Herb Jones is determined to make another All-Defensive Team with Pelicans

Despite featuring some infamously poor defenders — like CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson, and Jonas Valanciunas — the New Orleans Pelicans have been one of the better defensive teams in the league under Head Coach Willie Green's regime. Part of that should be credited to Green's skills as both a motivator and a tactician. The Pellies compensate for their poor individual defenders by emphasizing help defense to ward off dribble penetration and quick, accurate rotations to prevent wide-open triples.

But, making such an intuitive and reactionary scheme work requires the proper personnel: a litany of agile, intelligent, and relentless defenders who never give up on plays. New Orleans has had quite a few of these types under employ during Green's tenure, but many of them are now on different teams. Gone are Josh Hart, Larry Nance Jr., and Dyson Daniels.

The new Pelicans roster isn't exactly crawling with lockdown defenders. Perhaps some of the newcomers like Dejounte Murray and Yves Missi can mitigate the losses of Nance Jr. and Daniels, but New Orleans will need their established stoppers to step up big time next season if they mean to compete for the title. They'll need major defensive contributions from Jose Alvarado, Trey Murphy III, and, most importantly, Herb Jones. Herb has been the lynchpin of the Pelicans defense since his arrival from the University of Alabama. His efforts earned him an All-Defensive First Team nod last season, but he isn't going to rest on his laurels.

Herb Jones on All-Defensive selection with Pelicans: "You have to do it again."

Herb Jones has proven time and time again that he's one of the most valuable defenders in the NBA, and the league and its media members rewarded his efforts with an All-Defense First Team selection last season. Jones was the only perimeter defender to be given the honor last year, having been chosen alongside Bam Adebayo, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, and Victor Wembanyama, centers who dominated the Defensive Player of the Year race and will continue to do so for years to come.

Playing in Willie Green's defensive system, Jones is all over the place on that end of the court. He's regularly tasked with guarding the opposing team's best on-ball scorer, but also has to be prepared to help, hedge, and switch on any given play. Using his athleticism, size, and instincts, Herb has been a transformative defender. Since he entered the league, he's ranked second in total steals with 338. The only player above him? New teammate Dejounte Murray with 361.

Herb's pride in his defense is palpable when watching him fly all over the court to contain opposing offenses, and he was elated to receive the All-Defense First Team acknowledgement for his efforts on that side of the ball, per NOLA.com:

""I can’t even describe the feeling I got when I saw it. Different people are just reaching out. Old teammates. I was just talking to a bunch of people who saw a lot of the hard work I was putting in. It had paid off.""

- Herb Jones

The Pelicans will need him to remain one of the league's premier defenders to be the dark-horse title contenders they hope to be. They'll probably need to be an even better stopper than he has been in the past. Thankfully, Jones isn't complacent:

""It felt amazing. At the same time, you are always trying to reach for more. After I saw the news, my initial thought was, ‘You have to do it again.'""

- Herb Jones