Zion Williamson is going to have his best season next year for the New Orleans Pelicans

Zion Williamson is going to have his best season next year for the New Orleans Pelicans

Zion Williamson had a healthy and strong regular season for the Pelicans and I’m going to tell you why he’s going to be even better next season plus more draft talk it’s today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans let’s go you are locked on Pelicans your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday welcome to another edition of locked on Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans in NBA part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube I’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter here with y’all on this Tuesday we’re going to get into some draft talk in the latter part of today’s show but I was struck by a quote from Doc Rivers talking about Damen Lillard but it applies to Zion Williamson and that’s what we’re going to focus on for the first part of today’s show Zion was really good last year was healthy too and that was important got better as the season went on he’s going to be even better next year that’s what we’re going to talk about in today’s episode of lockdown Pelicans Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com locked on to get started and of course thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast join over 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well become an everyday thank you if you’re an everyday I know you’re listening it’s awesome I love to see the comments there let me know in the comments Down Below on YouTube so let’s get into this iion Williamson is going to be better next season and he was good this year to start averaging 22.9 points per game 57% from the field 70% from the free throw line 5.8 rebounds five assists 2.8 turnovers 11 uh 1.1 Steals and a almost a block per game seven we routing up there he was really good and better defenses the season went on and he’s going to be better go back to that disaster inseason tournament loss to the Los Angeles Lakers after that where Zion just played poorly was was roundly criticized very publicly by all national media and a lot of it some of it was a little over the top some most of it was valid right to his credit he worked on all of that stuff he wasn’t in the best shape coming into this season he wasn’t in horrible shape I don’t think but was he what you want a professional athlete to be and the answer was no and he worked on all that got in shape as the season went on the team openly talked about it at the end where they regularly were saying he was stacking his days stacking days to get in shape so imagine you know him coming into the season in shape you know he he started poorly and then got in shape as the season went on and when you look at his splits by month they definitely get better as the season goes on when in theory you’re wearing down a little bit more this is a guy who in December was Aver ing 20.4 points per game then 21 then in January in February was 23.9 March was 24 and then in uh April it was 23.6 those numbers got better overall right it fluctuates a little bit you know when you look at things like his free throw shooting that went up as the season went on 66.7% 70.2 75.3 72.2 then 76 his free throw attempts were going up a little bit as the season went on that’s what you want to see from a guy you know the the rebounding numbers fluctuated a little bit the assist numbers fluctuated a little bit that’s dependent on rooll and more on that here in a second but imagine if you’re just getting the peak Zion from game one not game 40 something right or 30 or 50 or whatever it might be Zion I think learned he needs to come into the season in better shape than he was again it wasn’t bad but you he’s the type of guy that just on Talent alone can Coast pretty far but if you come in and just dominate the game in a way that he wasn’t doing to begin the year that’s going to elevate him this is someone who was at one point towards the end of the season in consideration for an all all all NBA team I had a couple of other lockd on hosts when they were thinking about ballots and stuff reach out and say they’re either putting Zion on it or if I thought he was worthy of it when other people are kind of putting you in that conversation that’s a pretty good thing and it goes to the Doc Rivers quote he was recently on a podcast talking about Damen Lillard you know who started coaching in the middle of the season and he was recounting how Lillard came to him and said like I wasn’t in shape to start the year at all you know he had a bit of a Down year because of that he was worried about getting traded he didn’t want to you know get hurt there’s a bug crawling around here that was gross and you know because he was going to get traded it didn’t work out like he was going to did some light shooting some light cardio but not really doing two days not training intensely not playing five on five or anything like that so he just never recovered and the Doc Rivers quote is quote when you start camp that way you don’t get ever get in shape you never catch up and he Damen Lillard felt that way River said so that applies to Zion right if Zion was this good by the end of the season and he probably wasn’t nearly as good as he could be and he was again stacking his days putting in the extra work to catch up from it but you can never get to that exact level