david booth

Jim Eichenhofer

The best player on Jahlil Okafor’s new NBA roster is a fellow Chicago native, but more importantly, a sounding board and encouraging voice during what’s been an adversity-filled, three-year pro career. The front office of Okafor’s new NBA franchise features the same man who offered the 6-foot-11 center his first Division I college scholarship. On Okafor’s new coaching staff, there’s an assistant who trained him two summers ago.

Combined with a clean bill of health and noticeably-improved conditioning, everything seems to have aligned in New Orleans for the 22-year-old to launch a positive new chapter in his basketball life. The No. 3 overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, Okafor signed as a free agent with the Pelicans in August, eager to find a niche in the Crescent City.

“There were a multitude of reasons to come here,” Okafor said Wednesday. “The organization itself, a winning culture. I remember watching them in the playoffs sweep the Trail Blazers. I never thought that I’d be on the team, but I was thinking to myself, ‘Those guys look like they’re all together and fighting for each other and playing for something bigger than themselves.’ That’s what I had been accustomed to since I’ve been playing basketball. When I had the opportunity to come here, it was a no-brainer.”

Okafor played in 53 and 50 games during his first two seasons with Philadelphia, respectively, but knee issues and a gradually declining role pushed him entirely out of the rotation in ’17-18. After only playing in two games for the 76ers, he was traded to Brooklyn, where he again began receiving late-season DNPs. With training camp approaching next week, it’s uncertain how much he’ll play for the Pelicans, but he’s pleased to be surrounded by a slew of familiar faces, including five-time All-Star Anthony Davis. Okafor has known Davis since Okafor’s freshman year of high school, when the two prep standouts played a game against each other in the Windy City. Since coming to the pros as a lottery pick, Okafor has often received positive words from Davis, something he’s appreciated greatly, while dealing with inconsistent playing time, trade rumors and a change of Northeast addresses from Philly to Brooklyn last December.

“Anthony is always someone who I knew if I ever needed any advice, I could always hit him up,” Okafor said. “He’s always been responsive and had my back. I’ve had some rough patches (in the NBA), but whenever I saw him, he’d always say, ‘Keep your head up.’ Little things like that, telling me to stay with it and not get down on myself.”

In addition to Okafor’s connection to Davis, current Pelicans Director of Player Personnel David Booth offered Okafor an ultra-early athletic scholarship to Chicago-based DePaul University, when Okafor was a promising local eighth-grader. New Orleans assistant coach Mike Penberthy worked extensively with Okafor during the ’16 offseason, training him that summer. Those relationships – along with what the Duke University product has perceived to be a team on the rise – have helped make Okafor very optimistic about ’18-19, after spending just a month-plus in the Big Easy.

“I called my Dad last week and told him how happy I was to be here,” he said. “The culture, the environment, it’s family-oriented and I love the way everyone interacts. We were in the locker room (recently) and after workouts, guys usually rush home and do their own thing, but everyone stayed around and were just talking. That’s odd (compared to) what I’ve been accustomed to. Guys usually have their own things going on. But it reminded me of college, where all the guys are super close on the team. I’ve felt the family environment right away.”

Something Okafor also wants to experience in the NBA is being part of a winning team. Coming off its best season in 10 years and only the second playoff-series victory in franchise history, New Orleans has high expectations this fall.

“Since I’ve been in the NBA, I haven’t been in any type of winning environment,” he said. “This is a team with aspirations of winning a championship. I’m all in for that. The leadership we have here, with Jrue (Holiday) and AD, and we just added Jarrett Jack, who everyone knows is a huge presence in the locker room. The veteran leadership to hold you accountable. That’s what I’m really excited about, to know we have a lot of people here who are aiming for the same goal and will hold each other accountable and make everybody better.”

“It’s a huge opportunity for me. Being in the city of New Orleans, meeting the people, it’s been nothing but hospitality and a lot of love,” he said. “It’s really refreshing to see. I’ve had a ton of people who are happy to have me on the team. It gets me excited. I can’t wait for the season to start.”

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Jahlil Okafor: ‘There were a multitude of reasons to come’ to New Orleans

While reeling off 24 wins over a 32-game stretch last season, punctuated by a stunning first-round sweep of Portland, it became impossible to ignore the obvious. The New Orleans Pelicans are at their most dangerous when playing at a head-spinning pace, led by a pass-first point guard who sees the floor and gets the ball to Anthony Davis and others in spots where they can do the most damage.

It would be asking a lot of any point guard to replace the historically-great distributing skills of Rajon Rondo (12.2 assists per game in 2018 playoffs), who left to sign as a free agent with the Lakers, but in Elfrid Payton, the Pelicans added a player with a similar approach to the position.

