Kiwi Steve in the NBA #4: Remember Zion
When bringing you these yarns about Steven Adams throughout the NBA season, it’s always important to keep things in context. Especially for a team-first dude like Adams who wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing his personal stats for team success – this is a guy who celebrated when his block counts went down because it meant he was playing better defence in keeping guys from shooting on him in the first place. And right now, at this moment in time, and almost certainly for the entire rest of his tenure with the Pelicans (and remember he’s re-signed with them for two more years after this one), the context of this team is Zion Williamson.
Quite a few words have been offered in this column about the ways in which Zion and Adams have mixed and merged as a frontcourt partnership. One of the funkiest being how despite the criticism of the Adams trade which focussed on the spacing woes of two non-three shooting big men it turns out that when Adams and Williamson share the floor the team’s three-point percentage actually goes up. Between Zion’s killer drives and Adams’ killer screens... 1+1=3.
But for Stan Van Gundy it’s not a matter of how does he make those two work together. It’s a matter of how does he get the best out of Zion Williamson and then quite frankly Steven Adams has to work his way in around that. Basketball is a sport where it’s the strength of your best player that matters more than the lack thereof for your weakest link. And despite a lovely start from Brandon Ingram, it’s quickly become evident that Zion Williamson is the Pellies’ best player and it might not even be particularly close any more. So today, children, we’re going to be talking about Mr Williamson (Zion, not Kane).
But first, the (mostly) good news...
That Bloody Ankle
That ankle injury looked nasty as hell when it happened, Adams not only going straight down the tunnel to the locker room not to return late in the first against Portland... he even hurled a chair in his pain. And if Adams is showing that much frustration then you know it’s not good. But thankfully it also wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Adams missed two games with the injury then returned with a bang as he scored 14 points, hauled in 15 rebounds, and whacked a couple blocks in a win over the Detroit Pistons. Heroic stuff. However... since then he’s not looked so flash and that culminated in probably his worst game of the entire season a week later as the Pelicans lost to the Chicago Bulls. Adams began it by bricking a pair of free throws and he ended it sitting on the bench watching Jaxson Hayes take his fourth quarter minutes. To rub salt into the wound, Stan Van Gundy afterwards said he wished he’d brought Hayes in earlier.
That was bad but he did still have at least a partial excuse because Adams was surely still hobbled by that ankle. He wasn’t moving at all well. Going scoreless in 21 minutes was a worry... but he doesn’t need to score to be effective for this team. Granted what he does need to be able to do is defend and with that compromised mobility he didn’t exactly deliver on that promise. The Pels were outscored by 24 points in his 21 minutes... usually the plus/minus stat is a friend of Steven Adams but not on this day it wasn’t.
NOLA.com: “Steven Adams scored zero points in 21 minutes on the floor. It was the first time this season he has failed to score. What was most concerning was his lack of mobility. He seemed to lumber from point A to point B. Toward the end of February, Adams missed two games with a right ankle sprain. In his first game back, he had a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double. In the four games since then his play has tailed off. To start the fourth quarter, Van Gundy subbed in Jaxson Hayes. The second-year center fell out of the rotation in February but he was able to give the Pelicans good minutes. He scored 10 points and blocked three shots.
“He did a good job, blocked some shots, protected the paint, brought some quickness to it,” Van Gundy said. “Our energy level picked up. I think it was a mistake on our part the way that game went for three quarters that I didn’t get him in there earlier.”
The Pelicans needed more — much more — from Adams to beat the Bulls. Their starters looked dreadful together in the loss. The game was only competitive because a bench-heavy unit showed some fight in the fourth.”
At least he was still a good teammate about it. Hayes had a couple huge plays down the stretch, including throwing one down late on as NOP flirted with a comeback. That dunk had the whole bench up cheering... and it was notable that Hayes ran over and dapped it up with Steven Adams amongst the celebrations. The Big Man Union, New Orleans Branch. Dude was benched but there was no (outward) ill-will, just fired up to see a teammate doing well.
So... definitely don’t go diving too deep on the Steven Adams searches on social media because the slander is overwhelming. Considering he’s still struggling with an ankle knock though, and with the All Star break ready to provide some welcome days off, probably no need to worry. He was much better against Miami Heat in the last game before the break, a game in which neither Bam Adebayo nor Zion Williamson played. Adams scored an easy lay-up about a minute and a half into the contest which was an early relief and was the Pelicans’ top scorer up until midway through the fourth quarter when Brandon Ingram pipped him. Adams ending up with 15 points and 5 boards.
Now it’s time to talk about Zion.
The Coronation of Zion Williamson
In this history of the NBA there has never been a player quite like Zion Williamson. The ability that the man has to finish at the rim, in such a variety of ways and so consistently, with the athleticism that he has for the size that he is... the dude is unprecedented. After a disrupted rookie season due to injuries and conditioning he perhaps was still a little green as this season got underway. The lack of a preseason, the new coaching staff, a few new teammates... none of that helped either. But over the last month or so something has clicked in ZW and he’s begun to truly embrace his incredible potential – a burst that’s been crowned by his first (of many) All Star selection. The fourth youngest player to ever be named an All Star, by the way. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson being the three younger hombres.
