Discussing 'Zion 2.0' With Howard Beck
Pelicans Scoop writer David Grubb spoke with Sports Illustrated's Howard Beck to get some deeper insight to Zion Williamson's recovery from a broken foot, his relationship with the Pelicans, and his approach to the upcoming season.
Some questions and answers have been edited for clarity.
One-On-One With Howard Beck
DG: We're on the eve of the start of the new NBA season and certainly the health of Zion Williamson, both physically and mentally is something at the forefront of Pelicans fans. Your article is really insightful about his growth as an individual over this really difficult past season for him. Where do you think he is mentally and with his maturity going into his fourth season.
HB: Zion spoke very, I think earnestly, very passionately when I spoke to him in early September for this story about the idea that, “Yes, I have done a lot with my body in the time I've been away”...clearly his weight and his physique and a lot of other things that just go into being a great basketball player, his skill set, everything. And because my broad question was, you know, “where are you now compared to when we last saw you, basically a year and a half ago, it's been a long time since the world saw you perform in a basketball court,” and basically, you know, he went straight to “ I've done all these things. I've been working, I've been in the gym, I've been in the lab," as they say.
You know, at that time he'd been in Fort Lauderdale for about a month or so, and he had another couple weeks to go. He had spent that time, as you know, of course, in Portland for a couple of months last season. And so, yes, all of that designed to get himself healthy, to get himself in better shape, to put himself in a better position to perform and to stay on the court. But the thing he came back to multiple times was what you just highlighted, which is his maturity.
That's a hard thing to define.
So when we say, well, you're going to see a more mature Zion on the court. What does that mean? What does that mean? How does that manifest itself? And then there's some interpretation that I have there, I think, and from talking to people around the Pelicans, too. But I I think what he was trying to convey and it's a “show me, don't tell me” thing right. We will only know until we see it. But I think what he was trying to convey is that he's going to be more diligent about the work. And, you know, that diligence also goes hand in hand with his health because to the extent that he's been injured a lot his first couple seasons, it's at least in part because maybe he hasn't been keeping himself in the best of shape, right? An ongoing concern since he arrived in the NBA.
And so this is about building the right work habits and sticking to those work habits and being accountable and just giving your best to the team or as you know, Teresa Witherspoon, assistant coach and mentor to him, said you can only, you know, withdraw what you invest. She said it more eloquently than I am right now, but that was the concept you can't take out unless you put in. And I think we're Zion is headed with all this, is that he's going to be just simply a better professional. And listen, he's really young. He came in young. They almost all of them do in these days in the NBA. And it takes time. And I and I think people you know should keep that in mind.
DG: Oh, absolutely. I think you know him learning the job as an 18-19 year old and all of those things, any young person learning how to be a professional at what they do is hard. Do you think that those Zion may be received some of the criticism or maybe the concern? I think it particularly with when it came to Pelicans fans. But there was more concern when he pulled away, and he and he talked a lot about that retreat for him personally, where he felt like his family was getting attacked, that his brother was, you know, feeling the brunt of all those things. I think there was a genuine spirit in New Orleans that folks wanted to embrace him and felt like he was not giving that back. Did he feel that?
HB: Yeah, it's interesting. You know, obviously I'm not there. So I don't have as strong a sense as you would or as your listeners would about how much New Orleans was embracing Zion, how much New Orleans felt Zion was or was not embracing them. I obviously am aware that there was a ongoing theme that there was a feeling like “is he really sold on us, is he really sold on this, this city in this franchise or you know is he eyeing New York” because he you know was making googly eyes at Madison Square Garden? About, you know, talking about how much he loves playing there and all this. And then obviously, not being around the team at times, I know all of that created an impression. And I don't fault anybody for having that impression.
I do think that to the extent that Zion should take some responsibility in his camp, should take some responsibility for the way he's been perceived. They have not been altogether clear, right. There are things they could have done and said along the way. To leave less ambiguity to reassure the fans that, “yeah, we want to be here.”
