New Orleans Pelicans: How should the team handle depth from the forward positions?

Zion Williamson

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 7/10/2019.

The hype surrounding Zion Williamson’s debut against former college teammate, R.J. Barrett, had eclipsed DEFCON like levels. It was supposed to be Christmas in July, but unfortunately, it didn’t pan out the way many had hoped.

Zion was just 9 minutes into his Summer League career before being sidelined with a knee injury (if you could call it an injury, this was strictly precautionary). There were moments where he displayed to the NBA world what made him the consensus number one pick, and there were moments where he struggled and tried a little too aggressively to force the issue.

With the demanded departure of Anthony Davis—like with the Chris Paul exit before his—it left the New Orleans Pelicans in a state of disarray and questions. But after the hiring of David Griffin and a miracle NBA Lottery that dropped the number one pick into our lap, the life of the New Orleans Pelicans and their fans seemingly burned brighter than ever.

Though Zion represents hope and optimism for the franchise and he’s really unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, he’s not exactly a finished product. There are weaknesses in his game, the dribble looked suspect at times in his debut and the perimeter shot is, well, questionable. But the kid just turned 19—there’s time.

Alvin Gentry and company will try their best to make the transition as painless as possible, but nothing comes easy at this level. He’ll have his growing pains but as time progresses he’ll begin to figure out the NBA game and how/when to pick his spots.