The New Orleans Pelicans opened training camp Tuesday with something they haven’t always had at the start of a season: a fully healthy roster.
That was enough for Jamahl Mosley to knock on the side of his head. Trey Murphy followed by bending down and tapping the wooden floor at the team’s practice facility. The message was simple - everyone was available, and that alone marked a change of pace for a franchise that has dealt with injuries piling up before camp even got rolling.
But health wasn’t the only thing that felt new.
Tuesday was Mosley’s first practice as New Orleans’ head coach, after being hired in May, and the first day came with a new vocabulary on the walls: Relentless. Mental toughness.
Resilient. Together.
Dominate. Physicality.
Those words are more than decoration. Mosley is using them to shape the team’s identity from the ground up, and the players got a clear look at how exacting he intends to be.
“One thing I’ve noticed about Mosley is that he’s really, really into the details,” Murphy said. “If we are not doing a drill right, he’s going to make sure we do it over and do it right.
That’s something you can really appreciate. If you keep the rope tight, then whenever you’re ready to pull (the rope), it’s ready.”
Mosley said the first workout gave him a good read on the group.
“I love the energy in the building, the intensity,” Mosley said. “The work ethic was there.
It’s what we talked about from the beginning. Starting with the foundation of our defense and them moving into our offense and the structure of it.”
The grind is just beginning. Tuesday was the first of 17 practices before the Oct. 21 season opener, and the team’s first two-a-day session is set for Wednesday.
Zion Williamson, now entering his eighth NBA season, was still putting in extra work after practice ended, staying behind to keep shooting 3-pointers. He said he needs to make at least 50 before he can leave.
“I have to make a minimum of 50, and then I can get out of here," Williamson said.
Williamson said the team has already started buying into Mosley’s approach.
“I love basketball, and I love X’s and O’s and seeing how different people see the game,” Williamson said. “When he was in Orlando, he had a great defensive team. We want to bring that same thing, but with our own flair to it.”
That healthy start matters more because of where the Pelicans were a year ago. Murphy and Herb Jones were rehabbing shoulder injuries, Dejounte Murray was still coming back from a torn Achilles, and Derik Queen was dealing with a wrist injury. Tuesday looked nothing like that.
“It’s huge,” Mosley said. “Getting on the same page right away without anybody walking in with anything happening right now. Knock on wood that everybody stays healthy as we are getting everybody on the same page and preaching the same message and communicating the right way.”
Mosley also had his players wearing T-shirts that carried the tone he wants around the program. On the front: “In Nola, culture means business." On the back: “We stand on business.”
“What it means is this city represents grit, hard work, toughness, determination,” Mosley said. “No matter where you’re from in this city. We’ve talked about representing it the right way and those guys have to feel it and know it every time they step in the building.”
For Williamson, the first day already felt like a step toward that identity.
“It was a great first day of practice,” Williamson said. “We are pretty much setting our identity of what we want to look for on defense and what we want to look for on offense.
But today was more of a defensive day. It was a good day at work.”
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