Last season, Jonas Valanciunas started all 82 games for New Orleans at center. This summer, Valanciunas bolted the Big Easy for Washington as a free agent (in what was ultimately a sign-and-trade).
The Pelicans didn’t sign anyone to replace him. So, who starts at center to start the season? Herbert Jones — the 6’8″ wing who spent most of his time last season at the three, Shams Charania of ESPN said on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“I’m told Herb Jones is essentially going to serve as the starting center for the Pelicans. You look at CJ McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones and Zion Williamson, a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, Zion Williamson’s playing the five.’
“[Coach] Willie Green came out the other day and said, ‘He’s not the five… We’re not talking about fives, we’re talking about position-less.’ I do think there’s some credence to that, but at the end of the day someone’s going to have to guard the other centers, and it’s going to be Herb Jones a lot of the time.”
Call it positionless, say its Jones, go ahead and say 6’6″ Zion is the center, none of it changes the fact that the Wizards are going very small.
New Orleans tried this offseason to trade Brandon Ingram for a center but there was no market to speak of for Ingram (teams are hesitant to give Ingram the max contract he wants after this season). That effort to trade for a more traditional five — moving Ingram or someone else — will continue into the season.
Until then, New Orleans will be one of the most entertaining teams in the league to watch, playing small and fast. Whether entertaining will lead to wins is the question.
