2021 preseason profile

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New Orleans point guard Kira Lewis Jr. is often a blur on the hardwood, whether he’s speeding up the court to lead a fast break, or using his elite quickness on defense to race from the weakside and steal the ball from an unsuspecting opponent. During his rookie NBA season, however, there were times when the game itself appeared to be moving very quickly to Lewis – a common feeling for first-year backcourt players adjusting to the league’s pace.

As he enters Year 2 as a pro, the University of Alabama product is eager to see what strides he can make, after playing 54 games and logging 904 minutes in 2020-21. His playing time nearly tripled after the All-Star break, accounting for 632 of those minutes.

“I’m looking forward to it. I just feel more ready for how the game is played,” the 20-year-old said. “Everything has slowed down. I’m ready for it, ready to make a big leap, trying to help my teammates as much as possible and make the playoffs.”

Listed at 170 pounds, Lewis spent this offseason working on adding muscle to a slender frame, which will help him absorb contact in the paint when he drives, as well as hold up defensively against sturdy guards.

“I definitely can notice a difference from Year 1 to Year 2,” Lewis said of his strength. “In Year 1, guys were bumping me off my route a bit. Year 2, I can hold my ground a little bit more. On the defensive end, I can take a bump in my chest and still be (on balance).”

Lewis scored a portion of his 90 two-point baskets last season on floaters, a shot he’s also trying to sharpen. On the perimeter, he needs to improve his three-point accuracy after going 40/120 (33 percent) as a rookie – again, an area many young PGs struggle with as they get acclimated to the NBA. Pelicans coaches have complimented Lewis for his ability to anticipate plays on the backside of the team’s defense, but also wanted to see him improve his on-ball effectiveness and disruptiveness.

“On the defensive end, I’ve been working on mentality, always being aggressive,” Lewis said of his offseason focus. “On offense, it’s been getting into the lane, changing pace (while dribbling) and shooting.”

“Kira’s been great,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said of Lewis’ preseason. “He’s playing downhill, playing with a lot of confidence, gotten a lot stronger. We all know how fast he is, so that’s what we’re talking to him about, continuing to use your speed. Now he’s picking up on how to go slow to fast, and not just fast, fast, fast, which has been great. That’s what we want to see, for him to continue to improve.”

After averaging 7.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in preseason, Lewis joked that his newfound muscle and revamped body might make 2021-22 opponents think twice about guarding him.

“The defender looking at me being stronger (now), it might be a little more intimidating than it was last year,” he said.

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Pelicans 2021 preseason profile: Kira Lewis Jr.

As a youngster growing up in the Czech Republic, Tomas Satoransky dreamed of someday playing in the NBA, but he never imagined getting a chance to participate in the Olympics. Given that his native country had never qualified for the Summer Games in men’s basketball, becoming one of 450 NBA players in the league somehow seemed more realistic.

Satoransky fulfilled a lifelong goal in 2016, when he made his official NBA debut for Washington, after being drafted by the Wizards four years earlier. To his amazement, in 2021 he helped lead the Czech Republic to an Olympic berth, knocking off higher-ranked countries along the way. A nation of just 10.7 million people – roughly the same population as North Carolina – the Czech Republic appearing on the prestigious world stage for the first time was cause for a raucous party.

“It was a lot of euphoria and excitement, celebrating with my teammates,” Satoransky said. “Going to the Olympics was unreal, (to the point) where you didn’t really realize until after the Olympics that we had done it. It was really something to remember.”

The Czech Republic opened Olympic competition with a win over Iran, before being eliminated with defeats to powerful teams from France and the United States. The 6-foot-7 point guard notched 12 points, six rebounds and eight assists vs. Team USA, but the basketball specifics are secondary in his memories of the trip.

“Playing in the Olympics was an opportunity I never expected to happen to me,” he said. “My dream come true was always going to the NBA, but I never expected the Czech Republic national team to play in the Olympics. I enjoyed every part of it. Of course, there were restrictions (related to the pandemic), but that didn’t take that excitement away from me.”

