Injuring his right knee just days before the start of the regular season, Zion Williamson is going to have a huge impact starting on the day he becomes fit.
When the New Orleans Pelicans drafted Zion Williamson with the first pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, fans immediately fell in love with the rookie’s million-dollar smile to the tune of buying all 12,000 season tickets to catch him in his first season.
Tearing his meniscus in training camp, the rookie was shelved for what was initially reported to be about the first two months of the regular season.
After Kristen Ledlow reported during TNT’s NBA Tuesday coverage that Zion Williamson wouldn’t be back on the court in the initial 6-to-8 week timeline, some Pelicans fans in the social media lowlands have started to grow restless, especially as it relates to organizational transparency.
As I reported on @NBAonTNT, Zion Williamson “turned a corner” this week. However, the team is erring on the side of caution and his return will “definitely” come outside of the 6-8 week window initially projected. #NOPvsDAL
— Kristen Ledlow (@KristenLedlow) December 4, 2019
The report also mentioned Zion’s excitement about getting back on the hardwood and sources have told ESPN that the rookie has begun spot shooting and light walk-throughs with the team.
Slowly but surely, we’re getting close to the first night of Zion.
Also, Pels fans don't need to be worried about Zion. After what I saw today, the only people who need to worry are the rest of the league 😂
— Angie Thomas (@angiecthomas) December 4, 2019
When VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin first spoke on the injury in mid-October, he expressed the organizational interest in taking a super cautious approach to the rookie’s rehab process.
During the second quarter of yesterday’s overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns, Griffin joined the Pelicans broadcast to offer some interesting insight on the team’s plans for the rookie upon his return.
In what was a pretty unsurprising line of commentary overall, he did reveal the team’s intentions to manage Zion’s load by holding him out of back-to-backs upon his return.
"“He very likely will not be asked to take the pounding of back-to-backs initially. There will be a sort of ramp-up for him to getting back to where you would call him full strength, but he’s certainly going to be playing, and we’re trying to win basketball games,” said Griffin."
Some people hate the idea of load management. Personally, I think it’s a fair and wise way to take care of people who you’re playing millions of dollars to beat the crud out of their bodies.
Plus, if you’re trying to keep this guy in town, giving him the same treatment as an elite player like Kawhi Leonard, it seems like not managing Zion Williamson’s load would be pretty unwise.
So, it seems like the team is going to do whatever they can to make sure he’s playing professional basketball for a long time.
It’s worth noting, again, that the Pelicans hired Aaron Nelson to be their VP of Player Care and Performance, they hired one of the finest sports medicine trainers in the world.
Credited for elongating the careers of Hall of Famers like Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Shaquille O’Neal during his time with the Suns, Nelson’s hire was praised around the league as the team overhauled their football-oriented training facility/programs.
In a situation with plenty of runways for him to succeed, a healthy Zion could quickly turn this team around from their 6-16 start. If it looks anything like what we saw during the preseason, it’s going to be hard to keep this team out of the playoffs.
The Rookie of the Year trophy is certainly still in the question for Zion Williamson.
While the season is really starting to get away from the Pelicans, we still have so much to learn about the Big Easy Birds. Zion Williamson has the potential to turn this thing around in a hurry.
The New Orleans Pelicans are in a strange position at the moment; they’re 2.5 games ahead of the Golden State Warriors for the worst record in basketball but still just 4.5 games out from the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
If Zion Williamson can come back and push this team into the playoffs, it’s going to be very hard to keep the Rookie of the Year trophy out of his hands.
Glaringly obvious during his four preseason games, the ball ran through Zion in the New Orleans offense, but other teams still had no answer for the rim-dominant Williamson.
Taking the floor with the Pelicans starting five, including Jrue Holiday, J.J Redick, Brandon Ingram, and in all likelihood Derrick Favors by whatever point the rookie returns, he has an arsenal of talent that really compliment what Zion likes to do on the basketball court.
With firepower around him and being a freight-train of force, the Zion Williamson-led New Orleans Pelicans project as very hard to beat.
Much has been made this season of the future ‘faces’ and future MVPs of this league, mainly as it comes to players like Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. I feel like it’s kind of insane that we don’t hear more about Zion in these kinds of conversations, but that’s for another day.
Eventually, Zion Williamson is going to take the court for the New Orleans Pelicans and it’s going to be an exciting day for all parties involved. Even if he’s destined for a career of load management, Zion is a generational talent and fans should get ready for a long run of awesome basketball.