“Pass-first, system guy,” described New Orleans Director of Player Personnel David Booth. “We thought he’d be great coming in and playing next to Jrue Holiday and E’Twaun Moore. His whole game fits with what we’re trying to do, as far as getting the right guys the ball at the right time. He also has the ability to score if need be, too.”

Orlando’s all-time franchise leader in career triple-doubles, Payton has averaged at least 6.2 assists in every season of his four-year career, despite playing on below-average offensive clubs that always placed in the middle of the pack in tempo. It’s uncertain exactly what Payton’s role in New Orleans will be – he indicated on a Lafayette sports radio show Monday that he hasn’t discussed with the team whether he’ll be a starter – but the opportunity is there for the Pelicans to blend his strengths with what they do best.

“In Payton’s situation, he played in Phoenix the last half of the season and everything he did – his numbers and everything – went up, because I think that’s what he’s best at, in an open-court offense where he can create,” Pelicans three-year head coach Alvin Gentry said, referencing a trade that sent Payton to the Suns in February. “He’s very good at getting the ball to the basket – he’s been that way since he walked into the league. It just gives him the opportunity to now play with an open floor. I think he’ll do a much better job even now at getting the ball to the basket.”

“We really liked his ability to playmake, his ballhandling,” Booth said. “His ability to get to the basket and finish is something that we really need (to work in conjunction) with our bigs – he’s a guy who has always had high finishing numbers in analytics. We feel like he’ll be complementary to our other guys.”

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Payton also provides New Orleans with more size in a backcourt that already features 6-4 Holiday, who was named NBA First-Team All-Defense last season, along with 6-11 Davis. The Pelicans were a subpar defensive team during the first half of the campaign (23rd of 30 teams in efficiency through Jan. 31), but drastically improved after that (fourth from Feb. 1 through the end of the regular season).

“I think they’ll be great. It gives us an opportunity to be really good defensively,” Gentry said of the pairing of Payton with Holiday.

In addition to the signing of 23-year-old free agent Julius Randle from the Lakers, the Pelicans managed to get younger this summer by landing Payton, 24. New Orleans believes both lottery picks from the ’14 draft have gotten better early in their NBA careers and will continue to do so in the near future.

“We looked at (Payton) as a guy who has a ton of upside left,” Booth said. “Guys usually peak at say 26 or 28. We saw him getting better every year, and we just felt like that’s going to accelerate even more this upcoming season.

“(In Randle and Payton), we added guys who are continually improving. We have upside. We got younger, but they are also guys who’ve made an impact already in the NBA. Playing next to AD and Jrue, they’ll make (Randle and Payton) better, but we think Julius and Elfrid will make (Davis and Holiday) better as well.”

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Pelicans believe Elfrid Payton joining New Orleans roster will be mutually beneficial

New Orleans 2017 second-round draft addition Frank Jackson has dealt with periodic adversity in various forms during his basketball career, but what he went through in 2017-18 was a brand-new experience. The Duke University product had never missed significant time while playing hoops in high school or college, but was forced to sit out all of what would’ve been his rookie NBA campaign, due to a right foot injury.

After what was essentially a “redshirt” year, when Jackson joins the summer league Pelicans in practices this week at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center, it will be the first opportunity for New Orleans media and fans to glimpse what the 20-year-old combo guard might be capable of at the pro level. Intangibles-wise, the Duke University player received off-the-charts grades from NBA teams a year ago, which partly resulted in him being the first draft pick of Round 2.

“Any time you get a player that comes from Duke, the first thing you think of is Coach K, and him demanding excellence,” Pelicans Director of Player Personnel David Booth said, referencing Blue Devils legend Mike Krzyzewski. “For Frank to be able to play for Coach K, that tells you he has a high basketball IQ. Their success rate with point guards, going all the way back to Kyrie Irving, we knew (Jackson) had to have something special to even get recruited to play at Duke. He’s a player who can think the game first.”

That’s one trait Jackson hopes to demonstrate in Las Vegas, where he’ll join two-year Pelicans veteran forward Cheick Diallo, as well as 2018 Pelicans second-round pick Tony Carr, as the most prominent faces on New Orleans’ roster. Jackson’s NBA career may be starting a year later than expected, but he’s not behind schedule when it comes to what he envisioned as a young player. After enrolling at Duke, Jackson was far from a lock to be a one-and-done collegian, taking a wait-and-see approach to his decision on declaring for the draft. He averaged 10.9 points as a freshman for a Duke team that went 28-9.

