The New Orleans Pelicans have dropped five in a row and everyone is frustrated. The team is in the bottom 10 in offense and defense, and part of that is injuries that have hit this team hard with CJ McCollum (collapsed lung), Trey Murphy III (knee), Herbert Jones (leg) and Jose Alvarado (ankle) all out.
Some of that blame spotlight also has hit Zion Williamson, who is averaging 21.6 points a game on 51.5% shooting — good numbers for most players, but career lows for Zion (last season pre-injury he averaged 26 points a game on 60.8% shooting). He said Sunday after another loss that part of that is him trying to fit into the team game and that this is what the team wanted.
Zion: "Last year, we had a team meeting and we brought up some things I can do better, especially with buying into the program. Right now, it's tough. I'm taking a little bit of a backseat right now. Im trusting the process. I'm trying my best to buy in right now."
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) November 13, 2023
There’s a difference between fitting in and reigning yourself in to the point of hurting the team. With all the players sidelined with injuries, the Pelicans could use the Zion who took over games by physically overwhelming everyone.
We haven’t seen that Zion — he’s still been good, but he hasn’t seemed as explosive as in previous years. Maybe that’s him taking a backseat. It’s also been evident the lack of natural chemistry between Zion and Brandon Ingram, it’s not a smooth fit and not having the leadership and playmaking of McCollum hurts (as does not having the shooting of Murphy, who the Pels miss terribly).
If the Pelicans are going to be the top six, maybe top four team they think they are, they can’t have Zion taking a back seat to anybody.