Now, he said that very again, earnestly, passionately, when I sat down with him in early September. But I think those were messages that clearly Pelicans fans would have loved to have heard more often and earlier. All that said, look, the guy was going through a lot. Nobody can view that part of it cynically or skeptically. He was going through a lot. He wasn't sure what his if he was still going to have a career or what it might look like, especially after the setback to his foot. The scene that Teresa Weatherspoon described, that's in my story for Sports Illustrated, the scene she described with him where she's asking “Are you OK?” And he says “No, I'm not” and kind of just falls into her arms or under her shoulder. Is really moving and I think speaks to just how deeply he was affected by the doubts, the criticism, the pain, the rehab. Just the lack of certainty about where this was all going and so, given all that it kind of stands to reason that maybe he'd be a little more withdrawn. The first thing on his mind is not, Gee, how do I make sure to reassure fans?
I'm not minimizing that fans are feeling a certain way at that time, but he's in in in physical and emotional pain, and that's real. And so, that as the backdrop I think is important and it also helps explain why he needed to just get away from everything and why he went as far as he did going to, you know, Oregon to work out of the Nike campus.
DG: Well, let's follow up on that before we get to the on court stuff. Do you think, you know, as difficult as the relationship had been with Zion and the Stan Van Gundy staff, had Willie Green and this group not really been around and this is speculation on your part, obviously…if it had not been Willie Green, Teresa Weatherspoon on that bench, those players who also were reaching out to Zion, all those guys who wanted to bring him back to the circle, if it had been a year before, do we maybe have a different ending to the to the discussion about his extension and all of those things? Maybe he's not in a Pelican uniform this season.
HB: Yeah. I don't know. Really hard to say. Really hard to say. I can only speak to what I've seen and heard and reported on for this story with regard to, you know, Zion's comfort level. His bond with Teresa Weatherspoon is deep and meaningful and real and seems really great for him. His bond with Corey Brewer, equally so. He's worked out with these coaches.
He hasn't really played for Willie Green until this preseason, right? So that relationship is probably still, you know, not quite as far along as it was what he has with Brewer or Teresa Weatherspoon. But I think with Green, like I've been impressed by a lot of what I've seen from Willie Green. As a young head coach who has spent a lot of years on an NBA benches and with some really good franchises and who had a long playing career as a role player who understands the league. Who I think has this nice blend of old school kind of toughness and maybe a little bit of a tough love approach. You know, not afraid to get in guys faces, but at the same time understand sometimes you got to put your arm around guys and have that that that empathy as well.
I think there's a good blend of that there. It's not whether anybody else was right or wrong. As choices for his head coach initially. But it's Willie Green and his staff…the right people at the right time for the support that Zion needs right now and the development he needs right now and the adjustments that are going to have to be made now that he's playing with essentially two other All Stars. I think this is a good staff for him and for this moment, for this franchise.
DG: Brandon Ingram is the only player who's had significant on court time on this roster with Zion. How long do you think that Zion thinks that it's going to take them to find that on court chemistry and experience some success?
HB: It's a typical thing that happens in this league when stars come together who haven't played together before, they always kind of downplay the adjustment to each other and all that. “So we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out.” It's always a little harder than that.
The good news is CJ McCollum has played next to Dame Lillard, and it was the first thing that Zion said to me. I brought up, “Hey, CJ's a point guard who does a lot with the ball in his hands. And Brandon is an All-Star who operates really well with the ball in his hands. And you like the ball in your hands.” So it's the typical, “hey, how do you figure out the balance of who's controlling the offense? Who's doing the playmaking? Who's doing the scoring?”
And here's the first thing that Zion said, “CJ played with Dame.” He's used to playing as a number two guy off of a superstar in Damian Lillard. Obviously CJ is very capable of controlling the offense a lot to great success himself. I think they all have the right ideas in mind. I think that Willie Green and staff will do everything they can to find ways to integrate those guys.
But at the same time, have each of them have their moments in a game where they're going to have the ability to control the offense a bit. You find that balance. The good coaching staffs do that. The players who are truly selfless will do that. We already know McCollum has, you know the kind of makeup and maturity, especially at this stage of his career, where he'll do that. Brandon Ingram has never struck me as a guy who's gonna be selfish about the offense.
So then it's just up to Zion and it is up to him anyway because he's the third man in. He was the one who was sitting on the sidelines still getting his body back right while these guys were making a run to the playoffs. And so a lot of the onus is, I think, on Zion to fit in with the team that found some success without him, and I think he realizes that.
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