(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
The New Orleans Pelicans have one of the most promising players in the league in Zion Williamson.
However, as incredibly dominant as he is on the offensive end of the floor, he’s often exposed on defense.
That happened again multiple times in their narrow loss to the Utah Jazz, as pointed out on Twitter by NBA insider Tony Jones.
For as good as Zion is offensively, he’s way too often destructive to them defensively…The Jazz run a zipper screen, get him involved into the action and end up with a wide open Fontecchio three. Great coaching by Hardy to recognize and get Zion on the move
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) November 28, 2023
The Jazz did a solid job of getting Zion involved defensively and then finding the open guy on the perimeter, winning the game even despite Lauri Markkanen’s absence.
Of course, Zion is more than capable of putting up 28 points per game and wearing his defenders out, which is also quite a valuable skill in today’s game.
But he needs to have better defensive awareness.
He might never be a good on-ball defender, and other than using his strength and raw power or his athleticism to swat some shots, he’s likely to be a liability on that end of the floor more often than not.
Then again, he can always work on the fundamentals to try and not get exposed so often, and his coach also needs to do a better job of hiding him on that end of the floor.
Regardless of that, Zion has perennial MVP-caliber talent, and the only true concern about him going forward will always be his health.
The Pelicans are much better with Zion Williamson on the floor, and even if he never becomes a good defender, that’s always going to be the case for them.
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