Zion Williamson

That's like a 100%, [laughs] like 10 times out of 10.

Every time Zion Williamson or Anthony Davis goes into a press conference and says, "You know what? I, it's been a rough couple of years with injuries, but my body, body finally feels right," their body never feels right.

So I'll believe it when I see it from Paul George.

Mitchell Robinson was their other big swing addition.

They were one of the worst teams in the NBA last year.

The fit isn't great with their young players and Zion Williamson.

But next year, I mean, when you look at this roster, do you f- do you feel like Tiago Splitter in Chicago, do you have more faith in them going into next year? Do you like Brooklyn? Do you...

I don't like Brooklyn and Sacramento's chances of making the leap.

So New Orleans, by default, Western Conference, there's gonna be more transition at the bottom half of the playoff field.

Uh, I'm going New Orleans.

[laughs] As you said, Tom, I'm concerned about the fact that Zion Williamson plays 62 games and they win 26 games-

Yeah

League-winning plays.

Zion Williamson at 7-2.

That's better for Zion.

Oh my God.

There's nothing wrong with that.

Would they leave a guy like DeJounte Murray or Zion Williamson unprotected? And if they had more bodies that they had to keep, I could see those situations coming up.

In a conversation that comes down to, you know, Carlo Matkovic or, or DeJounte Murray who you want on your roster, like, there's not much question there.

So is there a possibility that they would leave one of these higher profile, higher priced guys, uh, open to hopefully clear their books? Possibly.

Might as well take a flyer if you're the Clippers.

All right, so how are you feeling about your team overall? You have Cooper Flagg, Alperin Shangoon, Devin Booker, Jalen Duren, Ivica Zubac, DeJounte Murray, Damia Lillard, Zion Williamson, you went safe in round eight.

Come on, Malawach, CJ McCollum, Jalen Green, DeMar DeRozan, Yaxa Lendeborg, and Quinton

Grimes.

This is not asking Mosley to fix players.

This is not asking Jamal Mosley to turn Zion Williamson into a Herb Jones-level player.

The Pelicans are essentially betting on team defense being easier to raise than individual defensive talent.

You even saw this a little bit under head coach Willie Green.

For a lot of teams, it's we take away the rim and we'll give up anything else.

For some teams, it's like we're not going to let you shoot threes against us.

It depends on what your personnel is and what you value, right? Everything I just said there, none of that requires Zion Williamson becoming Herb Jones, and that's why coaching matters, right? And I know with this episode, if you know, you know, 504, you're already screaming it.

You're probably typing it.

But he was ranked as, like, the 8th best power forward by Hoopsype.

And, like, Zion Williamson and Jalen Johnson and all these other guys are, like, ranked above him.

Paulo Bonqueiro.

And I'm like...

It was not a big sample last year in terms of what we saw from Ja Morant It was just 20 games, but it was so much worse than anything he's been in his career.

And he's a player that to me, like Zion Williamson, so built on athleticism and explosion that I worry like once the rim finishing goes, what the game looks like.

And that's kind of what happened with jaw a little bit last year is like the ability to get to the rim and finish at the rim was not as consistent as it had been in previous years.

And then the jump shot had its normal problems, like more exacerbated, but he's a career 31% shooter from three.