“To be honest, I had no idea,” Jackson said of how long he projected it to be before turning pro. “I always thought about (the possibility), but never really knew. I went into the year saying, I’m going to give my max effort, play as hard as I can, and at the end of the day, make a decision. But I never really looked at it like that was the goal (of his freshman season).

“I wanted to put myself in the best position to eventually get to the league. You see a ton of guys come out of Duke, you see the credentials they have and the relationships they have with Coach K. At the end of the day, I’m glad I made the decision I did. It was the right one.”

Like Pelicans teammate Jrue Holiday, Jackson comes from a very successful, closely-bonded family. His father was a state senator in Utah and his parents – who’ve been married for 20-plus years – emphasized education, one reason he chose to attend well-respected Duke.

“I think I’m super fortunate to grow up the way I did,” Jackson said. “I’ve got two parents who’ve been there my whole life and are both good examples. From a young age, they taught us to have good character and always put God first, and He’ll take care of the rest. I was taught to be a good person and goal-oriented. As a young kid, (my parents’) message was always, ‘Get your work done, then you can go play.’ If I didn’t get schoolwork done, I couldn’t do other things. They both valued education, and both of my parents are super smart. When you’re educated, you can do a lot more in life.”

Booth: “In interviewing him and speaking with him off the court, he’s a serious kid. He’s a mature kid. He takes basketball very seriously, and his work ethic is off the chart. He dealt with a foot injury but he studies a lot of film, watching film with (Pelicans lead assistant Darren) Erman. He’s a very good student of the game.”

It was an approach that also quickly endeared Jackson to Duke’s coaching staff, which has helped produce countless NBA players over the years.

“I loved coaching Frank,” Duke assistant coach Jon Scheyer said. “All of us did. The first thing you noticed about him is he’s an amazing competitor. That’s something you love to see. He competes every day.

“Throughout the course of his season, he grew and matured, in terms of how he played on the court. His development and understanding of the game, by the last stretch of the year, he was starting for us at point guard and playing his best basketball of the season. That’s a credit to his growth and also his mindset to want to become better, attack practices and how to put in the work.”

For obvious reasons, it’s been difficult to pin down specifically what Jackson’s strengths will be as an NBA player, something he’ll begin to show this week, while facing pro competition for the first time. But Scheyer was impressed not only with Jackson’s natural talent, but how he adjusted over the course of the ’16-17 season with the Blue Devils.

“Frank has God-given ability in terms of his athleticism, his quickness,” said Scheyer, the leading scorer for Duke’s national championship team in ’10. “He had that coming in. But figuring out how to use that to the best of his ability offensively, and probably more important defensively, was key. He really improved on defense off the ball. Secondly, his understanding the game (improved). He’s always been in the mindset of attacking and scoring, which is great, but at the end of the year, he started creating shots for teammates. Understanding his moments in terms of when to drive, when to shoot, when to pass – he came a long way in those areas.”

At 6-foot-4, 202 pounds, Jackson has a sturdy build that should help him defensively in the pros. His shooting numbers at Duke were very good, especially for a backcourt player, including 47.3 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from three-point range. In the final 15 games he played for the Blue Devils that season, his rates in those categories jumped to 49.6 and 42.9, respectively.

“His improvement was significant,” Scheyer said. “He was terrific for us, especially at the end of the year.”

“Athletically he’s off the charts, with the way he gets to the basket,” Booth said. “He can contort his body and use the rim to finish around the basket. His jump shot is also something that’s a weapon right now, especially off the dribble. I think he has the tools to be a good defender at the NBA level.

“Character-wise, you know what kind of kid you’re getting, number one. We look at Frank as a kid who still hasn’t even scratched the surface, because he’s still young. We look at his upside and what he could become in two or three years. His best basketball, we haven’t even seen a glimpse of it. He definitely has room to grow. His upside is what we are really valuing.”

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After ‘redshirt’ year, Frank Jackson ready to begin NBA career on court this week

Every player wants to hear his name announced by Adam Silver or Mark Tatum on draft night, but when Charles Cooke went unselected June 22, it didn’t take long for NBA teams to start contacting him. After showing steady improvement during a four-year college career split between James Madison and Dayton, Cooke was considered a viable second-round option – NBADraft.net listed him 61st on its pre-draft Big Board, while CBS ranked him 64th. Sixty players are picked in the annual two-round draft.

“He was one of those guys everyone had on their radar, but it was such a deep draft, he kind of slipped through the cracks,” said New Orleans Director of Player Personnel David Booth, who followed Cooke’s college career closely. “He easily could’ve been drafted, depending on how teams valued him (in Round 2).”

