If there was one player who was an obvious fit for the New Orleans Pelicans’ new head coach Jamahl Mosley’s roster going into the 2026-27 season, it was Herb Jones. Throughout Mosley’s coaching career, he has always been a defense-first coach, and that isn’t set to change with the Pelicans. That same defense-first identity is something Jones has built for himself since arriving. This has made many people in the Pelicans community feel comfortable projecting Jones as a starter going into next season, and Media Day may have confirmed that.
“He’s gotta be the head of the snake in a lot of ways defensively, guarding teams' best players,” said Mosley.
Being the head of a snake sounds to me like Mosley expects Jones to lead this group defensively and to help set the tone from the jump. For that to be possible, he’s going to have to start, and that feels like the right call. Sure, in the past we’ve seen Mosley maximize weaker defensive personnel groups in Orlando. But not starting Jones would leave his only elite stopper coming off the bench, which no longer seems like it’s in play.
Jones could be ready for a huge bounce back
Even though Jones didn’t earn an All-Defensive team selection last season, he was still deemed by most as an elite defender and someone who was still a real stopper from the point of attack. Giving Jones the opportunity to be coached and play under someone like Mosley, who is going to empower him so much on the defensive end, may help him have a resurgence this year. I don’t want to be unrealistic, but he could be back in conversation for an All-Defensive team or even the Defensive Player of the Year award because he’s never played in a system like the one Mosley is set to deploy.
Putting him in the role as a tone setter and primary stopper that is tasked with cleaning up his teammates' shortcomings at times is a role he could thrive in. While this team may be weak personnel-wise defensively, Jones playing heavy starter minutes could change the outlook on that end, especially if he remains healthy.
Now the major question about starting Jones and having him lead the defense is: can his offense be good enough to keep him on the court? If you ask, the last two seasons don’t provide much evidence that he can. However, on defense last season he showed up to camp still recovering, and the season before that he was banged up throughout the year. So maybe that is why his offensive production has taken such a hit, and now that he’s at full health, he can get back to being an efficient finisher and a near-40 percent three-point shooter.
If that part of his game returns to normal, starting him should be no problem. If it doesn’t, then Mosley's decision when filling out the starting lineup every night gets trickier.
Mosley’s high praise for Jones at media day definitely makes it easier to pencil him in as a starter going into next season. If Jones can stay healthy and give the Pelicans some juice on the offensive end, he could be exactly what Mosley is looking for as a defensive tone-setter.
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