When the New Orleans Pelicans selected Zion Williamson with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, a long-suffering fan base was elated.
The Pelicans were knee-deep in an Anthony Davis trade request and were looking to start over, this time with another top prospect, like in 2012, when Davis was the clear-cut No. 1 prospect.
The organization was pivoting toward a player who gained fame for his immense athleticism, showcasing high-flying acts in high school, to the point where he was a YouTube sensation when he was just 16 years old.
Williamson also had the game to back up the expectations. During his lone season at Duke, the 6-foot-6 power forward dazzled fans and scouts with hard-hitting play, high-level production and a balancing act between being the most entertaining player on the court and the best.
By all indications, it was an easy decision to take Zion to the No. 1 spot. The weight issues could be managed and the lack of jump shot could be rectified. At least, that was the thought.
Fast forward to 2024, two things stand out.
First, Williamson was able to translate his high school and college production to the NBA level, becoming an All-Star and a perfect offensive weapon for the Pelicans.
Second, building around it has proven enormously difficult, to the point that one wonders if there will ever be a way to do it effectively.
Williamson is an undersized power forward who is neither a great shooter nor a great rebounder and struggles to stay healthy.
What he does well, like press the rim, run the floor and convert inside, he does at elite levels. His career average of 24.6 points on 58.8% shooting doesn’t come out of nowhere.
The contrast between what he can do and what he can’t is so stark that it’s difficult to cement a permanent baseline for his game. That contrast also makes it nearly impossible to build a roster around him.
Some may point to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who isn’t exactly different than Williamson when it comes to the shooting department. A notoriously shaky shooter, Antetokounmpo also relies heavily on athleticism and rim pressure. Why can’t Williamson have a similar impact?
The answer is twofold.
One, Antetokounmpo has positional size. He is 7 feet tall, which allows him to play in the center, and quite a bit.
Secondly, the difference in rebounding and defensive impact is night and day compared to Zion. Antetokounmpo is one of the best defenders in the league, particularly when moving freely, and has been one of the best rebounders for years.
It may be tempting to draw parallels; However, Antetokounmpo simply does not need to overcome as many challenges as Williamson.
The Pelicans have played Williamson at center and, yes, he has actually improved defensively as he transforms from an exciting prospect to an NBA veteran. Unfortunately, neither element has made enough of a dent for him to be justifiably catapulted into the conversation of being the best player in the league.
Essentially, it is almost impossible to build around your archetype. Despite his vast talents (and they are vast), the 24-year-old needs extremely specific weapons around him, on both sides of the court, to become the best version of himself.
In today’s NBA, you can’t play with a bunch of centers standing just 6-6, no matter how high you can jump, unless you’re one of the best defenders of your generation, like Draymond Green. And you can argue that Green is perhaps the only player in the league who can get away with it.
For Williamson, this means there is an immediate need to play with the four and be paired with a bigger player in the attacking zone.
Sounds easy enough, right? Rookie Yves Missi looks good, which means problem solved!
Except not entirely.
Williamson is not a floor spacer, and in today’s NBA, you can’t justify having two players on the court at the same time who can’t shoot the ball. Therefore, the aforementioned center will also have to be a spacer space. That complicates matters, since Raef LaFrentz has long since retired.
The desired center would also have to be a strong rebounder with defensive skills.
And of course, if Williamson wants to fully optimize, he needs that center to be able to catch lobs and take on a creator, as Williamson is a perfectly capable playmaker who needs the ball in his hands.
So, to fully optimize the flashy star that is Zion, the Pelicans need a center who can defend and rebound at a high level, while also having the ability to space the floor and act as a rim-running lob threat.
That basically fits the description of Victor Wembanyama who, uh… let’s just say, is probably not available in trade talks.
As for the other three positions on the court, the Pelicans need to shoot a lot. To adopt Williamson’s style of play – it’s all about pace, aggression and making decisions on the fly – it is absolutely crucial that he is constantly flanked by elite shooters who can put up significant volume.
Fortunately, that’s much more achievable. At least, it would be if the buck stopped there.
Those same players will need some defensive skill and size to offset Williamson’s disadvantages.
Even if those players are acquired somehow, things now become a salary cap issue.
While there are 3&D players with positional size in the league, they are expensive. You won’t be signing OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges to romantic deals. Anunoby signed for more than $212 million this summer, and there’s a good chance he won’t even touch All-Star honors. Bridges will also seek an agreement at a similar salary level in the future.
The Pelicans have Herb Jones and Trey Murphy, who are committed to team-friendly deals, but questions remain about whether Jones can maintain the shot he showed last year, just as the Pelicans might need to see more of Murphy’s defense before that he can become your version of, say, Anunoby.
Finally, you need a true playmaker at guard to not overwhelm Williamson’s playmaking. This is where the acquisition of Dejounte Murray hit the mark. He’s exactly the type of player the Pelicans need to balance the offensive load.
Considering all this, it’s hard not to congratulate executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin for giving it his all. He’s really tried to build a roster around Williamson’s strengths and weaknesses, albeit within a realistic framework as he has to take the salary cap into account.
The long list of skills needed from players not named Zion Williamson is enormous and could ultimately be too much for Griffin to realize. And therein lies the problem.
As good as Williamson is, and let’s not pretend otherwise, the details surrounding him are so unique that there is no previous model to draw inspiration from.
Williamson’s best comparison, Charles Barkley, was drafted 35 years before Zion. The league was different. It seemed different. He played different. The talent was different.
Even if Griffin can draw some inspiration from how the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns were built around Barkley, it’s minimal and not particularly applicable to today’s league.
But even if Griffin could find a way, and even if he found that magical center with all those aforementioned talents, one last area of concern looms large: availability. You knew it would come.
Williamson, for a variety of reasons, simply hasn’t been durable during his NBA career, having played in just 189 games over his six-year career and missing three games already this season. So even with an optimal environment, there is the problem of building a team around a star who is likely to miss a fair amount of time each season.
And, as most can deduce, if the vehicle’s engine is missing, the car will not run.
This is not an attempt to convince Pelicans fans that Williamson needs to be traded. At least not necessarily.
Accepting his upside is completely reasonable, especially since no one on the roster comes close to having a similar impact when healthy. Even with the difficulties of building around him, Williamson is elite. He is one of the most dangerous fast break players in all of basketball. His touch around the rim is downright outrageous and will overwhelm 90% of the league from an athletic and strength perspective.
He is the power forward version of the excellent Russell Westbrook. Relentless, overwhelming, coordinated and absolutely fearless.
Unless the Pelicans find a player who offers anything that can come close to what Williamson offers, rolling the dice on the former Duke star is a completely sensible strategy.
Because, let’s face it, Brandon Ingram doesn’t have the same advantages, no matter how much freedom he has. Neither does Murray, for all his abilities. Jones, Murphy, Missi and CJ McCollum are also at lower levels.
Everything is justifiable. At least until the day comes when the Pelicans have someone on their roster who can compete for the crown. When that day comes, just as it did in Minnesota when Anthony Edwards outplayed Karl-Anthony Towns, the Pelicans must be prepared to make some bold decisions.
But until then, they will have to continue navigating the waters of frustration, forever immersed in the search for a roster optimized for Zion Williamson.