NEW ORLEANS — Zion Williamson is the best in the NBA at running through a brick wall and scoring a basket.
Whenever he’s played, he’s dealt with defenses putting a parade of bodies in his path to keep him from getting into the paint. All that attention hasn’t stopped Williamson from using his combination of brute force and lateral quickness to get to his favorite spots. He consistently generates quality shots at the rim despite going through two or three defenders to get there most of the time.
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While Zion has been able to succeed when putting on his Superman cape, one of the goals Pelicans head coach Willie Green has laid out for his staff this season is to put his superstar in better position to create easy offense for himself and his teammates. The restructured offense new lead assistant coach James Borrego is putting in place has already revealed a few interesting adjustments that should allow Zion to be an even bigger threat with the ball in his hands.
The Pels showed off some of those new wrinkles in their preseason opener against the Magic on Tuesday, a 122-105 defeat in which the team’s starters did not play in the second half. They did, however, play regular-season minutes in a high-scoring first half that ended with the Pelicans up, 68-67, with four of their five starters scoring in double figures. Williamson finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in 15 minutes, an impressive showing in his first game action since injuring his hamstring more than nine months ago.
But what stood out most was how the Pelicans’ offense allowed Williamson to impact the game without exerting a lot of energy.
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One of the major points of emphasis in Borrego’s offense is using off-ball movement and screening to take advantage of defenses that fall asleep or try to load up to Zion’s side of the court.
“He’s a really smart basketball player. He understands spacing. He understands when to attack. When to make the right play,” CJ McCollum said of Williamson. “I thought we had some pretty good possessions (in the first half of Tuesday’s preseason opener).”
Last year’s offense was often stagnant, with role players too often planted in one spot watching from the perimeter while Brandon Ingram, McCollum or Williamson attacked one-on-one. This year’s unit under Borrego emphasizes generating easier opportunities for role players off split-cut actions – when two off-ball players come together and then dart in opposite directions – and other designed basket cuts when Williamson or Ingram have the ball.
While they’re still learning the nuances of when and how to perform these actions, the Pels already showed some comfort getting the shots they want while executing those cuts. They allowed Zion to show off his court vision and passing ability, the most underrated parts of his game.
This is a look we should expect to see a lot more from Zion this season: His operating at the elbow with two perimeter players near him going into a split-cut action designed to produce either a layup or an open 3-pointer. On this play, McCollum and Naji Marshall execute the split cut, and Williamson finds Marshall with a beautiful backdoor bounce pass as Marshall gets fouled. Williamson didn’t get an assist here, but these are the types of plays that’ll show off his playmaking development.
This Jordan Hawkins 3-pointer from Tuesday night was another example of the Pelicans using off-ball movement to take advantage of the attention Williamson draws.
Zion looks like he’s going into a post-up on this play, but Dyson Daniels causes a defensive miscommunication by cutting to the basket from the opposite wing. Williamson catches Orlando’s mistake immediately and whips a cross-court pass to a wide-open Hawkins in the right corner.
These were two of Williamson’s best passes of the night, and they came on plays when he was standing still. He didn’t need to bulldoze a center or slither between two defenders to create a good shot for the role players around him.
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When games slow down and the Pelicans need to create some easy offense while all eyes are on Zion, these split cuts and other off-ball movement will be refreshing alternatives for an offense that hopes to make significant strides this season. These kinds of plays will be even deadlier as the Pelicans feature more lineups with Zion at center surrounded by four shooters.
“Setting screens, moving, trying to make quick decisions. … It’s unique actions that allow the ball to go from one side to the other,” McCollum said. “It’s more of us getting used to it and finding our spots. Getting into the flow and making quick decisions.”
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The Pelicans can also throw in a few counters like they did on this play. It looks like McCollum is going to set an off-ball screen for Ingram, but instead, he pivots back to the top for a quick-hitting inverted pick-and-roll with Williamson. This allows Williamson to get downhill quickly against a guard — Orlando’s Jalen Suggs, in this case — and generate a shot at the rim.
“I think it’s going to help a lot. Any extra space me, BI and CJ can get, we’re going to take advantage of it,” Williamson said.
Green started his coaching career with the Golden State Warriors, which gave him a front-row seat to the team that executes split cuts better than any other in the league. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are two of the greatest shooters to ever live, and a big reason they are so unguardable is the unspoken synergy they have on off-ball screening actions that lead to so many open shots. They’re so difficult to deal with on these plays because the Warriors make up so many on the fly and allow the two shooters to improvise when the defense shows its hand. Very few players have that level of freedom within their system.
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While Green is putting in more structure within some of these play designs early on, he said he hopes the Pels perimeter players get more comfortable freestyling their movements over time based on what the defense is giving them.
“Originally, when you’re putting it in, you want to try and show them different reads, different options. As we continue to practice it, they’ll pick it up on their own and it’ll become more like (freestyle),” said Green. “See how they’re reading you. Go ahead and cut. Go ahead and slip. … From there, we’ll continue to add.”
In Golden State, Green got to work up close with Draymond Green, one of the best passers in the league and a master at reading these improvisational plays. Draymond is excellent at making the correct decision on these plays and giving his teammates opportunities to score by delivering them passes on time and on target. He is an excellent example for Williamson to learn from as he navigates this new system and finds ways to take advantage of defenses loading up to make his life difficult.
“He’s seen those pictures a ton with Steph and Klay. He’s a guy that loves to pass the basketball,” Green said of Draymond. “When you’ve got dynamic wings that can shoot, put it on the floor and finish (and) are really good at cutting, it allows Draymond to survey the floor. It’s something he’s good at doing.”
A few years from now, perhaps Williamson will be the one emulating Green, barking out signals and setting up split-cut opportunities for his teammates outside the structure of a normal play. It’s an easy way for him to involve his teammates, keep the defense guessing and take pressure off himself to do something spectacular every time down the floor.
(Top photo: Layne Murdoch Jr. / NBAE via Getty Images)