“I was definitely hoping to be drafted. I knew I was listed on some (mock drafts),” Cooke said this week, inside the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. “When I wasn’t, it wasn’t a major disappointment. I mean, there was some of that feeling, but I knew I’d still have my opportunity and a chance to prove my worth.”

That officially came Aug. 2, when the Pelicans signed Cooke to a two-way G League contract. The Trenton, N.J., native played for Minnesota’s summer league team in Las Vegas, averaging 10.0 points in 20.3 minutes per game. At the NBA level, Cooke projects as a wing who’s a threat from long distance (39.8 and 39.6 three-point percentage in his two Dayton seasons, respectively) and uses his 6-foot-5, 196-pound frame to blanket opponents on the defensive end.

“I’m a scorer who can shoot (from outside) or get to the cup,” Cooke said, when asked to describe his game. “Definitely a defender and two-way guy who can really strap in and get a stop on defense. I can contain scorers at key points of a game to give your team a chance to go on a run. I think of myself as an athletic wing who can contribute on both ends.”

“His positional size is what can translate to the NBA,” Booth said. “I think defensively he can come in and guard today. He knows how to use his length, knows how to use his lateral quickness and has good strength. He can chase guys around screens.”

Cooke was a bit of an unheralded high-school prospect, with much of his interest from NCAA programs coming late, as he entered his senior year, partly because he only played one year in AAU. He played two seasons at James Madison, helping the Dukes win a First Four NCAA Tournament game as a freshman with a 15-point, six-rebound game vs. LIU-Brooklyn. As a junior with Dayton, the Flyers also reached March Madness, dropping an opening-round game to Syracuse, despite his 14 points.

Cooke wasn’t a confident perimeter shooter early in his college career, only attempting a total of 165 treys over two seasons at James Madison. That number jumped to 272 after he transferred to Dayton, as did his accuracy (he shot 30.9 percent on treys at JMU).

“His upside is what intrigued us,” Booth said. “His ceiling hasn’t been reached. His first year with James Madison wasn’t great shooting-wise, but that and his game has gotten better. He was on the rise at Dayton. He improved every year, especially defensively from his junior year. He showed good defensive technique and tenacity at that end.”

The 23-year-old said his workout regimen at Dayton consisted of taking between 17,000 and 20,000 shots each summer, part of Flyers Coach Archie Miller’s extensive emphasis on that skill.

“The fundamentals of (Miller’s) game plan were either to shoot layups or threes, which is the way the (NBA) is going now,” Cooke said. “I just got comfortable with that three-point line, due to getting so many reps in at Dayton.”

Cooke participated in the Pelicans’ voluntary workouts in Lexington last month and has been in Metairie recently to continue preparing for his pro debut. “I’ve been working on tightening my ballhandling, learning the fundamentals of where to be (on the court) at specific times,” he said of adjusting to this level. “Footwork, backpedaling into threes, creating space, making open shots. A lot of little things.”

The rookie is also trying to soak up as much advice and pointers as he can from Pelicans veterans. New Orleans has four starters who’ve appeared in the All-Star Game at least once.

“I’m picking their brain as far as how they approached coming into the NBA,” Cooke said. “Also their mindset going into practices and games. I try to pick (Rajon) Rondo’s brain as far as him being a floor general, what he thinks and what he sees on the floor. The mental aspect is a big focus for me, as much as anything. Because sometimes the mental part is going to make or break you, and that’s no matter what (occupation) you’re doing.”

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Undrafted wing Charles Cooke prepares for NBA opportunity with Pelicans

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that among the three veteran players New Orleans has signed in free agency this summer, they’ve each won an NBA or NCAA championship. On Thursday, the Pelicans officially added Ian Clark to a group that already included Rajon Rondo (2008 Boston Celtics) and Darius Miller (2012 Kentucky Wildcats, a team that also featured Anthony Davis).

Clark, 26, was a rotation player for title-winning Golden State in 2016-17, averaging 14.8 minutes per game and appearing in 93 of the Warriors’ 99 total games (regular season plus playoffs). In addition to the ring he won last season while backing up the “Splash Brothers,” the combo guard brings a track record of potent perimeter shooting. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Clark is coming off a career-best campaign from an accuracy standpoint, connecting on 48.7 percent from the field and 37.4 percent on three-point attempts. Via ESPN’s stats, that field-goal percentage ranked second among all NBA shooting guards (minimum 50 games). Among point guards, only Golden State teammate Shaun Livingston had a better field-goal percentage last season, at 54.7.

