Some six games into the Zion Williamson era in New Orleans, the no. 1 overall pick has been as advertised. Lost in the shuffle of Super Bowl Sunday was a loss at the hands at the Houston Rockets.
Still, Williamson held his own. The rookie logged 21 points to go alongside 10 rebounds in a tough road environment. Following the game, both head coach Alvin Gentry and Lonzo Ball admit that Williamson just needs more touches.
It's only been a few games, but the 1️⃣-2️⃣ punch is LIVE 😤@Zionwilliamson x @ZO2_ pic.twitter.com/lFOhU6OpmB
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 4, 2020
Here’s how Gentry sees it, knowing that more Zion touches automatically should equal more production.
“Zion can’t go four minutes without touching the basketball, and that’s on me. That’s something that I’ve got to make sure will never happen again. So I take responsibility for that. And if we’re not going to get it to him and we’re not going to execute, then we’ve got to have different people in the game. That’s on me also.”
As evidenced in the above embedded video, Ball and Williamson have a good chemistry going. Therefore at Monday’s Pelicans’ practice, Ball spoke towards the need to feed Zion.
“Once you get it to him, usually good things happen. So we just got to find a way to get him the ball in spots he likes to catch it. Even if we are making shots, [Zion Williamson] should have the ball. He attracts so much attention on that end of the [court], and people are going to help…We got to give him the ball whether we’re making shots or missing shots.”
You know a guy is good when it feels like a day or two off seems like a week in between games. It’s because we can’t wait to see what he will do next.
The good news is, Williamson and the Pelicans host the Milwaukee Bucks in a nationally televised game on TNT at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday night.
Williamson will put his linear streak of production on the line in game number seven of his young career against arguably the NBA’s best team. While many talk of the Pelicans in a playoff hunt, it mostly seems like hopeful thinking at this point. They will need quite a run to leapfrog several teams and grab the final 8th seed in a tough Western conference.
