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Jul 21, 2020, 03:33pm EDT |
New Orleans Pelicans Giving Zion Williamson Privacy, Still Hope To Achieve Playoff Goals
Christopher Dodson
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - MARCH 06: Zion Williamson #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans reacts against the ... [+] Miami Heat during a game at the Smoothie King Center on March 06, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Zion Williamson left the NBA's Disney Orlando campus to attend to an urgent family medical emergency on July 16. With the sporting world watching how teams treat players and social events more critically than ever, the Pelicans are handling this situation delicately. As a team, the New Orleans Pelicans are giving Williamson the privacy, time, and space he needs to attend to this urgent family matter. As a playing family, the locker room has expressed their feelings and shown their respect publically and privately.
Fans and NBA executives alike were somewhat anxious to see Williamson when games resumed. As soon as the news broke, quarantine protocols and their applications were viewed through a Zion Williamson-sized lense. The most widespread report from Shams Charania led with mentions of cramps. Speculation and conspiracy theories dotted NBA Twitter. This did not go unnoticed, and the team has had little motivation or desire to speak since the initial press release.
All of the NBA players are sore to certain degrees, coming off such a long hiatus in play. The official press release from the New Orleans Pelicans that Thursday stated only,: Zion Williamson departed Orlando this morning to attend to an urgent family medical matter. He intends to rejoin the team in Orlando for the NBA restart at a later date. "We fully support Zion's decision to leave the NBA campus to be with his family. Out of respect for the Williamson family, we will have no further comment at this time," said Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin.
The most positive line in that statement concerns Williamson returning to the Orlando campus. While he will miss one if not all of the scrimmage games, he can still help the Pelicans push for a playoff spot. Even if he is not cleared to play against the Utah Jazz or LA Clippers, there are several reasons to move forward with plans to have Williamson play significant minutes in the last six games.
New Orleans only needs to keep pace with the Memphis Grizzlies and win one more game than the Portland Trail Blazers to force a play-in playoff situation. As a team that is a very attainable goal, even if Williamson needs to miss some games for family matters.
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Also, Williamson only played 19 regular-season games. Should he return for all eight seeding games, win two play-in games against Memphis, then force a seven-game series against the Los Angeles Lakers, he would practically double his professional sample size with the Pelicans. That developmental time is well worth the effort should Williamson want to return to his playing family in the locker room. The front office and coaching staff would like to have those on-court data points. The Orlando campus environment also provides a unique opportunity for the young core to build off-court chemistry.
When asked if he had spoken with the star rookie, Gentry said, "I have not. I wish him the best though." He elaborated during the next day's media session, "I have not talked to him. No. I have not been in contact with him, and I don't have any information other than that. I'm not real sure exactly what the status is right now, but I'm sure as soon as we get information, we'll let you guys know."
He added, "Obviously we're just very supportive of him, his family, and their privacy. But as far as the impact on our team, we played 44 games without him, and we have a tough stretch in there but there was a stretch where we won 12 out of 16 without him so obviously he's a great player that we would miss but one thing we've always talked about is next man up, we're a good team, we're a deep team, so we'll have guys who will step in and play and lift their game, but right now we're not concerned about basketball for him, we're concerned about his family."
While it is appropriate to give Williamson space, he is getting those well-wishes from his teammates. JJ Redick, Jahlil Okafor, and Josh Hart have been on record about their support of the young rookie. Redick brought his podcast equipment to Orlando and told his story about communicating with Williamson this past week.
"I reached out to Zion and I told him we're going to do our best to hold it down for him until he gets back, whenever that is. ... As a teammate, he is a family member, so we will do our best to keep this thing rolling. Whatever is going on, we want the best for him. I feel awful for him because so much of this season has been a rollercoaster for him and it seemed like he was in such a good place so, hopefully, we get him back soon."
Jrue Holiday echoed the same sentiments. "As much as it hurts to say, we've done it before. We've done it where he's been out for a little bit this season. We're obviously excited to have him out there on the court, but with him gone and taking care of his family, we're holding down the fort for him. He's our brother and he needs to take care of his family, take care of his business, but this is nothing new. I feel like we talk about it all the time, the obstacles that we go through during the season. Even this season, just how crazy it's been, it's just another obstacle that we have to get through as a team."
Zylan Cheatham showed his respect for Williamson's on the court game. After practice, Cheatham described his approach to defending Williamson and how that process suggest Williamson really can exceed the expectations and outplay the outlandish hype. He is that good on the court.
Cheatham told the media, "Well it's really never a one-man job, especially when it comes to players who impact the game as he does. It's a constant guessing game. You're trying to guess right because if you don't it might be detrimental. I just try to approach every practice, any time I'm matched up with him, as I'm guarding somebody who's going to exploit any mismatch. He is going to exploit any mistake I make. I just try to make things tough for him, try to limit what he wants to do, and make him do something he doesn't want to. Guarding any great player, they're going to – they get paid to do what they do, you know what I mean? So it's kind of hard to take him out of what he wants to do, but you've just got to try and I think I did a pretty good job."
The only way to properly evaluate this team is with Williamson in the lineup. However, that is not the most important short term goal. There are too many more important things happening in Williamson's individual life and in our communities around the country to press Williamson back into action.
Hiring Aaron Nelson was just one signal that this organization cares about the well-being of the players. Players are taking notice of organizational actions with more scrutiny than ever before. The New Orleans Pelicans are again showing high class from a small market, following Jrue Holiday's well-documented family emergency. From an organizational standpoint, it seems being respected off the court as a franchise is more important than chasing dreams at Disney.
As it should. When it comes to players representing the team, and the team representing the city, these actions get noticed and help grow the bonds that build a great relationship with all parties involved, from the fan in the upper deck to the future Hall of Famer facing a family crisis. It has been a season of false starts and high hopes for Williamson and the Pelicans, but these actions supporting Williamson show the true foundational building blocks that David Griffin was talking about during media day last summer.