Pelicans’ Zion Williamson changing public perception after early season backlash

ESPN First Take’s Jay Williams and Kendrick Perkins went with the hard knocks cultural references.

“I think Zion can take (the Pelicans) to the Western Conference Finals. He is like Mike Tyson fighting in the phone booth. That’s the way he carves up your body,” claimed Williams. “You think about the way Herb Jones plays, Trey Murphy III, (Brandon Ingram) when he comes back. This team has the makings of a team that could get there. Granted, the road is difficult but the one thing I see from (Williamson) is, after all the stuff that has happened this year, the In-Season Tournament, the jokes about his weight, whenever you talk to anybody in that organization, he is doing what he has to do.”

“It feels like he is falling back in love with the game from a work perspective,” Williams continued. “To me, that’s scary hour Zion. That’s a team that can go far.”

“(Williamson) took a charge late in the game against Giannis,” Kendrick Perkins noted. “The emotion that he showed, I said, ‘he is in a great place.'”

Even the normally negative Skip Bayless at Fox Sports had to give a downright chipper take on Williamson, though the crass analyst did slip in some out-of-place, tone-deaf, and over-estimated weight barbs.

“Before that (2019) draft I was all Zion over Ja Morant…because he is just bigger. He is a wrecking ball of a human being. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like how he can attack the rim unstoppably (sic). He is just a force of nature. It took a long time but he is starting to show that maybe he is a little more valuable than Ja…I’ll take 6’6” and, he used to be 330 (pounds), but now he is 300. He can carry 300. It looks right.”

“The Pelicans are going north,” Bayless continued. “They are 10-3 in their last 13 and haven’t even had (Brandon Ingram). A lot of this is about Zion. Last night (vs. the Bucks) was all about Zion because he was the force. Nobody has ever been able to score the basketball at the efficient rate that (Williamson) can. Every year he is around 60% and well, nobody makes 60% of their shots but he can. You can’t keep him from the rim…He can attack with a physicality we’ve never seen.”

Pelicans’ sleight of hand defense helping Zion Williamson

While everyone was watching Williamson on offense, Willie Green was deploying a new defensive tactic against the Bucks. Going to a zone defense against certain lineups lets Herb Jones rest a bit and allows Williamson to play some center-field defense like he did at Duke.

Green credited the team’s zone defense for stemming the tide versus the Bucks.

“It’s helping us big time,” Green said. “It allows us to not be in as many rotations. (Opponents) can’t seek out matchups and it’s kind of throwing teams off the rhythm…(The defense) was better. It was better tonight (vs. Milwaukee) than it was [against] OKC. And that’s the goal for us, to continue to recognize that this is an area of improvement. We try to be honest with each other watching the tape, getting on the floor, and continuing to work at it. Tonight was a great carryover.”

Zion Williamson has been carrying the team to one of the best seasons in franchise history since then but is also spreading the love. The 23-year-old has become a do-it-all dynamo since the NBA In-Season Tournament disappointment. The Pelicans are 19-7 since a road loss to the Boston Celtics back on January 29. Williamson led the team in scoring in 11 of those games, rebounding six times, and assists eight times during that stretch.

The team’s franchise cornerstone is starting to play up to that billing. Williamson is averaging 26.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game since that January 29 loss in Boston. Coincidentally, the Celtics are up next on the schedule and they’ve lost two straight games to the Atlanta Hawks. Still, Williamson can continue quieting the negative narrative with another highlight performance against the Eastern Conference champions.