Pick-and-Roll Ensures Zion Williamson Better Stats With New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans may find they have to build Zion Williamson’s pick and roll game from the inside out to the perimeter, instead of having him drive and shoot from long distance.

The clogged paint and short three-point line make it difficult to judge how some will translate their games to the NBA court, especially when judging big men’s shooting ability. It is rare that college frontcourt players get to handle the ball for much time. The New Orleans Pelicans know Zion Williamson can bang with the best NBA rebounders already.

Horns sets, hammer sets and the top of the key pick and roll are three staples of all NBA offenses. They are tough to run in college when there are four defenders willing to have a foot in the paint. Williamson had two ACC conference games against Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse 2-3 zone.

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The packed paint does help teams evaluate rebound talent though, and Williamson stands out in that part of the game. He grabbed 8.9 rebounds per game at Duke, with 3.5 coming on the offensive end. Williamson snagged 12.7% of all offensive rebounding opportunities and 18.0% on the defensive end.

The Big 3 of NBA plays will allow Zion more putback dunk rebounding opportunities when sitting in the dunker spots. Should Favors develop his elbow jumper, a screen freeing Zion on the weak side could lead to space under the rim for an alley-oop attempt or a putback dunk.

Likewise, should Holiday or Ball be up top with Favors acting as the screener, any action with Williamson and a shooter like Redick puts the defense in a tough spot. Jrue can jam and Favors can finish. That action will attract attention. However, defenders cannot lose sight of Redick on the perimeter or Zion running free to the rim. Not to mention the fifth player in this scenario, Brandon Ingram perhaps, working a wing isolated on a mismatched defender.

Zion can help the whole team thrive should he learn the nuances of each moving part of the NBA pick and roll. Should he do so, even more fans will jump on the New Orleans Pelicans bandwagon while watching those 30 nationally televised games.