Zion Williamson decided, through his career trajectory, to send a message to basketball fans around the world: learn to enjoy the present moment. Carpe Diemtells us the star of New-Orleans Pelicans, who last season once again splashed the floors with his talent, 30 games, before missing the rest of the season. Back in business, he is therefore inevitably the center of attention.
Since we now know that we should not take his presence for granted, every match counts. If the charm due to his presence remains intact, it is nevertheless accompanied by multiple frustrations regarding the profiles that surround him, the choices made by David Griffin and the obvious lack of optimization of his qualities.
However, I am not offering you an exhaustive review of the Pels, but rather to discuss an element that has been bothering me for several seasons: could we not finally test, rid Willliamson of the company of the other interiors ?
The idea here is not really to say that this proposal would create the ideal situation for the interior, but rather to improve it taking into account the context of the team. Indeed, if the franchise had an elite hoop defender, capable of being an outside threat on offense, then the question would not be asked. These profiles are nevertheless very popular and rare, so they are necessarily difficult to find or very expensive (in terms of salary or assets). As such, wouldn’t the best choice for the Pelicans be to convert difficulty into opportunity?
Without further ado, I invite you to discuss why and what this would mean for New Orleans.
Zion and the pivots, a… mixed result?
Since the start of his career, Zion has seen various pivots come and go, but 2 have shared the starting role alongside him: Steven Adams et Jonas Valančiūnas.
In these two players, the franchise has clumsily tried to optimize its young star. The first was supposed to contribute above all to limiting defensive weaknesses from within. Sometimes little concerned in defense, certainly possessing exceptional athletic qualities, but not the circle protection of a pivot, the franchise therefore thought to complete Zion.
However, Steven Adams was also the greatest anti-Zion weapon delivered directly to his adversaries. Pivot frustrated offensively, contributing almost exclusively near the circle, Adams contracted defenses near the racket allowing him to limit the strong winger’s main strength: drives and finishing at the circle.
As a result, during the period spent together, the Pelicans were generally less good when the two interiors were associated than when they played separately. If for once it is not customary, representative sampling is a difficulty with Zion, the fact remains that the result seems clear to me:
The association gave something unexpected. Certainly the team was good offensively, notably thanks to their domination of the rebound, but the duo proved unusable in defense, without optimizing Zion’s game. As a result, the Pels worked better when they were separated, inevitably leading to an exchange of Adams to Memphis for Jonas Valanciunas.
This time, the team thought they had a good offensive complement. Valanciunas can play high post and has a very viable short and mid-range shot, and even an embryonic 3-point shot that could develop. However, when the duo seemed possibly viable offensively, the defensive pair seemed… anachronistic. Once again, however, identical problems arise: the defenses will tend to abandon the pivot to complicate the life of the colossus.
If the latter is strong enough to finish even when several players come between him and the circle, like recently against the Knicks:
…Still, this seems to be an obvious limit.
Example earlier in the same match.
Valanciunas serves Zion on the move, and dives towards the circle to play a possible rebound. Result, the Knicks switch and Mitchell Robinson, a good circle protector, will find himself facing Williamson. It is therefore the opposite of Valanciunas who against the strong winger. Since Valanciunas started on his left, Williamson’s trajectory is all the easier to anticipate as he can ultimately only attack with his right hand.
So, unsurprisingly, the association between the two interiors has not been a great success since his arrival, and the Pelicans are inevitably much more dangerous when Zion plays without the Lithuanian, than with…:
The result is even more spectacular than with Adams. We took all the minutes from behind the Lithuanian in New Orleans and this time, the team has a net rating of +9.3 when Zion plays without Valanciunas.
To locate performance levels:
118.5 offensive rating corresponded to the 3rd NBA attack last season 109.2 defensive rating corresponded to the 10th NBA defense last season
While the sample is again too small to consider it a perfect representation, it gives an interesting indication. Especially since history repeats itself with other pivots lined up alongside him, including the very doubtful Jaxson Hayes.
Have the Pelicans tested yet?
In fact, if the previous section is correct, the Pelicans must have already tried playing Zion without a pivot, right?
Well, we can say yes. Unfortunately, this represents between 5 and 10% of his time on the floor depending on the season (selon Cleaning The Glass). And since you followed closely, you can imagine that this represents very, very few minutes. In other words, a few possessions in a game or an occasional isolated game. Nothing to learn from.
In fact, before going to watch some sequences, what are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of such an experiment?