Coincidentally, Satoransky was on a flight home from the Olympics when he learned he’d been traded from Chicago to New Orleans. In addition to having extensive international playing experience, Satoransky has always been a reliable role player over his five-year NBA career, excelling in assist-to-turnover ratio (3-to-1), three-point shooting (37 percent career) and foul shooting (82 percent career). He’s started in roughly half of his 333 career games and was a key reserve for back-to-back playoff teams in Washington.

“He brings size and versatility at the guard position,” Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin said of the summer pickup. “Also a defensive presence and willingness to share the ball. He’s a high-character, good teammate.”

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Pelicans 2021 preseason profile: Tomas Satoransky

Even before he entered grade school, Herbert Jones experienced the adrenaline rush in anticipation of tip-off prior to a basketball game. When he was just 4 years old, Jones’ parents signed him up for a league in Alabama that featured elaborate pregame introductions, far beyond what you’d expect in youth hoops. Jones was immediately transfixed by the sport.

“They had a smoke machine going when the teams ran out of the tunnel,” Jones said, laughing at the memory of kids who couldn’t tie their sneakers being given that treatment. “When you’re 4 or 5 years old, you think you’re in the NBA when you get to do that.”

Now 22, Jones became an NBA player for real this summer, when New Orleans selected him in the second round of the draft, at No. 35 overall. He immediately began demonstrating why perhaps he should’ve been selected higher, after he’d capped his Alabama Crimson Tide career by earning 2020-21 SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Jones impressed during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, serving as a game-changing reserve who helped the Pelicans go 5-0. Then at September voluntary workouts in Nashville, he was given the nickname “Not On Herb,” due to his knack for making life difficult for whichever offensive player he’s guarding.

“It’s something he earned by no one scoring on him,” fellow Pelicans defending forward Naji Marshall said of the label.

“I don’t know who coined it, but it just kind of came naturally, because it’s true,” said guard Kira Lewis Jr., a college teammate of Jones in 2019-20.

Jones’ defensive ability also generated a nickname in summer league, when fellow 2021 New Orleans draftee Trey Murphy described what he saw Jones doing to offensive players.

“I came up with one that I thought I did a pretty good job with when I called him Herb ‘Straitjacket’ Jones,” Murphy said. “Because he’s an elite defender. Garrett Temple, who’s been in the league for like 40 years, he even said that he’s an elite defender already. Herb knows how to play, even blocks jump shots, which is a skill. It’s crazy.”

During Pelicans preseason, Jones delivered a few of his typical all-around stat lines, averaging 6.5 points, 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks in only 20 minutes per game.

“He does everything to benefit winning,” Lewis said. “He’s going to do whatever you ask him. He wants to get better, so he’s going to be in the gym and he’s coachable.”

That coachability may come partly from the fact that Jones’ father, Walter Sr., coached his son as a youngster. Herbert credits Walter and his mother, Verlander, for getting him involved in basketball at an early age. In addition to that smoke machine that made for his triumphant arrival to the court as a 4-year-old, Herbert remembers quickly embracing the camaraderie and bond that’s part of being on a sports team.

“I just fell in love with the game,” Jones said of his childhood. “Especially playing with four other players and being part of a close-knit group.”

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Pelicans 2021 preseason profile: Herbert Jones

Most NBA players follow a similar arc of improvement, making their biggest strides in their second and third pro seasons, after learning plenty as rookies. New Orleans offseason trade addition Jonas Valanciunas’ development has been more of a steady, career-long progression. Last season, his ninth in the league, was his best by every statistical measure, with the 6-foot-11 center averaging career highs in scoring (17.1 ppg), rebounding (12.5 rpg) and field-goal percentage (59.2) for Memphis.

Since being drafted No. 5 overall by Toronto, Valanciunas has upped his point production from the previous campaign six different times, but that progress has mostly gone unnoticed – he’s somehow never received a single vote in annual Most Improved Player balloting.

Asked how his best NBA season could come in Year 9, a smiling Valanciunas quipped of himself, “Like a good wine, right?”

