The New Orleans Pelicans saw their entire gameplan for the season upended in the final weeks of the preseason with Zion Williamson’s injury. Forced into a makeover on the fly, the Pelicans were buoyed by the emergence of Brandon Ingram as an All-Star.
The team Williamson returned to in the middle of January is drastically different. On Thursday’s edition of The Woj Pod with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, David Griffin spoke about the differences in the team before Williamson’s injury and after his return.
“We are playing much better. I said at the time of the injury that I thought there would be a silver lining and maybe a blessing in disguise and I think Brandon Ingram’s progression and his ascent to being, what I believe is, an All-Star, having the season he’s had to this point, in large measure, probably happens because of the injury, because we have to rely so much upon him in terms of the offensive load. We were able to work through some things maybe in that way that we wouldn’t have been had he played.
“Now, obviously, I prefer he played. But I think we were in a situation where we got to learn a lot about a lot of guys. Jaxson Hayes played well more than he probably would have and I think we learned that there’s a great future there.”
Griffin would then go on to single out Lonzo Ball as one of the two players most affected by Williamson’s absence.
“Lonzo Ball has been relied upon much more heavily than he probably would have. And Lonzo and I would say Nico Melli were the two guys that probably were harmed the most by Zion’s absence. So, for Zion to come back when Lonzo’s already playing at an incredibly high level, from that standpoint, the pieces lined up pretty well.”
Williamson and Ball are about as perfect an on-court pairing for one another as they come. Both are grab-and-go types of players that thrive in transition play. In the half-court setting, there are few players in the league that would be better pick-and-roll bigs than Williamson.
From a ball-handling perspective, Williamson will be a player that has the ball often, taking it out of Ball’s hands. In the weeks and months of Williamson’s absence, Ball flourished with more responsibilities offensively.
Those opportunities, though, led to Ball playing the best he has in his career. Williamson’s return means an even more dynamic and explosive Pelicans offense in theory, which could work out even better in the long run for Griffin and company.
[lawrence-related id=19935,19927,19921]