David Griffin didn’t need to wait for a question at his media availability on Friday afternoon. Everyone, himself included, knew what the questions would be about.
The Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations offered a lengthy explanation for Zion Williamson’s seemingly extreme minutes restriction in Thursday’s loss to the Jazz, the first official game to take place in the NBA’s bubble in Orlando, and offered an apology for not explaining the situation before the game.
Williamson played just 15 minutes for the Pelicans, all of those coming in “bursts,” as the team described them, to open each quarter. He made a large impact on the game, scoring 13 points in his limited time. But as his team watched their lead slip away down the stretch, he was left watching from the bench.
Griffin explained the plan the team’s medical staff had devised for every play in order to have each individual player peaking by the start of seeding games. With Williamson missing the better part of two weeks of practice after leaving the bubble to tend to a family emergency, his individual plan was reset, leading to Thursday’s contest when his minutes were strictly limited.
“Unfortunately because of the situation with his family, he was called away and it was a very legitimate reason to leave,” Griffin told reporters on Friday. “But unfortunately, he’s 13 days removed from the group in terms of following that plan after not playing basketball for what amounts to four months. So, I appreciate the fact that everybody wants him to play 40 minutes tomorrow night. I can promise you he’s not going to. No mistakes were made yesterday relative to how this was handled other than by me by not coming forward and just expressing this in the clearest way possible. This isn’t complicated.
“Again, he will not play significant minutes in the next game and he may not in the following game, quite frankly. This is all about the ramp-up time. He didn’t get the benefit of any of the things that his teammates got for those 13 days. Again, this is going to take some time. I think it’s going to take time for him. He mentioned his flow and rhythm and it’s going to take time for him to find that.”
Immediate comparisons were drawn to Williamson’s debut, which also featured a heavy minutes restriction. In that instance, the Pelicans remained particularly cautious with their rookie after a knee surgery delayed his first game on the court by three months.
Griffin was certain to point out, though, that Thursday’s minutes restrictions had nothing to do with Williamson’s injuries in the past year but would be standard protocol for any player on the team that missed nearly two weeks inside the bubble.
“Literally, any player on our roster that went through exactly what he went through would be in the same protocol because they missed all of the ramp-up time,” he said. “This has nothing to do with him being unique in that way. Now obviously, the athlete that he is, the size that he is, the force and torque that he generates changes the nature of the dynamic because it’s him but it doesn’t change that any player would go through this exact same protocol and this return-to-play mechanism.”
Frustrations were aplenty after Thursday’s loss. Williamson admitted his irritation with being forced to sit on the bench and watch his team falter down the stretch. Head coach Alvin Gentry wasn’t as forthright about it but opted to direct any questions regarding Williamson’s minutes to the medical staff after answer his first question on the manner.
On Friday, he was expectedly more relaxed as he explained the process the team goes through to set Williamson’s minutes limits.
“We sit down as a group along with (Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David) Griffin and (Vice President of Player Care & Performance) Aaron (Nelson) and we talk about it as to how it’s going to look as far as him playing,” he said, “and we come to an understanding that this is the best right for him from the standpoint of the bursts he would have and that’s the way we try to play him.”
Suggestions that Williamson’s “bursts” of minutes come at the end of quarters to allow him to close the game were shot down by Griffin, who noted the medical staffs concerns with allowing Williamson to get cold on the bench after pre-game and half-time warmups in lieu of starting the quarters immediately after getting loose.
Thursday’s loss for the Pelicans to 11th in the Western Conference standings, four games back of Memphis in the eighth seed. New Orleans must only reach the ninth seed and be four games back or fewer to force a play-in tournament with the eighth seed.
To do so, though, the Pelicans will likely require production from Williamson in the remaining seven games, further increasing the spotlight on the franchise and shortening the amount of patience likely both inside and outside of the team.
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