“Playing the role he had with Golden State, where he came in and stretched the floor and knocked down shots, was something that really intrigued us,” Pelicans Director of Player Personnel David Booth said of Clark. “When you’ve got guys like Jrue Holiday, Anthony, DeMarcus (Cousins) and Rajon, we needed floor-spacers. Ian’s ability to make shots is something that was really needed for roster balance. We thought he’d be a good fit with his shooting, especially when he’s on the floor with AD and DeMarcus. He’s a guy the defense has to respect beyond the arc.”

New Orleans finished 19th in three-point percentage (35.0) and 14th in makes per game (9.4) in ’16-17, but only had Cousins in uniform for 17 games following a February trade. The Pelicans hope to improve in both categories in 2017-18, with opposing defenses forced to devote significant attention to the All-Star big-man pairing of Davis and Cousins.

“We probably have the best four and the best five in the NBA,” Booth said of NOLA’s elite duo at the power forward and center positions, “but to utilize them as much as you would want, you have to make the defense stay honest, so they’re not doubling and sinking in on (Davis and Cousins). You don’t want a weak link on the floor, where it makes it tough on those two guys to always see a help defender. With Ian on the floor, that defender’s going to have to play him honestly. If not, he’s going to make him pay by knocking down shots.”

On a New Orleans roster that doesn’t have much postseason experience, Rondo (96) and Clark (32) add a combined 128 career playoff games. Rondo has appeared in 13 NBA Finals games, while Clark’s eight Finals appearances have all come in the past two years. That’s a round the New Orleans franchise has never reached; only three other current Pelicans have even been to the conference finals (Omer Asik in 2011 with Chicago, E’Twaun Moore in 2012 with Boston, Quincy Pondexter in 2013 with Memphis).

“Ian Clark is another guy with championship pedigree,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said Thursday, in a conference call from South Africa. “He was a rotation guy on a championship team, and had some really big games. If you go back and look at a couple games he had against San Antonio (in the Western Conference finals), he had really big games. Obviously he’s not afraid of the moment. So just to have him, it adds depth to our team, and that’s one of the things we’ve struggled with in the past.”

“All the information I’ve gotten back is he’s a great teammate, works hard, very coachable, puts the team first and wants to win,” Booth said. “Character-wise, he’s an A-plus. He wouldn’t have been on Golden State’s roster if he wasn’t. We’re excited to have him, because he’s won and knows what it takes to get where we want to go.”

With Golden State, Clark often joined point guard Livingston in the second-unit backcourt, allowing Clark to play off the ball (he shot 61/163 on treys in ’16-17). In New Orleans, it’s possible he’ll play both guard positions, part of a backcourt that has gotten much deeper recently with the acquisitions of Rondo and Clark. The Pelicans have numerous options and versatility based on a handful of veterans with experience at each spot.

“He’s a combo guard who can play either position,” Booth said. “That’s good, because when we have Jrue or Rajon out there, or even E’Twaun (Moore), we have three or four guards who can play on or off the ball. That versatility is a great help. It gives you more options and different lineups to be played.”

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Ian Clark brings perimeter shooting, big-game experience to Pelicans

During a March 2014 game in Boston, the Golden State Warriors called a side out-of-bounds play they’d randomly named “C Up,” which they hadn’t used in a game in months. Despite the obscure nature of the play call, then-Warriors assistant coach Darren Erman looked out onto the TD Garden floor and saw Boston defender Rajon Rondo directing his Celtics teammates on exactly what the Warriors were about to do. Somehow – perhaps from extensive video study, perhaps due to his uncanny, photographic memory – Rondo knew the play.

“We hadn’t run ‘C Up’ in 30 games, so there was no way it was on their scouting report or any way he could’ve (reasonably) known about it,” Erman said. “But he heard us call it, looked at the alignment and immediately directed everyone.

“I turned to (fellow Golden State assistant Brian) Scalabrine and said, ‘He just went through his Rolodex, scanned through all the plays and figured it out.’ ”

Erman – who spent a total of 4 1/2 seasons in the Boston organization with Rondo, from 2007-11 and then for part of the 2014-15 campaign – tells a number of similar stories that illustrate why he describes the 11-year NBA veteran and four-time All-Star “if not the smartest player in the league, one of the top three or four.” The two men, coincidentally both Louisville natives, are now reunited in New Orleans, after the 31-year-old Rondo signed a free-agent contract with the Pelicans on July 20.

Although many basketball analysts understandably have focused on the tangible or on-paper aspects of what Rondo may bring to New Orleans, Erman shares a different perspective, having seen the University of Kentucky product up-close during his steady rise (Rondo was an All-Star with Boston every year from 2010-13). Erman sees a point guard who can’t always be fully appreciated by examining statistics or scoring output – Rondo carries a modest career average of 10.7 points per game, for example, but contributes in a variety of other ways.