JJ Redick said something awhile back, paraphrasing him here, about how every player in the NBA would happily take 15 lay-ups per game. Every single one of them – say what you will about the value of shooting threes in the modern game but there is no more efficient shot than dunks or lay-ups. The closer you are to the rim, the more likely you are to score. It’s just the extra point on offer from beyond the perimeter which makes that formula funky. But let’s say you score five outta ten from in the paint, that’s 10 points. You’d need to shoot at 40% from deep to beat that. Every player would happily take all those lay-ups... but the difference with Zion Williamson is that he actually can.
This is the top scoring player in the paint this season that we’re talking about and these buckets ain’t all alley-oops and put-backs. He buries some extremely tough finishes, like every game there are at least three where you’re like: how did he even do that? Plus the finishing is amazing enough but the variety of ways that he can get to the rim in the first place is also astounding. The highlights truly speak for themselves...
Something has changed over the last month though. Here are his stats split prior to and after January 30 (the relevance of which we’ll come back to)...
Pre-Jan 30: 23.9 PTS | 58.7% FG | 16.7% 3PT (0.4 ATT/G) | 7.6 REB | 2.2 AST
Post-Jan 30: 27.2 PTS | 63.6% FG | 38.5% 3PT (0.7 ATT/G) | 6.9 REB | 4.6 AST
A boost in his scoring efficiency has led to more points. That includes his three point shooting percentage which has gone up significantly and while we’re still only talking about a tiny sample size – which makes the percentages kinda meaningless – it’s the almost doubling in volume that stands out. Dude’s getting a little more willing to pop from distance (or perhaps... he’s been in better areas to shoot). Baby steps, we’re only talking two attempts every three games, but he’s getting there. Meanwhile the rebounds have dipped, however his assists have more than doubled. So what’s changed in that time?
What’s changed is that Zion Williamson was suddenly being used in a different kinda way. PowerPoint Zion, they’re calling it. Giving him more of the ball-handling responsibilities on the perimeter where he’s more comfortable playing from facing the basket head-on, rather than being posted out on the wing, which in turn gives him control over how those possessions are going to operate. It’s an obvious move in some ways, Stan Van Gundy empowering his best player, but it’s also a brave one in other ways because there’s no shortage of point guards already on this roster. Eric Bledsoe can’t be too chuffed. Can’t argue with the results though. For ZW or for his teammates.
Will Guillory/The Athletic: “Before Monday’s result, Williamson’s drives to the rim increased from 9.8 per game before the start of February to about 13 per game since, according to NBA.com. During the same time frame, Ingram’s drives went from 11.3 per game before February to 15.3 since. Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart’s driving numbers started increasing as well. The unrelenting, downhill style Williamson brings every night has started to rub off on his teammates, and it’s made the offense much more difficult to defend.”
Which means, ladies and gents, that the Pelicans now have their offensive identity. They’re bruisers, they’re bullies, they’re paint bandits. In beating the Utah Jazz the other day, they were demolished from the three-point line as per usual but scored 70 points in the paint – more than the Jazz have allowed inside for 25 years. Phwoar. This is a strategy led by Zion Williamson but it suits these other lads too. Lonzo Ball, for example, had been steadily improving after a terrible start as he embraced playing off the ball more and started knocking down catch-and-shoot attempts. Brandon Ingram is fantastic with those pull-up mid-rangers off the dribble.
Across every team’s last 15 games, the New Orleans Pelicans have the best offensive rating of anyone: 122.0. Unfortunately that hasn’t led to wins... they’re 6-9 in those games thanks to a defensive rating of 121.4 which is also the second worst (shout out to the Sacramento Kings for propping them up there).
Work to be done on the defensive end. But the Zion Williamson stuff is incredible. He’s 20 years old and he’s already showing a veteran’s understanding of how he is going to get his shots and that Utah Jazz game was a great example. Rudy Gobert, the league’s premier rim protecting defender? No dramas just gonna steamroll him.
Plenty of this comes from the pick and roll which is the natural first port of call when you’re putting a guy like that in a point guard situation. Being a big man with his agility it means he can work mismatches no matter who screens for him. Having JJ Redick setting picks for Williamson has been like a cheat code, JJR may not be the brick wall that Steven Adams is but he doesn’t have to be, either you’ve got Zion storming to the basket against a shooting guard who is never gonna stop him or you’ve got a knockdown shooter open on the perimeter in Redick. When Redick is the roll man (these numbers aren’t exclusive to Williamson as the ball-handler but let’s be honest it’s mostly only gonna be him) the Pelicans are scoring a BONKERS 1.50 points per play. When Steven Adams is in those situations, btw, it’s 1.15 which is still pretty awesome. Anything better than a point per play is the equivalent of shooting over 50% from the field, basically. Not adjusting for threes but threes have a lower make percentage so it probably holds up as a simple comparison. Needless to say that Zion’s pick and rolls have skyrocketed since the start of February.
