Kenrich Williams nearing return, should help woeful New Orleans Pelicans defense

The New Orleans Pelicans have struggled to find an identity on defense this season, but a return from Kenny Hustle will certainly bolster the bunch.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, the New Orleans Pelicans are alive but still struggling to clean up some of the same spots that have plagued them for the whole campaign.

In one of the areas of great trouble, the entire defensive side of the ball will get a little extra energy this week, when Kenrich Williams makes his return to the Pelicans’ rotations.

Out since Jan. 6 with a back injury, Williams was a big part of the team’s early-season rotations, starting in 18 of his 35 appearances with the Pelicans.

While he was listed as probable and never called “inactive” on Friday against the Miami Heat, he never checked into the game, thus slightly delaying his fourth appearance of the calendar year 2020, setting him up for a likely return on Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Aside from his on-court presence, it’ll be nice to simply have the 25-year-old forward back in the team’s rotation for his chemistry and energy.

Earning praise for his role early in the season, filling in for a Pelicans team that dealt with lengthy injuries to Zion Williamson, Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball, and Derrick Favors, he became one of the more beloved members of the squad.

Not a flashy player by any means, Williams brings tons of heart and hustle to the New Orleans Pelicans, as his defensive instincts can help isolate an opposing team’s best offensive talents.

Averaging 22.3 minutes per contest, Kenrich “Kenny Hustle” Williams has often acted as the lynchpin of his team’s defensive unit.

Owning the second-best defensive rating (108.2) among Pelicans with at least two appearances this season, he’s helped give his team a lot more backbone on the ball-stopping end.

When he’s on the court for New Orleans, the allow teams to score -2.5 fewer points and shoot -1.1% worse from the floor. Plus, the team creates 1.7% more turnovers when he’s on the floor, which ranks in the 86th percentile among bigs, per Cleaning the Glass.

Especially when Derrick Favors was out of the lineup, his glass protection was incredibly valuable, as teams shot -3.4% worse when he was in the lineup, a number that ranks in the 89th percentile among bigs.

Fitting in with the league’s evolution towards smaller lineups, Williams might make for a better fit at the backup center with Zion Williamson out of the team’s rotations, or at least against certain teams (like the pocket Houston Rockets).

Though the team still has value for players like Favors and Jaxson Hayes in their center rotations, it’d be advantageous to have an athletic, 6’7″ forward who can play much better multi-positional defense than his slower-footed teammates.

While the New Orleans Pelicans will need Williams to shoot better than his 26% rate on 2.7 attempts per game from three-point range, they’ll certainly be happy to have him back to help body defenders like LeBron James and other stars as the team makes a playoff chase.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, the New Orleans Pelicans are getting a nice piece of their rotation back, especially as the team tries to solidify its defense for a late-season run.