The New Orleans Pelicans need improvement from Zion Williamson to make the playoffs.
The New Orleans Pelicans sniffed the playoffs last season and ultimately came up short, but that was with rookie Zion Williamson only playing 24 games.
Zion is ready to go this year and all hopes are that he will play a full season, essentially like adding an All-NBA calibre player to last year’s squad.
The Pels have made some changes and still have some needs, but the biggest difference should be a full season of Zion Williamson.
The New Orleans Pelicans will only go as far as Zion carries them, so what does he need to do to have a successful season?
We gave Zion Williamson three goals and if he achieves them, the Pelicans might find themselves in the playoffs.
New Orleans Pelicans: 3 goals for Zion Williamson
#1: Stay Healthy
Obviously, Zion Williamson’s health will be the biggest factor in his success this season. A ton has been written about Zion’s weight and how he looks heading into the season.
According to Stan Van Gundy, Zion is not on any type of minutes’ restriction or limitation, so we should see the big man off and running from the first game.
But what about game 30? Game 45? Is Zion Williamson going to be able to play a complete schedule?
With only 72 games this season, Zion should be able to stay healthy and he should make it his goal to play at least 60 games this season.
If Zion Williamson has to miss much more than that, the team has little chance of making the playoffs, so they have to keep him healthy and playing at 100 percent to have a chance.