The New Orleans Pelicans Need More POINT ZION | JJ Redick Breakdown

The New Orleans Pelicans Need More POINT ZION | JJ Redick Breakdown

I I think what really gets me excited about the New Orleans Pelicans with the way they’re playing right now is point Zion that’s what gets me excited the pels they’ve won seven of eight going into the All-Star break they’re essentially tied with Phoenix for fifth um same record as Phoenix they’re right

There in the mix um Point Zion so over the last nine games and Zion has played in seven of those over the last nine games when Zion brings the ball up the floor the Pelicans are averaging 1.44 points per possession that’s pretty good I think back to my last year in the

NBA when we had Stan Van Gundy and about a month into the season we just realized hey our best offense is for Zion to bring the ball up and either a big to screen for him or me to screen for him you know you use a shooter as a screener

Form you use a big so there’s do there doing a bunch of things and the one point I want to make before I get into what they’re doing with Zion at the point is I want to bring up the spacing because I think the spacing with Zion

When he’s in the corner or when Zion’s in the dunker spot is very different because let’s just be honest Zion’s not a very active off-ball player right that’s just not he thrives with the ball in his hands when he can attack he’s not a high energy off ball guy so when he’s

Off the ball in those positions you’ve essentially got a defender in the restricted area so it kind of with their spacing and I’m going to get into how that is different when Zion is up top but here’s some of the things that they’re doing first of all in transition

Every time he gets a defensive rebound he’s breaking it out and he’s attacking when I watch all the clips over the last nine games of him getting a defensive rebound and pushing the basketball first of all the way he’s moving this is like the Zion we all envisioned there is a

Burst there is a pop to the way he’s pushing the basketball there’s an energy to it right it reminds me of Giannis it reminds me of LeBron it reminds me of Ben Simmons in Philadelphia like it is a weapon and he has completely weaponized his athleticism and skill set in

Transition when he gets a defensive rebound of course he’s putting pressure on the rim and scoring at The Rim sometimes too when he gets these defensive rebounds He he’ll have a guard you know having to pick him up because he gets the ball and he’s pushing so hard that there’s mismatches he’ll spray

It out to their Shooters uh in transition the other thing they’re doing in the half court is they’re running a lot of empty side pick and roll on the right side and it’s primarily with with valent chunis and what’s really interesting about about this action as it relates to Zion specifically and it

Reminds me a little bit of Ben Simmons because he used to do this too you bring the ball up and you go to that empty side pick and roll what is Zion’s Defender doing he’s not pressuring him at the three-point line he’s essentially hanging back and he’s at like 12 to 15

Feet so when valent chunis sets that screen it is so low whether they switch or don’t switch he’s got one dribble and he’s in the paint now unlike Ben who I think is better playing off of One Foot Right Ben is a one foot jumper one foot

Finisher Zion off of two feet can just get in the paint create contact and Elevate right over and we’ve seen that time and time again so that’s a great action the other thing they’ll do is he’ll just bring it down the right side and he’ll post and with the way the

Pelicans have constructed this rock roster they can go to these basically shooting lineups and you’ve got CJ McCollum as the next guy you’ve got Trey Murphy as the next guy and he’ll spray it out three-pointer all right they’ll also run some high pick and rolls they’

Run it with some bigs I’ve seen a few actions with Larry n but what I love and I brought it up earlier is the ghost screen with the shooter so uh they’ve run it with niji Marshall Zion turns the corner gets a dunk they’ll run it with

Trey Murphy he’ll slip out of there Trey Murphy will get a three um and the last point which is why I think it’s so important it goes back to the spacing Point Zion will bring the ball up in the half court they’ll run an Iverson cut

Just a little over the top screen for bi to catch at the elbow and a lot of times they get into that pick and roll low pick and roll at the elbow with valent chunis what the defense does then if they’re goingon to help off of Zion he’s

Essentially got a stampede so if you help off of him in that position he’s got a stampede from the slot and can attack the rim again I I I hate bringing up the Ben Simmons thinks I played with Ben for two years you know how many

Times in floppy action I would catch the ball coming off the screen the help wouldn’t come from the big the help would come from Ben’s man at the nail and it’s a quick swing and Ben just right down the lane layup right down the lane dunk

So the point about Zion and where he’s at on the floor when he doesn’t have the ball their offense to me functions better overall with him as the primary ball handler it just does pulled it up as you were talking 1.3 points per possession though Indy Zion pick and

Roll since the beginning of February which would also appear to be a very good number but like you mentioned the go screens with the wings like I love they’re setting some of these flat and when they mix in some off Ball action there you can’t load up the way you want

To and Zion whether he’s at the peak of his form or working his way towards that he’s always been very good at navigating tight quarters and at least getting shots up at The Rim so the fact that they are also mixed against okay how about you lift right here or you cut

Through while we’re trying to get to this it just makes it so much harder to Build That Wall to even stop Zion and try to force him into some of those offensive fouls he’s having a lot of fun getting downhill uh they are nine and one when Zion Brandon Ingram and CJ

McCullum all have five plus assists oh I love that I love that do you think do you think guys do you think that there has been I feel like the hierarchy and I’ve touched on this a couple times but I feel like the hierarchy at times with them has been a

Little clunky about who’s going to be the high usage guy who’s going to be the primary playmaker who’s going to have the ball in his hands more Zion kind of touched on this earlier in the season where he said look you know they’re they’re asking me to play a little bit

Differently you know I’m trying to fit in like how many times do you talk about a max player and he’s like yeah I’m trying to fit in so it it it it hasn’t been like the smoothest thing with those three guys but I feel like in this

Stretch it’s like clear right and I think by by having Zion at times as the primary Handler well it takes some of that burden off of CJ Brandon then can just be halfcourt set we’re gonna we’re going to run a play for you and his you know ability to score and also read

Defenses and make plays with the shooting around them their eighth overall uh for the season in three-point shooting and and really truly that’s that’s without Brandon Ingram or Trey Murphy having a great shooting season both those guys about League average at about 36% Trey Murphy of course missed

Uh the beginning of the season coming off of offseason knee surgery to me their offense can be even better and I think they’re 12th yeah they’re 12th overall offensively seventh in defense um Dyson Daniels be out a while but uh this team again when whole is very intriguing when we talk about

The playoffs because of their ability to run different lineups switching lineups drop lineups shooting lineups uh Mash L you know big lineups Mash lineups what I call them but I I I just there’s there’s something there with this team and the thing that gets me excited again is this

Point Zion just to the hierarchy point I think you only feel that in the clutch at least for me I think the flow is there the base they’ve tried to work through offensively to where we can play with Tempo everyone get a dribble handoff we can play through JV get to

The second side that stuff is built throughout the year but when it gets tight I think that’s when you start to see okay what are we looking for what’s our go-to action what are we searching for how are we using CJ how we using Zion who takes what that’s the only

Moment that I really feel

In this clip, JJ Redick explains the benefits the New Orleans Pelicans see in their offense when they use Zion Williamson in more of a point guard role, the effects it has on Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Jonas Valančiūnas, Trey Murphy, and more, and why the Pelicans should continue to keep the ball in Zion’s hands.

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