“He’s a great decision-maker,” Erman said, which led to Rondo averaging double-digit assists four separate seasons and leading the NBA in dimes three times. “People don’t understand that he has two other great things – his intelligence and his competitiveness. His will to win is unbelievable. I was talking to a couple coaches in Chicago, and they said in the last month of the (2016-17 regular) season, he just willed them to the playoffs. When we were in Boston, he willed us to games when we absolutely had to win. Big games, you know he’s going to show up. He’s extremely bright and extremely competitive.”

“He’s really going to help us, because he’s a high-basketball-IQ point guard,” said David Booth, the Pelicans’ director of player personnel. “He comes from a winning pedigree and has won a world championship (as a starter for the 2008 Celtics). Players respect other players for what they’ve done in their career. Rondo’s resume speaks volumes. Our ultimate goal is to win a championship, and he’s seen what it takes. Guys will listen, because it’s not just surface talk, but coming from someone who knows. He has instant credibility because of that.”

Rondo comes to a New Orleans team that’s generally taken its cues from lead-by-example players, but he’s never hesitated to be vocal when the situation calls for it, according to Erman. Rondo has no problem getting in a teammate’s face or expressing displeasure if they’re not doing what most benefits the team.

“It’s extremely important to have that, especially from the position he plays,” Erman said. “Point guard is like the quarterback. He’s not afraid to lead, he’s not afraid to call guys out that need it, not afraid to pat guys on the back, or to keep (passing) to a guy who’s missed a few shots. All of his teammates have loved playing with him.

“Sometimes you have to tear into players, but they respect you if they know you care. Rondo cares a lot. In Boston, (his teammates) would take the criticism, because they knew it was coming from a good place. In Chicago (last season), he took their young players under his wing, helped them, encouraged them, watched film with them. He was a great mentor, so they loved playing with him.”

Erman, who was a coaching assistant with Boston and Golden State’s associate head coach, also calls Rondo unique in terms of his extensive preparation, challenging everyone to raise their level similarly. Failure to do so may bring repercussions.

“You have to be really honest with him and you have to know what you’re talking about, because he knows what he’s talking about,” Erman said of Rondo’s prep work. “We don’t always agree on things – no one in this world agrees on everything – but he’s very smart. So if you’re prepared and have substance to back up what you’re saying, he respects your opinion, if it’s a well-thought-out one. We were always good, because that was one of my strengths, to at least have an informed opinion. Now, he would let me know if he disagreed on something, but at least he always understood where I was coming from.”

Based on ESPN.com’s positional designations, seven of the NBA’s top 20 leading scorers in 2016-17 were point guards (a group that doesn’t even include No. 2 James Harden, listed as a shooting guard by the site). That’s the highest number of top-20 point producers for any position, a drastic change from Rondo’s ’06-07 rookie season in the NBA, when only one PG ranked in the top 20 (Washington’s Gilbert Arenas was third; next-best was Steve Nash at 27th). Although the prototypical point has transformed greatly over the past decade, there’s still considerable value in having a pass-first player running an offense. In the Pelicans’ case, they already have two perennial top-10 scorers in All-Star bigs Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, who ranked fourth and seventh, respectively, in points per game last season. In addition, third scorer Jrue Holiday has averaged 15.5 points in his four seasons in New Orleans.

By landing Rondo, the Pelicans see a player who can effectively pilot an offense, partly by making sure other players get the ball in the right spots. New Orleans has also tried to play an up-tempo style under third-year head coach Alvin Gentry, which is easier to achieve with a point guard who is adept at making play calls and is also an above-average rebounder at his position (Rondo was third among PGs in ’16-17 at 5.1 rpg).

“What stands out is his ability to recognize in-game situations,” Booth said. “Sometimes you need a guy who is a coach on the floor. He recognizes who to get the ball to at the right times. That’s going to stand out, because we have some offensive firepower. He understands mismatches and who’s hot. That’s going to complement the whole team. His unselfish mindset is going to translate to everyone else, because it’s contagious. Being a pass-first guard, that’s really good for us, because we have three guys who can really score the ball.”

Despite the presence of Davis and Holiday last season for 75 and 67 games, respectively, as well as Cousins for 17 games after the All-Star break, New Orleans still finished just 26th overall in offensive efficiency (103.3 points per 100 possessions, via NBA.com). In fact, over the past four seasons, despite considerable talent at that end of the floor, the Pelicans have only finished in the top 10 once, ranking ninth during their playoff year of ’14-15. An old-school point who focuses on distributing could make a notable impact.