And let’s not forget those assist numbers either. The man knows how to whip a pass to an open shooter as well. He’s got vision. This ain’t just head-down basketball like a train that can only move along its tracks.
Zion Williamson was already a Pelican when Stan Van Gundy was hired as head coach. Zion Williamson was already a Pelican when they traded for Steven Adams. They traded for Steven Adams because Stan Van Gundy wanted someone with that particular skill-set to partner this franchise’s next generational talent in the backcourt. They went out and got him for that purpose... so how does Adams fit into PowerPoint Zion? The fitting in bit is the most important part because, as mentioned earlier, this backcourt is no longer a matter of making Williamson and Adams work together... if indeed it ever was. Instead it’s all about maximising Zion Williamson and quite frankly Steven Adams has gotta work in around that.
Adams is scoring 1.08 ppp on his post-ups this season, good for 22nd in the NBA as we hit the All Star break. However he’s simply not getting those opportunities – he’s 69th in frequency (nice... but also not nice). That kinda static play doesn’t really fit with a downhill offence though so as good as he might be at working on his marker that’s not something the team is gonna design for him. (Coincidentally Adams is also 22nd best in defending post-ups, where he allows 0.58 ppp... decent ratios). He does have the 8th most total points from putback shots so he’s always got that scoring avenue available to him... but for now we’re seeing his points fluctuate kinda drastically on a game by game basis so probably not the best place to look for Adams’ impact right now. The rebound numbers have been sexier but this is an evolving situation so we’ll see how it unfolds.
One factor though: there seemed to be a feeling when Adams was brought in that the Pelicans were maybe thinking of him as a placeholder, especially defensively, while Zion Williamson developed into someone who could play reliably as a centre. But instead of moving him into Adams’ position he’s actually being moved further away from it. Sweet as.
Worm Farmer
Some people have dogs. Some people have cows. Some people have worms. Some people have all three. Steven Adams is, by that measure, ‘some people’. His newfound hobby of worm farming has been mentioned a few times but here was the first extended chat about them wormies. Happy to report that they didn’t die in the big freeze lately... though productivity was regrettably down. But yeah, the proud owner of “a 5-gallon bag of Red Wigglers from the Laughing Buddha Nursery in Metairie” – if those words in that order mean anything to you – who feed on the leftover scraps of Stevie’s meals, living in four stacked plastic trays. Some quality chat there.
Adams on worm farming zen: “I’d like to say that I’m a happy person just because I don’t take stuff seriously. Happiness is one thing, bro. That’s based on so much shit. It’s the purpose that you feel afterwards. Or during it. Once you start scrolling, bro, it just sucks the purpose out of you. And any sort of hype or energy is kind of just gone. If I wanted to do something, to build a bird house or something, I just wouldn’t end up doing it, bro. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just because I’m weak-minded. But I got off it, and I feel more purposeful and energetic. That’s why I got the worm farm, bro. That’s my scrolling.”
Also... Adams on New Orleans: “I have an idea of it. The main attractions. Mardi Gras. The crawfish. The bayou. That’s all the touristy stuff. The best thing I’ve found out, for me personally, was that there is a chess master whose name was Morphy. Paul Morphy. He’s been dead quite a while, mate. But he was born here.”
BOX SCORES
vs PHOENIX SUNS (L 132-114):
DNP – ANKLE INJURY
vs BOSTON CELTICS (W 120-115):
DNP – ANKLE INJURY
vs DETROIT PISTONS (W 128-118):
31 MIN | 14 PTS (7/8 FG, 0/2 FT) | 15 REB (6 OFF) | 3 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 1 PF
at MILWAUKEE BUCKS (L 129-125):
28 MIN | 7 PTS (3/4 FG, 1/2 FT) | 13 REB (5 OFF) | 4 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 2 PF
at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (L 117-114):
27 MIN | 7 PTS (3/5 FG, 1/2 FT) | 6 REB (0 OFF) | 3 AST | 1 TO | 3 PF
vs UTAH JAZZ (W 129-124):
26 MIN | 5 PTS (2/6 FG, 1/2 FT) | 11 REB (1 OFF) | 1 STL | 1 TO | 2 PF
vs CHICAGO BULLS (L 128-124):
21 MIN | 0 PTS (0/1 FG, 0/2 FT) | 5 REB (2 OFF) | 1 BLK
vs MIAMI HEAT (L 103-93):
25 MIN | 15 PTS (6/7 FG, 3/7 FT) | 5 REB (3 OFF) | 1 AST | 1 TO | 4 PF
SLAM DUNKS
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