The Bendigo teenager fronted the New Orleans media for the first time on Friday morning (AEST).

He was joined by fellow Pelicans' draftee E.J. Liddell, head coach Willie Green and club general manager Trajan Langdon.

"I love the staff, love the guys, I can't wait to get out there and play some games,'' Daniels said.

"It's my second day here and I'm enjoying my time and I'm enjoying everyone's company and getting to know everyone.

"I'm super excited to be a Pelican."

Daniels, who will wear number 11 for New Orleans, was selected by the Pelicans with pick eight in last week's NBA Draft.

Langdon reiterated why the Pelicans were so keen to add Daniels to their organisation.

"We had all the intel on Dyson early in terms of what an incredible young man he is, so that was easy,'' Langdon said.

"We just had to cross the line off where we thought in terms of projection with our group and where was the fit.

"Over time watching him with the G-League team that was an easy answer as well."

Coach Green said Daniels and Liddell had traits that he valued highly.

"It's exciting to add these two guys to our program,'' Green said.

"We are all aware of what the draft day meant to them and their families.

"Hopefully, they have 10-15 year careers here with us. We're excited, anytime we get young guys that can hoop, that can play, that are competitors and, more importantly, they're high character guys in our program, it builds us."

Green's first priority is defence, which is what attracted him to Daniels and Liddell.

"EJ and Dyson are guys that work extremely hard,'' Green said.

"There's a lot of work in front of us as a group, as a unit, but we believe in their abilities.

"We want to get to the floor, start Summer League and allow these guys to get out there display their talents.

"Our team is going to be based off defence. We strongly believe that when you can defend, you can go far. We want to build a championship program here."

The New Orleans media questioned Daniels about his strengths.

"I bring a lot to the table, especially on the defensive end,'' Daniels said.

"I like to defend and I think my offence has come a long way being able to playmake and shoot the ball as well - play different positions.

"There's so many different roles I can play on the team and, obviously, the Pelicans are a great place, great staff, great coaching staff, so there's no better place to be right now."

Daniels was not shy in signalling his team goals for his rookie season.

"The team took big strides last year to make it to the play-offs,'' Daniels said.

"For me, I'm a winner, I want to help the team win - whatever it takes.

"I'm looking forward to helping the team go on a deeper play-off run.

"I'm super excited to see what happens next year."

Daniels' first game with the Pelicans is next weekend in the opening round of NBA Summer League, which is an off-season competition for clubs to blood rookies, second-year players and uncontracted players.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: