Zion Williamson lives up to hype in his first 10 New Orleans Pelicans games
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Friday 21 February 2020 13:46, UK
Zion Williamson has his first 10 NBA games under his belt and his production so far has placed him alongside some of the game's greatest names.
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Williamson, the No 1 pick in the 2019 Draft, missed New Orleans' opening 44 games of the season after undergoing knee surgery in October.
Williamson made his long-awaited debut on January 22, a 121-117 Pelicans loss to the San Antonio Spurs, and has not looked back. His scoring, minutes played, rebounding and sheer volume of highlight plays have continued to grow.
Now 10 games into his professional career, the 19-year-old Williamson is rubbing shoulders, statistically-speaking, with iconic players from the past as well as elite modern-day superstars.
Check out numbers that back up the pre-Draft suggestion that Zion is the most impactful rookie to enter the NBA since LeBron James.
221
That's the total number of points Williamson has scored in his opening 10 NBA games.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, he is the third former No 1 overall Draft pick in the last 30 years to reach 200 points in his first 10 career games.
The only other two players two do it since 1990? Hall of Famers Shaquille O'Neal (238 points in his first 10 games - 1992-93) and Allen Iverson (224 points - 1996-97).
91.6 per cent
Seventy-six of 83 field goals Williamson has made in his first 10 games have come from five feet or closer to the basket, 91.6 per cent of his total scoring shots, per nba.com/stats.
Those 76 baskets include 11 alley-oop dunks, 12 driving lay-ups, eight put-back lay-ups, six lay-ups off cuts and four turnaround jump shots.
54 years
Williamson's 31-point, nine-rebound, five-assist performance in 27 minutes 52 seconds of play in the Pelicans' 138-117 win against the Portland Trail Blazers on February 11 made him the first rookie in 54 years to record at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists while playing less than 30 minutes.
No NBA rookie had posted a 31-9-5 stat line since 1992.
12.8 points per 100 possessions
The numbers Williamson is racking up are not empty stats - he is helping the Pelicans win games with greater frequency.
In the 45 games he has missed (the first 44 games of the 2019-20 and a February 8 road win in Indiana), the Pelicans' record is 18-27.
In the 10 games Williamson has played, his team are 5-5. And two of those losses came in games in which he played limited minutes (21 minutes or less).
When Williamson plays, the Pelicans have outscored their opponents by 12.8 points per 100 possessions. In his absence, the Pelicans have been outscored by 3.3 points per 100 possessions.
Eight 20-plus-point games
Williamson's 32-point performance in his 10th game - New Orleans' loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 13 - was the eighth time he had scored 20 or more points.
That statistical landmark had not been reached since Michael Jordan achieved the feat in his rookie season (1984-85).
Per Elias Sports, Williamson is the seventh No 1 pick to produce eight or more 20-point performances in their first 10 career games. The others are Elvin Hayes (10), Ralph Sampson (eight), David Thompson (eight), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (eight), Walt Bellamy (eight) and Oscar Robertson (eight).
Four-player club
In scoring 31 points against the Blazers and 32 against Thunder, the 19-year-old Williamson became the fourth teenager in NBA history to record back-to-back 30-plus-point games.
The other three players? LeBron James, Devin Booker and Luka Doncic.
Those two performances also made Williamson the first rookie to record back-to-back 30-plus-point games since Michael Jordan accomplished the feat in 1984.
3.5 offensive rebounds per game
Williamson has hauled down 35 offensive rebounds in his first 10 NBA games. That average of 3.5 per game is the eighth-best in the league this season, with All-Star Rudy Gobert, former No 1 pick DeAndre Ayton, and elite rebounder Andre Drummond among the few players averaging more.
Of Williamson's 35 offensive boards, 18 have come off his own missed shots, per William Guillory of The Athletic.
That backs up Shaquille O'Neal's assertion the prodigious Pelicans possesses "the best second jump I have ever seen".
"He has impressed me," said O'Neal. "I wish he had played [more games]. He is very explosive. He's young and he needs to get into better shape the more he plays but I definitely like his game."
One damaged backboard
There was only one backboard damaged at All-Star Weekend, and it didn't happen in the Dunk Contest!
Williamson was the culprit in the Rising Stars game, courtesy of a solo dunk late in the second quarter from a Trae Young entry pass.
The result?
Half-time repairs were carried out and Williamson's Team US cruised to a 151-131 win. He scored 14 points in 19 minutes, including several spectacular connections with Ja Morant for alley-oop slams.
0
According to veteran Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday, that's the sum total of opponents capable of containing Williamson.
Speaking after New Orleans' win over Portland on February 11, Holiday said no one was surprised by Williamson's 31-point eruption.
"It's expected, honestly," said Holiday. "Honestly, I don't see anybody that can guard him."
"He was just being Zion," said Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry. "We see it all the time. He hasn't even scratched the surface yet."
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