imagine Zion with a whole offseason of doing things right and we saw that this past year he tweaked maybe some of the people around him it sounds like a little bit he’s hired personal trainers personal chefs all of those things to kind of help him be just more of a professional player so there’s reason to believe that if he comes into the season in shape that’s really going to help things simple as that you know we can talk about Willie Green we can talk about Fred Vincent David Griffin you know James bgo all of these things you it’s really as simple as this and this is something I talked about on the the show the other day the team’s success comes down to Zion Williamson that’s it sometimes it’s it’s not hard to be an NBA analyst just play better than the other team you win your games right Talent tends to win out um and with Zion it’s their success is going to be based around him what he’s capable of doing right if he doesn’t play in the postseason they’re going to lose if he plays they’re probably more competitive against a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder it’s truly as simple as that so their success is really going to be based off of Zion Williamson this year and I think Zion hearing that criticism from that inseason tournament loss to the Lakers and kind of turning it around overcoming that you know his own fault in the first place but look he made changes improved on things now he’s going to go into the offseason getting in shape and also and we’ll talk about this in the next segment with more of a defined role and knowing what he needs to work on ways that they’re going to be able to dramatically improve his game I’m expecting the best Zion Williamson season yet and that’s going to matter more than the draft more than an Ingram trade the Ingram trade in theory could be really big too more than the coaching staff more than anything else so if you’re looking for one reason to get excited for next season this is it this is it now it’s looking ahead we’ll get we’ll learn more about kind of his offseason his plans his things that he’s done as we get closer to training camp there’s based on the evidence we’ve seen good reason to believe that Zion is going to be in Peak shape coming into the year and that should scare the rest of the league so I mentioned a defined role and two things he needs to work on that tie into that too that’s actually going to be really big and make him even better too Beyond just the conditioning let’s look at those things coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans is brought to you by FanDuel America’s number one sports book summertime means baseball the NBA finals and more and you can bet on it all on FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet everything from Finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park if you’re a big baseball fan or you just want to make the games more interesting get on fan duel to look at the odds if you think this series with the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks I’m recording before game five is going to keep going get in on the players props different things 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locked on Pelicans but let’s continue to talk about Zion Williamson here a little bit so I think he’s going to be in shape to start the year and that’s going to be a really important thing but I also think you’re going to avoid some of the awkwardness of the first two months of the Season that Zion and the team went through trying to put in a James bgo offense that for what whatever reason didn’t get put in the fit between him and Brandon Ingram was clunky and they were trying to use Zion Williamson off the ball more which look is a waste of Zion and not what they should be doing and then they learn don’t do that put the ball in Zion’s hands let Point Zion be a thing and go forward with it I don’t care about this idea of trying to build like an equitable offense or you know something that can survive when Zion’s out look if you’re missing your best players you’re going to lose games it’s hard it’s as simple as that you don’t necessarily you shouldn’t necessarily plan for that if if you have a player that you can’t trust with that trade him and get someone that you feel you can trust that’s absolutely the way to go about that but don’t minimize your best player in the court gravity that he has and we heard from Zion you know post uh games a couple of times talking about how he’s trying to fit in he’s trying to kind of get used to this new role and it’s been a little bit of a learning curve a bit of an adjustment and then the team just got better when they put the ball in his hands going into next season I don’t think you’re going to see that kind of like awkward let’s try this out it didn’t work we’ve lost some games from it we’re not using our players as well as we could and then shift to things where then you need a ramp up period with that I would assume going into next season partially because brand inam might be traded this is going to be the Zion Centric offense the Zion Centric team that’s also why I think he will be in better shape going into this year he knows that he knows that that he’s going to be the man the franchise the Cornerstone whatever ever words you want to use he has to live up to that if he doesn’t there’s going to be bigger questions about him he doesn’t want that he knows it’s time the team knows it’s time and that means