Potential Benefits of a Zion Williamson Pivot
Zion is the very definition of mismatch. Too mobile for strong players and slower, much too strong for more mobile players, the only solution is to defend collectively to provide a curtain capable of containing it.
Assembling a group composed solely of guards, wingers or interiors who are mobile and capable of shooting opens up the field of possibilities. If your team can grow in 5-out, this optimizes the space of the latter to operate and cut up the defense. In doing so, it is a dilemma for the opponent: leave most of the responsibilities to his defender, which risks allowing Zion to obtain a lot of easy points, OR, send assists but take the risk of letting an open shooter or missing a cut from a teammate.
Since Williamson is both a very convincing creator in addition to being an efficient scorer, this would significantly increase the team’s offensive ceiling. Here is a sequence against the Thunder where he played as a pivot, surrounded by backs and wingers.
Several things stand out:
The gravity of Zion who occupies the attention of 2 defenders just by occupying the racket A stalemate made on Herb Jones before Zion has even touched the ball The defense which is in fact extremely stretched (probably too much, moreover)
So, as soon as he gets the ball, Jalen Williams needs help, opening 2 shooters (Dyson Daniels & Herb Jones), Zion chooses the simplest pass (and the most reliable shooter). From the next action, the defense offers an open shot as soon as the Zion threat presents itself:
In addition, a Zion in pivot offers the possibility of playing at a very high PACE, of making a lot of progress on the game in transition, all without theoretically losing to the offensive rebound in which he excels. The Pelicans would also offer themselves the possibility of increasing mismatches. Indeed, the team could reverse pick & roll with backs who come to play screen setters, obtaining either a switch very favorable, an additional advantage for Zion in the attack on the basket.
In other words, provide him with athletic wingers, capable of punishing from 3 points and you can aim for an offensive rating at the heights of the league.
Potential downsides of a Zion Williamson pivot
Of course, any advantage usually comes with its share of disadvantages.
Immediately, we can think that the team would be penalized defensively. L’absence of a circle protector represents an obvious risk, as does the absence of a large secure the defensive rebound. We can also imagine that certain match-ups against teams who rely on pivots as the spearhead of their attacks will necessarily be more difficult. Finally, it is also entirely possible that this represents a excess energy for him on both ends of the field. Whether it’s because he becomes the main screen setter for the Pelicans or on defense where he will have to fill more gaps as a last line of defense.
These reserves are natural and could well prove problematic.
However, we can offer ourselves some perspectives.
First of all, rim protection is ultimately already a weakness for the Pelicans. Last year, the Pels were the team that allowed the highest shooting percentage at the rim (68.5%!) in the league. In fact, if they would not necessarily solve the problem, can we create a difficulty that we already have? The risk is certainly to make it worse, but at the same time, we notice that the Pels’ defense has always been better when Zion is associated with more mobile defenders (example: Larry Nance Jr).
The rebound then may be padlocked by the presence of pivots, it nevertheless remains a collective effort. With good work on the box-outthe undeniable athletic qualities of the young Pelicans players, the team could hold its place in this area, without being all-risk insurance.
Finally, regarding difficult match-ups, after all, isn’t the problem universal, when you face Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antetkoumpo?
But then, good or bad idea?
Ultimately, it is impossible to obtain an answer without testing it over a long period of time. On paper, the Pelicans have multiple weaknesses in their construction. Brandon Ingram is not a good profile alongside Zion, certain players take up space even though they are not essential, the pivots follow one another and all are out of step with what the team needs around Williamson, and, at the same time, to their credit, the franchise evolves more often without than with its interior.
That being said, the experience seems to me to have many more advantages (besides the fun and experimental aspect) in its favor, than real downsides which would make it obsolete by nature.
Offensively, it’s a safe bet that the result would be explosive and the rare sequences observed in these conditions lean towards an increase in open shots, as Zion’s gravity is phenomenal. Defensively, it’s hard not to see a very demanding role model for Zion and his teammates. However, it would seem erroneous to think that the evaluation of this model is reduced to “better in attack”, “worse in defense” and therefore, a neutral result.
The success of a model depends on the balance between contributions and losses.
In this case, if the team makes so much progress on one side of the field that the loss on the other is negligible, then the question no longer arises.
Regardless, the Valanciunas experiment, like the Adams experiment before it, is already leaning toward failure. For this alone, it would be interesting to see coaching staff and GM mobilize to find a way out of this situation, the solution to which – in the current context – is perhaps already before their eyes.
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2023-11-04 15:36:54
#finally #rid #Zion #interiors
