Zion Williamson’s Role May Be Somewhat Different This Year

Is small ball in the future for New Orleans?

As the NBA regular season draws closer, roles are being hashed out across the league for former Duke players. Grayson Allen says he’s happy to come off the bench for Phoenix since they’ve signed his old Duke teammate Tyus Jones. In Philly, rookie Jared McCain is trying to carve out a role and has made a big impression on Joel Embiid.

And in New Orleans, while Brandon Ingram tries to thrash out a new contract, the Pelicans are short on centers, so they might have to use a small one at times: Zion Williamson.

That’s not entirely correct on two levels. First, while Williamson is short for a center at 6-6, at 285, he outweighs almost all of them.

And Pels coach Willie Brown says they wouldn’t use him as a traditional five anyway.

“Zion is not a 5. Let’s take that out of our terminology. He can definitely become a good screener and catching it in the pocket. But we’re still figuring it out.”

The basic idea is that he is a profound mismatch. He’s big enough to muscle with anyone and if there’s a center in the league who can keep up with him speed wise, we can’t think of him.

And certainly there’s no one who has a similar combination of size and power. Williamson remains utterly unique.

That may not be a problem indefinitely: rookie Yves Missi, out of Baylor, could emerge as the answer.

At 6-11 and about 230, Missi caught our eye last year with the Bears. He’s really athletic and could be a rim protector from Day One. The Pelicans have enough offensive talent to let him develop more on that end. If he can rebound and defend, New Orleans will be in a vastly better position - and that will allow Brown to apply Williamson’s vast versatility wherever it can help most.