaxson Hayes is definitely part of the plans, and Tomas Satoransky and Garrett Temple are veterans who coach Green might lean on early.

There won’t be a lot of minutes left to go around, which could lead to at least one fierce roster battle.

New Orleans Pelicans: Didi Louzada vs. Herbert Jones

Both Didi Louzada and Herb Jones figure to start the season as fringe members of the rotation.

Louzada came over from Australia late last season but only got into a couple of games, so this will tacitly be his first season in the NBA.

Same for Jones, who has a route to earning rotation minutes with his defense, but is also raw offensively, much like Louzada.

They don’t play the exact same position but they are both versatile guys who could be used in a lot of different groups.

Both players can get after it defensively but Jones is a little bigger and should be able to defend the interior as well as on the outside.

This battle will likely come down to which player can offer more offensively. Louzada has a more well-rounded offensive game that relies heavily on his athleticism, as he is not a great shooter.

Jones projects as a 3-and-D guy who can finish in transition but doesn’t have much in the way of playmaking or beating people off the dribble.

Both players will likely get a chance to earn minutes in training camp and beyond, so this will be one battle on the New Orleans Pelicans to keep an eye on this offseason.