As Erman observed of this spring’s Chicago-Boston playoff series that swung completely after Rondo broke his thumb late in Game 2 – the Bulls won twice on the top-seeded Celtics’ home floor with Rondo playing, but went 0-4 without him – the guard’s impact on an offense has rarely been more evident.

“It’s not always about how many points a guy scores himself,” Erman said of Rondo, who approached averaging a triple-double in the two games. “He was improving the efficiency of the entire team, even though he’s not a great shooter by some standards. It’s not about his shooting; it’s about him getting other guys better shots. The thing is, though, he’s made big shots throughout his career. He makes timely shots.”

“It showed how important his value was to that team,” Booth said. “Everyone who was watching saw that series shift immediately, not by chance. It was because he was controlling the tempo of both games. He had kicked his game up a couple gears. I wasn’t surprised. He’s a seasoned veteran who has been there before.”

As it turns out, Rondo’s injury perhaps indirectly benefited the Pelicans, because he may not have been available in free agency this summer if he had remained on the floor. Chicago’s first-round defeat to Boston helped trigger a decision by the Bulls to rebuild with young players, starting with a trade of All-Star wing Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. It’s possible Chicago never makes that call if it had upset the No. 1-seeded Celtics and advanced in the Eastern Conference field.

“It’s unfortunate (Rondo) wasn’t able to continue in that series, because it would’ve been interesting to see how it would’ve ended,” Booth said. “We’re looking for the same impact with us, but through the course of the whole 82 games and then into the playoffs. Because we feel like this is a year where we have a roster that can take us down the road to where we want to go.”

Ultimately, the Pelicans see Rondo’s greatest value in the potential domino effect it may have on the rest of the roster. For example, Rondo nearly doubles New Orleans’ collective postseason experience by himself, with 96 playoff games. The next-most among the Pelicans in that category is Omer Asik’s 37. Rondo has played in 13 NBA Finals games; only four current teammates have even appeared in that many playoff contests.

“He’s going to get guys easier shots, because of his ability to get into the lane and his passing ability,” Booth said. “But his leadership is what I’m really looking forward to. Guys are going to respect him, because of how his career has gone. He brings so many intangibles off the floor and has so much experience in a winning culture. That’s something you won’t see on paper, but it will impact the other guys, because of the confidence they have in him.”

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Pelicans eager to add Rajon Rondo’s basketball IQ, vast experience to mix

Asked this week if there is any basketball precedent to New Orleans’ new frontcourt duo of DeMarcus Cousins (the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer at 27.8 ppg) and Anthony Davis (No. 5 at 27.7), Pelicans Director of Player Personnel David Booth described what may become a frightening scenario for opposing defenses.

“I think it’s totally different than what we’ve seen in the past because of the versatility,” Booth said of the Kentucky products’ inside-outside skills. “Both guys can handle and bring the ball down the floor. After getting a rebound, they can lead the fast break. They can post up, shoot the three, pick-and-pop. The versatility, we haven’t seen it before from two guys on the same team. I think that’s going to be the unique skill that’s exciting to see going forward, how they play off each other. It’s going to be so fun, because they’re not limited to the low block, shooting hook shots, or drop-step layups. These guys can play anywhere on the floor, depending on where the coaches want to put them.”

Indeed, Cousins and Davis personify a new era in the sport. Power forwards and centers once were commonly screamed at by their coaches to “get the ball to a guard!” the second they snared a rebound off the defensive glass, but nowadays 6-foot-11 bigs such as Cousins and Davis can ignite the transition game by themselves. Both players have scored a chunk of their points with end-to-end bursts in transition, with Davis often capping those sequences with a soaring dunk.

Bigs also were once restricted to the paint by coaches, with their shooting options not to extend beyond say 15 feet, but no more. Cousins has already set a career high by launching 268 three-point attempts over 55 games this season, an average of 4.9 a night (he’s also at a career-best 35.4 percent accuracy in 2016-17). Davis is also well on his way to taking more threes than he has in any previous season, going 26/85 so far (30.6 percent), after firing a total of 108 last season.

But just because they’ve taken their offensive games to the perimeter at a larger rate in 2016-17, it doesn’t mean Cousins and Davis aren’t just as feared around the rim. According to CBSSports.com’s dunk statistics, Davis ranks 15th in the league with 82, while the bruising, powerful Cousins is 23rd with 56 slams. For New Orleans opponents, that means having to worry about two elite scoring options, no matter where they are on the court. Teams have game-planned at length to contain Cousins and Davis when they’ve faced the Kings and Pelicans, respectively, but now they’ll need two defenders to try to match up with them.

