What does the return of Zion mean for our lineup?
Will Zion return this season?
Do I know? Definitely not, I am just a guy with a keyboard and zero access to the Pelicans, but my speculation(some say source), tells me YES. No matter what we see or hear folks say about Zion, the guy is a competitor. No one but Zion can convince me that Zion does not want to be out there playing with his team and prove the skeptics wrong. I believe most outlets who truly say, and believe, that Zion will not play this season are just planning for the long game of Zion producing little and the Pelicans organization getting fed up, and Zion “forcing” his way out of the organization. When we have seen him on the court, there is no denying he loves to ball.
My Three Options:
Devonte Graham, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones, Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas.
Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Herb Jones, Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas.
Devonte Graham, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones, Jonas Valanciunas, with Zion Williamson working into “game shape” off the bench.
Option 1:
I personally think this is the most “likely” scenario. Ingram can create for himself or be a shooter, Graham can be a shooter, Jonas can bang with the best of them but also sit away from the basket and make the other center pay when he drains the JV 3, and Jones, sweet sweet Jones, will give Zion a great cutter/corner three guy. While it is the most likely in my eyes, it is not my favorite. Graham has proven to be a difficult shot maker more than he feels to be a consistent shot maker, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but could be used on a game-to-game basis depending on matchups and final minute game decisions. This feels like the safe choice, but depending on how the season goes and an almost guaranteed minute restriction in place when Zion makes his return I am not sure how much I would enjoy seeing it. The thing I hate about this lineup the most is it would push Hart to the bench, and I chose to do this over sending Herb down because I feel Herb could do a better job at guarding a lot of 1-4s than Hart, which would give us more flexibility.
Option 2:
Now, this is my favorite. I love the idea of Zion, JV, and BI being our main source of points with great contributions from both Jones and Hart with pure hustle, high basketball IQ, and most of all the way they play is contagious. I understand this would push Graham to the bench, where Jose has been excelling, but that gives us relatively valuable and expendable players. I am not saying we should trade Graham but it would be interesting to see him come off the bench with 6 man minutes instead of a starter, a spark guy when you need a shot. Another thing to note, lately we have seen Willie put the ball in Herb’s hands coming up the floor and initiating plays, could this be a sign of things to come? The addition of Hart instead of Graham gives Zion another guy who will hit the glass on offense while being a decent option for corner threes. There are some downfalls of this lineup, there is no “true” initiator, but Graham isn’t exactly a traditional point guard, to begin with. Another downfall I can see is JV isn’t great at passing out of a double team, but I feel he would see significantly fewer double teams with Zion on the floor.
Option 3:
The one that makes sense, but I do not think we see. We all know Zion is injury-prone so far in his career, and it is extremely likely he will come back with a minute restriction. So why not come off the bench? I am not sure if teams would change their lineups to put a starter on Zion if he came from the bench, but it would absolutely make teams reconsider bench players going toe to toe with the offensive force that Zion will be. Allowing Zion to come off the bench would also put him against lower-tier guys on defense while he gets into the flow of things, and hopefully give him some confidence that is insanely prevalent on the defensive side of the ball that this team is carrying right now. My favorite thing about this lineup, Jose.. JOSE JOSE JOSE JOSEEE!!!!(Shoutout to Antonio Daniels) The guy runs, he is a pest, and he can absolutely be the guard that Zion needs to feed him. Since he has been getting minutes he has proven he can be the guy on your bench that runs the offense and set the tone on defense, and he is doing that with guy’s not named Zion. The rim running Jax, paired with the unstoppable force that is Zion could be exciting to watch with a guard like Jose. I believe also seeing Jax and Zion share the floor would be interesting as Jax expands his shot, and plays incredibly well from the dunker’s position.
In Summary:
No one really knows when Zion will be back, my hope is that we see him return shortly after the All-Star Break. We already are starved for updates about Zion, and him rehabbing from afar will likely make us even hungrier, but that is alright, as long as he lets his play when he returns do the talking I believe Brandon “Kingram” and “A-Bear” Jones can be the faces and voices of this team that help make us less curious about Zion when he returns to domination.
A quick share helps us a lot!