that his steps are going to be better the assists will probably be up right those type of things are going to have more production for him means he’s going to have a better season by having just kind of the right role for him a more clearly defined role that plays to his strengths that’s what you want but then there’s also a couple of areas that he needs to improve tied into that same role and there’s two and we’ve we’ve seen them one of them being the jumper I don’t think he needs to add a three-point shot I don’t want him taking tons of mid-range shots either I truly don’t I think that’s a waste of Zion Williamson’s talent because he’s best when he gets to the rim and tries to score there however one thing that’s worth noting when we look at those monthly splits for him is April seven games so it’s a smaller sample size than March which was 14 February January both had 11 December and November had 12 seven games his field goal percentage plummeted it was 62% in 14 games in March it was 46.7% in April that’s about 10% lower than what the number is over the season for him which was 57% that’s uh bit shocking right and that’s on more attempts per game too Brandon Ingram was injured for a lot of that so more was on Zion it also meant teams were able to just defend him a little bit differently and load up on him more right so there’s that kind of factor in there too so while you don’t want him taking tons of mid-range jumpers teams did figure out a little bit of a way to defend him his handle wasn’t as good and we’ll touch on that in a second so what did he start doing started taking that little baby pull-up jumper that he had been working on that he started to break out in games and guess what that made a difference he makes those shots so on a drive to the rim when he might turn the ball over now he pulls up and one out of every two times or so maybe probably less than that he’s going to hit that mid-range jumper that’s a great thing for him to be able to have in his back he took it’s like where where the numbers just go I just lost them um in that 3 to 10 foot range more than he had ever had in the past now he does very well with that but it’s still not you know a great shot he shot under 40% in that range so you want it in limited fashion just to keep the defenses honest but if it’s not falling that’s not something you want him doing significantly but working on that jumper to make it more reliable just to kind of be a body blow on the defense to make them respect it that is something that we want to see him working on and I’ve been a guy for a long time I was like no don’t take jumpers don’t do that don’t I I don’t need him to become a three-point shooter you just need a little more in your bag a little bit more in your bag to be able to keep team teams and the defense honest that’s all you’re looking for with that sort of thing from Zion Williamson he showed it during the regular season now he’s going to have an offseason to really spend time developing that jumper working on that you know that hesitation game the hurky jerkiness of his game driving stopping pulling up shooting when the defenses are collapsing on him and if he can hit that reliabity that’ll pull someone out of the paint just a little bit and that means with a better handle he can get by them his handle was not as good this year as it was in years past you know for how many bodies get thrown at him how many Defenders get put on him that needs to be better I think because they throw a lot at him lowering those turnovers just losing the ball you saw it a lot he drives to the basket goes up and the ball just gets knocked and goes out and now it’s an inbounds for the opponent or he just kind of loses it and the other team carals it now they’re running out in transition in a fast break opportunity limiting that will really Elevate his game his touch with the ball off the glass scoring at The Rim is an elite skill that he has it’s guard likee right he finishes like a guard around the rim the way he moves his body doesn’t play like a big man but getting to the rim with the ball was a bit of a problem not not a significant problem but a bit of a problem more so than we’d seen in the past from him this year particularly when Ingram wasn’t out there and teams could load up on him having a slightly better handle slightly I don’t need I don’t think we need to see it be significantly is a way to really improve that his passing’s already very good just don’t lose the ball finish at The Rim get that bucket in run back he’s committed on the defensive side of the ball those numbers by the way did go up I should have mentioned that earlier significantly as the season went on the steals per game went up he was averaging 2.3 in April smaller sample size but 1.3 blocks basically a block in March 1.1 in February was half or under a block uh for the first couple months of the Season we’ve seen him commit on the defensive side of the ball we’re expecting that from him next year too that same level of defensive commitment which by the way gets easier when you’re in better shape you can Elevate and jump and SWAT the ball away and do other things like that so this all ties together of being in shape allows you to do some of these other things just a little bit better right when you have tired legs and you’re in better shape though you can still jump up Elevate to finish at The Rim you can jump up Elevate and shoot that little mini jumper that’ll