New Orleans Pelicans Youngster Taking Advantage of Full Offseason With Team

A young New Orleans Pelicans player is in a position to help the team after a full offseason in their program.

Mar 15, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (50) during warmups before the game against the LA Clippers at Smoothie King Center. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

One of the things people are going to be keeping a close eye on with the New Orleans Pelicans when training camp opens up next week is the center position.

It is the most glaring hole that the team has on their roster.

Veteran Daniel Theis and rookie first-round pick Yves Missi would presumably be atop the depth chart. Karlo Matkovic is behind them along with Trey Jemison, who agreed to a two-way contract after the team claimed him from the Memphis Grizzlies this summer.

Another name to keep an eye on who isn’t getting much attention is Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. The No. 32 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft out of Villanova, he has the most experience of the frontcourt options outside of Theis and Zion Williamson. 

While that alone won’t be enough to carve out a role in Willie Green’s rotation, he is benefitting from spending the entire offseason with the Pelicans.

Signed on his birthday, November 3rd, in 2023, Robinson-Earl didn’t have much time to acclimate himself before he was thrown into the fire. With New Orleans shorthanded for a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 8th, he started and 28 minutes.

While he stuck on the roster for the entire season, he felt he was playing catch-up throughout the campaign because he was not with the team for training camp. That is not the case this time around.

“It’s been a lot of fun, having that first year under my belt with the Pels,” Robinson-Earl said at a Saturday community event, referring to the difference in preparation for him this offseason, via Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com. “Each summer is so important – it’s like a reset in a way. I got to the team late (with the 2023-24 regular season already started). Coming into this season, knowing what we are about, knowing how I can be implemented into the team, it definitely helps me, to take three or four months to really put in a lot of work, to be the best version of myself.”

Turning only 24 years old in a few weeks, he isn’t even close to his prime. The Pelicans have an excellent track record of developing unheralded players and Robinson-Earl could be their next project.

There is certainly a need in the frontcourt and he has been working hard on improving his game. One area he has focused on has been his 3-point shooting. For his career, he has made 34.3 percent, making a career-high 35.2 percent as a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“In the last four or five years, it’s something I’ve really started to focus on a lot more,” Robinson-Earl said of being accurate from long distance. “Growing up, I was the big guy who just played around the rim. Starting (in college) at Villanova, that was when that kind of became of importance, to be able to knock down that open shot.”

Expanding his game in that fashion can only improve his odds of cracking the team’s rotation. He could conceivably carve out a role as Williamson’s backup at the very least, with the ability to play some center if Green opts to go small with his second unit.