Herb Jones on heading into season opener, Zion Williamson | New Orleans Pelicans
you. What’s up? We want to see you picking your best light. I appreciate it. What are the the feelings around the start of the season and finally being here in game week? Um, I think everybody’s excited. Uh, I mean, for myself, I’m just, you know, happy to be healthy again and and be able to go out and compete with my brothers. Herb, how ready do you feel this group is to start this season? Yeah, I think I think we’re in a in a good spot right now. We had a good day today. Hopefully we’ll follow it up with a good day tomorrow and and put it all together Wednesday. And how do you feel like the change from year to year? Is that again the jars change from year to year? Like obviously like your rookie year going into the first game versus like this year coming back from an injury like having a chance to get back on the floor. Um I don’t think it’s anything like your first year. Uh so I would say they probably they probably do change. They probably, you know, went down a little bit. But I am excited to get back out, you know, after the injury. What have you kind of seen for Zion just in his his growth from last year this year? I mean, he’s a lot more aggressive, I think, uh, offensively and defensively. Uh, I don’t think he’s ever just been, uh, lazy on the defensive end, but he’s been more active um, on the defensive end. I mean, he’s he’s leading, you know, he’s leading more. What have you seen as far as his leadership says that he’s leading? What? What does he show as far as leadership? I mean, he shows up, practices, works hard, stays after or comes in before, gets his work in. But, man, he’s stacking days, you know. So, as long as we keep that up, I think we’ll be in a good spot. And, how do you feel the uh chemistry is between especially you guys in the starting lineup, right, with Jordan Ped and then Eve when he’s going to be out there? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, it still take time. I won’t say we’re we’ve arrived. Um, I don’t want to ever feel like, you know, we’ve arrived and get and get comfortable. Um, so, but but I think we’re in a great spot. I think everybody likes to be out there with each other. Um, as long as we play hard, play together, I think we’ll be good. And one thing we’ve noticed this year is a lot after practice, Trey’s working with Jordan, Zan’s working with those guys. And it didn’t seem like we saw a lot of that in previous years. Is that an indication of you guys are a little bit closer? Like this group just wants to work together? I’m I’m talking about like after practice, you guys working together on the court. You didn’t see so much like say B I and Z working together after practice. You probably went here right here. Herb, what have you seen from Jordan Pool so far in this uh off seasoning camp? In the offseason? Yeah. Well, training camp, preseason, like what have you seen from him? How does he kind of fit into this group? I mean, he he’s vocal. Um, you know, I I think everybody respects what he says, you know, when he says it. He works hard, always in the gym, you know, giving game to the young guys, and I’m always picking his brain about certain offensive things. But overall, I think he’s been great. Memphis has a different head coach. He was on staff last year, but still a different guy. But so many of their core guys are the same in Memphis. What’s the biggest thing that you have to watch for when facing a risk? Show that one more time. So Memphis as a new head coach, yeah, though he was on staff last year, but a lot of the same core guys. What do you have to watch for the most with like what you’ve seen with Memphis over the years? I mean, I think we just got to be connected as a group. I don’t too much worry about what other teams may do. Uh, I’m super focused on, you know, what the Pelicans have planned for us to, you know, go into the game with and, uh, hopefully, you know, we sure to execute. As a as a defensive guy, um, as somebody that takes so much pride on defense, do you watch Jiren Jackson at all and and notice things that like, oh man, that’s what makes him special or different on that end. I just I kind of stay in my own world. We all saw uh Jeremiah, you know, he was killing it on the offensive side. What do you see from him on the defensive side like in practice? He’s always compete. Um, I mean, that’s all you can ask really on the defensive side of the ball. Thanks. Thanks, Herb. Pretend it.
New Orleans Pelican guard-forward Herb Jones speaks with the media after Pelicans practice at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Monday, October 20, 2025.
#pelicans #nba #neworleanspelicans
Latest NBA News & Pelicans News @ https://www.pelicans.com
Subscribe to the New Orleans Pelicans YT Channel: https://bit.ly/PelicansSubscribe
Add the Pelicans Schedule to your Calendar: https://calendar.pelicans.com/
Latest Pelicans News and Updates: https://www.nba.com/pelicans
Latest NBA News and Updates: https://www.nba.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PelicansNBA/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelicansnba/
Find us on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/pelicansnba
Get the App: http://apps.yinzcam.com/nba/nop
5 comments
Respect on Herb protecting the previous teams’ dynamics and business.
Practice shooting. I do not see enough growth out of your game.
You must grow. You must extend your game, you cannot ever feel like you made it. You must keep growing , finding new things to elevate your game.
Ask about Zion, ask about Zion, ask about Zion. Ask about other guys. Tired ass media
I get second hand embarrassment with some of these questions