help your handle when you’re a little bit more tired too this all factors in together and this is how Zion Williamson will get kind of like Unleashed again this will be like the third or fourth time right that he’s kind of going through the next version of Zion I think I’ve talked about Zion 2.0 I don’t know if this is Zion 3 .0 or Zion 4.0 at this point but look at least it’s Improvement and trying to get better and be the best version of himself and I think that’s a truly impressive thing so I’m excited for Zion Williamson next season there’s reason to believe that he is going to come in in very good shape have the right role for him the team’s going to be built around him a little bit better than it’s been I don’t know that makes me excited I think that overrides any other thing that’s like a detriment to this team is Zion being the best version of him that’s how this team goes far let me know what you think in the comments Down Below on YouTube you expecting a good Zion season do you think he’s going to be better than last year let me know what you think so coming up next I want to look at a few second round pick prospects Pelicans don’t have a second round pick in this draft but say they acquire one in a trade who should they be looking at and more importantly than that I’ve got two undrafted free agents that I’m really keeping an eye on for two-way contracts because the Pelicans have had a lot of success with that and they’re going to look to try and keep doing that that’s coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans is brought to you by my favorite eBay Motors I’m EXC excited to tell you about all of this because my cars are running they’re on the road because of eBay Motors I have the old classic Corvette it’s almost 50 years old that I am fixing up the parts come from eBay Motors old car new car they’re going to have the parts you want because they have over 122 Million Parts parts for your vehicle so you’re always going to find exactly what you’re looking for so you want to make it go faster get a supercharger you need a little bit more utility roof racks headlights getting kind of old can’t see at night as 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want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast we are also on YouTube where there’s over 10,000 Pelicans fans for your second listen I got two locked on sports today streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the Amazon Fire TV channels app don’t need yelling you just want to hear Sports Talk that’s what they do over there Saints mini camp Ross Jackson host of locked on Saints breaking out everything black and gold for you as well make those your second listen today after lockdown Pelicans being your first listen here becoming every day that means you listen Monday through Friday so draft is coming up next week let’s switch back into draft talk here for a minute I got a couple of names I want you to keep an eye on the Pelicans don’t have a second round pick they need more second round picks that’s something that if you’re an everyday or you know I’ve talked a lot about that’s something that I think is really important for them to try and go and acquire but if they make a trade they might pick one up in this draft it seems useful for them to try and grab some guy in this draft just to maybe fill out the end of the roster especially if you do an unbalanced trade where you send out more players than you’re getting back so there’s a couple I think that could be really useful the first is Adam Bona out of uh UCLA he’s a sophomore he’s a center kind of big man he is not a shooter not a shooter in the slightest here but when you look at a dude that hustles that’s what you like he’s very physically strong really good on the boards he sets good screens which is not something that the pelins really have in anyone and he has pretty good athleticism and when you look at the way he kind of fits this is your maybe a backup big man for you he’s a little bit on the shorter Side 68 but he is a 74 wingspan again scoring is not really the thing he can get to the rim and be a lot threat but doesn’t have the finishing the touch or the shooting but as just an athletic big man to come in Off the Bench and block some shots grab you rebounds in kind of that Larry n Jr role that can switch on the perimeter I do think that’s that’s him and that’s you know what you’re kind of looking for he’s not horribly old too at 21 years old which I think can kind of be important as well one person we’re also not going to look at is bronny James here because he is almost certain cly going to go to the Lakers another guy to kind of keep an eye on to different position is Jonathan magbo a junior out of San Francisco he’s kind of a wing and a forward 66 with a 72 Wings span did really well on the boards when you look for just a hustle guy he averaged 14.2 points per game last season 14.1 rebounds and he’s a pretty good finisher at The Rim again you’re going to look at this guy coming in off the bench not a shoot at all can’t even really make his free throws that’s a concern but a highly versatile guy that can switch on the perimeter that can defend up a position down a position can rebound can maybe give you a little bit of Rim protection as well and this is also a guy that does pass the ball so you’re going to keep the ball moving when it’s in his hands 22 be 23 next season so again a little bit on the older side that’s