“You hear so much about Anthony and DeMarcus playing together,” Booth said, referring to non-stop discussion this week. “They are such a mismatch nightmare. Both can play inside or out on any given night. Anthony can get on the block or face up; DeMarcus can do the same. Now you’ve got two guys.

“They’re going to complement each other very well, because they know each other well from playing at Kentucky and they’re both unselfish players and want to win. They both have the same mindset of being dominant on any given night. I think the complement of having those two on the floor, we haven’t seen that in the NBA in a long time. We’re looking forward to seeing it. We know both guys wanted to play together. We’re excited to see how they make each other better.”

“The fact that they can occupy multiple areas of the floor and not run into each other is great,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler said this morning on SportsCenter. “Ultimately, I do believe their skill sets will complement each other and they’re going to present a real challenge for teams trying to match up with them, because nobody has two bigs with this kind of skill set, playing at the same time.”

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Matchup dilemmas abound for New Orleans opponents facing new big-man tag team

Watch a highlight reel from some of Terrence Jones’ premier individual games in the NBA, and you may wonder how a player with such a diverse package of skills was still available to New Orleans late in July free agency. In a 2014 St. Patrick’s Day game vs. Utah, the then-Houston second-year forward deposits 30 points, doing so in a dizzying number of ways – posting up, draining wing three-pointers, crashing the offensive boards, finishing alley oops at the rim, running past the Jazz for a transition layup. At the defensive end, part of Jones’ four-block night included snuffing out an Alec Burks mid-range attempt and swatting the massive Enes Kanter’s righthanded low-post hook shot.

The Pelicans’ front office had watched Jones do similar things even dating back to his two-year college career at Kentucky, which was capped by winning a 2012 national title alongside Anthony Davis. After Jones was drafted 18th overall by Houston that summer, the Pelicans continued to keep a close eye on his progress; on more than one occasion, there were reported rumors that New Orleans was interested in acquiring him. The Pelicans were able to land him July 22, when the unrestricted free agent agreed to change Southwest Division addresses and come to the Crescent City.

“We always thought he was a player who would come in and contribute on an NBA team,” Pelicans Director of Player Personnel David Booth said, referring to his early-college days. “We’ve always watched him from afar and always been a fan of his. Then when we had the opportunity to go out and get him, it was a no-brainer to us, because we think he still has upside. He has versatility on both ends of the floor.”

In another clip, from Jones’ career-high 36-point, 11-rebound game vs. Milwaukee, he frequently uses his combination of size (6-foot-9, 252 pounds) and athleticism to overpower or outjump the Bucks around the basket. His 14/20 shooting from the field included a stretch of 12 consecutive makes.

“He’s athletic, he has good size, good strength,” Booth said, describing Jones’ traits. “It’s an uncommon skill set. You saw flashes of him getting 30 points here or 20-something there, flashes of what we think he can do. Defensively, he can guard multiple positions, he can block shots and also switch on a pick-and-roll, sliding his feet laterally. He can do a bunch of different things.”

Normally those kinds of players aren’t readily available when free agency begins each July 1, but Jones’ stock certainly was hurt by his appearing in just 50 games last season. He played 33 games in 2014-15, the result of a range of mostly unusual injuries. After his role decreased dramatically with the Rockets, he averaged 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in 2015-16, his lowest numbers since his rookie season. However, on a prorated basis, he still averaged 15.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per 36 minutes.

“That was a setback for him, any time you’re injured,” Booth said. “We know that from how many guys we had injured last year. It does stunt your growth as a player and hold you back a bit. We’re betting on his upside, and he’s going to come in this year with even that much more hunger, because he has something to prove. He wants to show everyone, ‘Look, I am the player everyone projected me to be.’ I think he’s going to fit our team culture this year – a bunch of blue-collar workers with something to prove.”

The chance to reunite with former Kentucky teammate Davis was also part of Jones’ decision to play Year 5 of his NBA career in New Orleans.

“To play with AD, they won a championship together and have a history of winning,” Booth said, referring to the ’12 NCAA crown that coincidentally was claimed in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. “Anthony was really excited that we were able to get Terrence. They’re going to push each other to go to another level. Anthony wants to win and have players that are part of that winning mindset. He knows that Terrence has that. Also, the excitement of playing in Alvin Gentry’s system and getting a fresh start are pieces of Terrence being excited to come here. It’s like a new chapter being written for him. All of those things have him kind of chomping at the bit for the season to start. We’re excited to have him.”

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Pelicans excited to add versatility and potential of Terrence Jones

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