Through Joe Dumars media availability, I heard a whole lot of nothing. No, that wasn’t because my monitor was on mute—it was because Dumars, for the most part, beat around the bush and recycled answers he’s given throughout his time with the Pelicans. According to him, the internal improvement across the roster could be enough to push this group into the playoff picture. Lol, sound familiar?
The one thing that stood out during Dumars' portion of media day was his comments on Zion Williamson. For years, fans have been asking Zion to step outside and grow into a floor-spacing threat, and it looks like we may finally see that.
Dumars referenced a conversation he had with Zion, saying, “You gotta shoot the jumper. You gotta open up your game. You gotta expand your game.”
I’ve been blunt all offseason that what the Pelicans did, or rather didn’t do this offseason, should be incredibly disappointing for fans after losing 21 games in 2024-25 and then 26 games last season. However, if one singular thing could swing New Orleans into a good team next season, it might be Zion becoming a threat as a perimeter shot maker.
Are we really buying this?
Sigh. While the idea of Zion becoming a high-level or even average jump shooter for his position is such an exciting proposition, it’s hard to buy in. The 32.4 percent career three-point percentage is a strong starting point. But over 276 games, Zion has attempted 102 threes for his career, which is below 0.4 threes attempted per game for his career. That volume is simply too low for me to assume he can scale up and be as effective piece of his game as he enters his eighth year in the league.
We've seen this all the time with someone like Ben Simmons: shooting threes every offseason, then coming into the year and reverting to the style of play fans had grown accustomed to. That’s my fear with Zion, and why it’s hard for me to envision him as a floor spacer.
I will say his touch around the rim and free-throw percentage being _ percent for his career is definitely encouraging and helps his projection as a potential floor spacer. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Z does start taking more mid-range pull-ups or drilling threes when the defense is sagging hard on him. Those things would be incredible for the offense and him. They’d open up the floor and force the defense to guard him from the point of attack instead of sitting in the paint and waiting for him to attack.
With the limited floor spacing this group already has, Z becoming a net positive from three could help modernize the Pelicans. But for that to be the only real nugget dropped by Joe Dumars during his media availability isn’t encouraging. And fans should pump the brakes before jumping two feet into believing Zion is about to be a 36 percent three-point shooter next season.
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