Herb Jones and Jonas Valanciunas Lead Pelicans in 2022 Hustle Stats

New Orleans Pelicans veteran and rookie lead the team in hustle stats for the 2021-22 regular season.

New Orleans Pelicans rookie leads the team in "hustle stats" for the 2021-22 regular season.  What's a hustle stat?  It's an old-school way of tracking a player's "Screen Assists, Deflections, Loose Balls won, Charges taken, Boxouts, Contested Shots." 

THE ROOKIE HOLDS DOWN THE NBA'S BEST, EACH NIGHT

Herb Jones came out to New Orleans already with a solid reputation of being a defensive standout at Alabama.  His defensive skills transitioned well in his first season as a professional.

Apr 1, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) is defended by New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones (5) and center Jonas Valanciunas (17) as he drives to the basket in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Herb Jones' impressive Hustle Stats in the NBA's Top 10:

1. Deflections totals (4th, 243) 
2. Deflections per game (5th, 3.1)
3. Deflections per 36 (10th, 3.7)
4. Contested 3s (5th, 275)

Jones led New Orleans as the team's head pick-pocketer with 190 steals+blocks and averaged 2.44 steals+blocks per game. He tops the 2021 NBA rookie class and ranks 1st in steals per game at 1.7; also, Jones is 2nd in steal/turnovers ratio.

THE BIG V PATROLS SMOOTHIE KING

Mar 9, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas (17) celebrates a play against the Orlando Magic during the fourth quarter at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports

Jonas Valanciunas' Hustle Stats in the NBA's Top 10:

• Screen assists per game (8th, 3.9)
• Screen assists total (9th, 289)
• Contested 2s total (9th, 564)
• Box Outs per game (3rd, 3.5)
• Box Outs per 36 (4th, 4.2)
• Box Outs total (3rd, 262)

The 6-11 Lithuanian is a triple threat in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots for New Orleans. Valanciunas led the Pelicans with 1314 points, 843 rebounds, 225 offensive rebounds, and co-led with Jones, adding 60 blocked shots in 2021-22. The big guy finished 3rd in the NBA with 50 double-doubles on the season behind Jokic (66) and Gobert (53).

New Orleans outrebounded opponents and was the only NBA team to rank Top-5 in offensive and defensive rebounding percentages. The Pelicans ranked 3rd in defensive rebounding percentage (74.2%) and 4th in offensive rebound percentage (30.6%) in the 2021-22 regular season - primarily due to Jonas Valanciunas (11.4 RPG) and Herb Jones (4.3 RPG).

The best ability is availability. Both players are Iron-Men on the team. Jonas Valanciunas has played a career-high 30.3 minutes per game, which has led him to a usage rate of 22.8-percent, ranking in the 89th percentile of all NBA centers.

New Orleans has "outhustled" opponents and ranks 8th in the NBA in loose balls recovered per game (5.9) and is ranked 5th in the league in deflections per game (15.3).  

The continued success for New Orleans centers around the intangibles like hustle. For the Pelicans to keep their 2021-22 season alive, look at the play of Herb Jones and Jonas Valanciunas.