something that can really hurt things as well for some of these guys but that’s kind of what you’re looking at in the second round when it comes to it a guy I don’t think is going to be there but would be a really useful player is kesan George Miami he’s a freshman so young but he’s going to be borderline first round pick second round pick somewhere in that range 7.6 points per game but the number you look at with him is 40.8 that’s his threo shooting percentage and he kind of make any sort of three-point shot catch and shoot pull up off the dribble all of those are what you want to see from him and he’s a willing passer this is a guy that you kind of put on the wing 6′ s 610 wingspan and then just kind of does it all for you you know those kind of wing players that pass shoot and aren’t like exceptional at anything think like a Joe Eng Les kind of player that is what you kind of see from George he’s not going to be you know an elite Defender here but he has a lot of positional versatility which is something that the Pelicans like forward guard Wing he can kind of do a little bit of all of that I think um and has the potential to do well very limited minutes though at Miami this past season he wasn’t really expected to be a oneandone prospect but that’s a name to also keep an eye on Final one here is Cam Spencer who is out of Yukon senior he’s a wing to this is just a dude who shoots threes in defense and maybe the Pelicans like um like Yukon guys here um he has decent enough size at 6’3 he’s not super tall but he is an elite shooter and this is a dude that just hustles 44% on almost six attempts per game from three last season and he’s just a crafty player does not have tremendous athleticism at all but for someone just who to be a productive player and that’s one of the things I’ve said I want to see the Pelicans do just get someone who gives you production I think that’s a guy that they could look at in the second round to bringing in another Yukon shooter who just smart guy good basketball IQ those are things I think that are really important but really what I want to get to in this segment is the undrafted guys the Pelicans will look to bring in a couple and probably immediately sign one or two of them to a two-way deal they’ve had great success with these two-way contracts in the past we’ve seen it with with um Nai Marshall with Jose Alvarado and others on this team um kenri Williams as well so getting I just lost my computer’s going crazy here getting another one in to kind of build on that I think is something that New Orleans would really like to do and the first guy that really jumps out at me for that kind of position is Antonio Reeves a senior out of Kentucky he’s got good size at about 6’6 and he has has a lot of tools that make you think he can be good in the NBA here he’s older right he’s 30 he’s not definitely not 30 he’s 23 and a half but this is a guy that I think really can do a lot in the NBA and go out and kind of give you a lot of the production that he you want he does not have a lot of the measurables but again highly productive player 44.7% from three 20 points per game he’s a good rebounder he has very good size for a guard I think that’s important too to add another big guard into this team he’s a guy that I’m really really looking at that could be the next two-way success for the New Orleans Pelicans another one is Anton Watson out of Gonzaga forward at 6’8 who was also just a productive player five years in college here last season starting 35 games 14 a half points per game 7. one rebounds 2.6 assists as well he does have some three-point shooting that started to get better though on low volume as he became a senior 41.2% but again productive player that kind of does it all is he kind of that like Swiss army knife nai’s the knife but Swiss army knife kind of player that can fill a variety of roles for you if someone gets injured and he’s on a two-way deal and I definitely think he is the type of guy that can do that sort of thing so two names to keep an eye on the undrafted side of things do any of those names jump out at you is there someone else you want to see them take in the second round or someone that’s kind of projected to be undrafted that you’d like to see the team take a chance on let me know in the comments down below so more draft talk the rest of the week more more just stuff about the Pelicans in general because that’s what we cover here on the lock on Pelicans podcast I’m going to go get ready to watch the NBA Finals now we’ll see if this ends and what lessons we learn from the Boston Celtics the Dallas Mavericks because there’s a lot from this series I think too so I appreciate yall so much for listening to the locked on Pelicans podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day as always I’m your host Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter and I’ll be back with y’all tomorrow

Zion Williamson is primed to have his best season ever next year for the New Orleans Pelicans. Jake Madison explains why Zion will be in shape to start next year with the Pels and how that will make a big difference. Plus, if Zion works on his handle and jumper, along with a better defined offensive role, he could make an All-NBA team. And if the Pels trade for a 2nd round pick in the NBA Draft who should they take? Jake says Jonathan Mogbo, Adem Bona, and Cam Spencer are names to watch.

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