This is undeniable: Zion Williamson looked thinner and, in the best way, we have seen it in a long time on the media day of the New Orleans Pelicans.
New Orleans playoff dreams depend on that new physique that translates into Zion not only playing a high level on the court, but actually remains healthy. There is skepticism about that in the League, since Zion has played in more than 65 games in just one of his six NBA seasons. When it is on the court, it produces: Zion averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.3 we attended a game last season, but played in just 30 games due to an injury to the hamstrings.
As is the case in the media team, Zion said all the right things about putting in shapeWorking with the Pelicans coach Daniel Bove, and how he feels in the season.
“We came up with a plan from boxing to exercise in the football field, much for random training. I have not felt like this from the university, the high school, just where I can enter a gym and I feel good.”
Zion teammates echoed that. Wing Trey Murphy III said that Zion looked “thinner than I have seen during the summer, which is always a good sign. And I feel that it is in a very good mentally good place.”
Zion also accredited his relations with the new head of Basketball Operations of the Pelicans, Joe Dumars, for promoting change.
“He will take responsibility, and while he is responsible, he will also give me a lot of responsibility, what I am excited,” said Williamson. “I know that I will keep a really high standard, and if it blends or something, I know it will be there to make sure to return to the way …
“(Dumars and Gm Troy Weaver) hugged me and said: ‘I’m not going to disappoint them.’ He helped a lot that they really believed in me.”
Once again, all the right words, but it feels like a repetition of the feelings we have heard since Zion was recruited No. 1 by the pelicans in 2019. The action, not the words, now matters. It will take Zion to stay healthy and go up again consistently, and do it during the season, before fans and the rest of the league are going to buy. If that happens, the Pelicans will have to make decisions to make eligible and the equipment will call if it is available through trade, but Zion will have to prove that it can be there consistently before it is time to have those conversations.