Patience with the native of Lithuania proved very fruitful for both the Raptors and Grizzlies, as Valanciunas helped those teams reach the playoffs six times (along with a 2020 play-in berth for Memphis). Coincidentally, his first two postseason appearances overlapped with the final two seasons of Pelicans head coach Willie Green’s playing career.

“Jonas is a big-time enforcer on both ends of the floor,” said Green, who faced Valaciunas in five games as a player, mostly between the Clippers and Raptors. “He’s added a lot to his game – he can shoot the three ball, he’s a dominant force down low, he creates offense for himself and his teammates, so we can run plays through him. He’s a luxury to have.”

“I never stopped working,” explained Valanciunas, who previously played for NBA head coaches Dwane Casey, J.B. Bickerstaff and Taylor Jenkins. “Always expanding my game, always working on something. Every coach has a different mentality, a different playing style. So I’ve tried to adjust myself to certain styles of game. I always looked at it like the sky’s the limit, that I’m never happy with myself, always trying to do more.”

In recent seasons, that’s meant adding a three-point shot to his arsenal (36 percent since 2019-20 on 54 makes), something you might not expect from a burly, 265-pound big, but an element Valanciunas believed was vital as he watched an obvious trend around the NBA.

“The league was changing,” he said. “The league was going toward shooting bigs, so I had to do it. I still want to get better (in perimeter) shooting. It’s not where I want it to be. Being able to knock down the three is a big advantage. When you sit down and look at your game, you try to find the areas where you can improve. That was the area for me.”

Valanciunas has played with several All-Star teammates, but New Orleans’ duo of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram is undoubtedly the most talented frontcourt he’s been part of as a pro. He’s looking forward to seeing what the trio can do in 2021-22. Unfortunately, preseason didn’t offer a sneak preview, with Williamson missing all four games and Ingram only appearing in one.

“I’m really excited,” Valanciunas said of the group’s potential. “We just have to see how we click on the court. We all want to win. Now we have to see it on the floor, that connection.”

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Pelicans 2021 preseason profile: Jonas Valanciunas

While attempting to get New Orleans back into the NBA playoffs during his debut season as head coach, Willie Green has two recent All-Star forwards at his disposal; a pair of key veteran additions who were instrumental to team success at their previous stops in Memphis and Charlotte; and a handful of recent first-round draft picks.

Green’s roster also features an undrafted, 6-foot-7 forward who spent the middle of last season in the G League on a two-way contract, but over a mere six-month span, went from fan and media afterthought to a highly-valued role player. Naji Marshall’s NBA future was uncertain when he wasn’t selected in the 2020 draft, but he’s now spoken of in lofty terms by the Pelicans.

“Naji is as representative of what Willie and his coaching staff want us to be about as anybody else,” Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin said of the 23-year-old’s hustling mentality and team-first approach. “There were many nights toward the end of last season (in April and May) where I was turning to our staff and saying, ‘Naji may be our best healthy player tonight’ – and this is a guy who started with us on a two-way (contract). Everything he’s about is very much in line with what Coach Green is preaching.”

“Naji from my experience being around him is a great human being, a high-character kid,” Green said. “He just wants it. So every day he comes in the gym, he’s bringing energy, hard work, and he’s a tough kid. (He’s in the gym so much) we have to pull him off the floor and protect him from himself. He’s the type of player and person who helps your culture.”

Marshall’s eye-opening close to the 2020-21 NBA regular season was followed up by the Xavier (Ohio) product powering the Pelicans to an unbeaten record in summer league (averages of 14.2 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists), where he enjoyed playing for Green for the first time. Marshall respects how the first-time NBA head coach had to scratch and claw his way to a 12-year playing career, after Green was a relatively unknown, second-round pick (No. 41 overall) in 2003.

“It’s the same thing I’ve been through,” Marshall said, alluding to entering the NBA with nothing handed to him. “There is a genuine connection. (It’s about) being a dog, earning everything.

“He’s an unbelievable guy. He’s a player’s coach, defense-first. That really fits my style of play. We’re all looking forward to this season, being coached by him.”

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Pelicans 2021 preseason profile: Naji Marshall

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