Let’s go back to Jan. 22, 2020, the night of Zion Williamson’s highly anticipated NBA debut.
That night included an outrageous fourth-quarter scoring binge that saw Williamson bury four 3-pointers in a 2:34 stretch.
The Smoothie King Center was rocking as Williamson put the NBA on notice of what was to come.
Or so we thought.
Williamson made just two more 3-pointers that season and has made just 27 over the next six seasons after that. That’s a total of 33 3-pointers in a career that started with the kind of bang that would make legendary NBA broadcaster Mike Breen proud.

Even more eye-opening is how few he’s taken since arriving in New Orleans. He’s attempted just 102 in his career. That number has decreased in each of the past four seasons. Four years ago, he took 19. He attempted 18 in the Pelicans’ 49-win 2023-24 season. He took 13 the next year. Last season, he attempted a career-low four. He made one of those four.

Williamson, when asked last season why he passes up 3-pointers, had this to say:

“I just hate when I miss,” he said. “I don’t want to feel like I wasted a team possession.”
The early indication through the first two days of training camp is that things are about to change this season. Expect his 3-point attempts to increase.

Williamson has been one of the last ones on the court after practice taking extra outside shots. It’s also something he spent much of offseason working on.
“This summer was about breaking that,” Williamson said. “Just playing the game, trusting my game. It was a point of emphasis this summer. Trusting my jumper. Getting those shots up. Whether I was playing pickup (games) away from the team or with the team or just getting shots up. Just trusting it. If I miss, I miss. The next shot is going in.”
Williamson expanding his range to shoot more 3-pointers and even midrange jumpers could go a long way in making everyone around him better. He knows it, which is why he makes sure to make at least 50 3-pointers at the end of practice.
“It is about taking what the game gives you,” first-year Pelicans coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We stop practice and look at situations where teams are loading up on him. And then we’re giving him the answer to that test.”
It’ll be up to Williamson to pass those tests.
“He is so dynamic and so athletic that he can get to the lane pretty much anytime he wants,” Mosley said. “So our ability to say, ‘OK, read what the game is giving you.’ If there are two or three in front of you, now you’ve got to come off of it. Or if they are backing all the way up, then you’ve got to feel comfortable, which we absolutely do feel comfortable taking that midrange.”
We’ve seen Williamson shooting 3-pointers in practice before. None of it matters if it doesn’t translate to actual games. Those closest to Williamson believe it will.
Williamson and teammate Saddiq Bey worked out together in South Carolina over the summer. Those workouts sometimes included shooting competitions between the two. Bey wouldn’t disclose who won those competitions, but he did have this to say about his good friend.
“He can really shoot it,” Bey said of Williamson. “I think that may surprise a lot of people. He has great form and can really shoot it.”
Bey, entering his second season with the Pelicans, only saw Williamson shoot four 3-pointers last season. He’s anticipating more this season.
“We want him to shoot it,” Bey said. “I told him this summer I need you to shoot as many as possible. I know the entire city of New Orleans wants him to shoot, too. He’s confident. Playing pickup with him this summer, he’s been shooting it well. So I can’t wait to see it in a game.”
Pelicans fans can’t wait, either.
They’ve been waiting to see what they saw on that magical January night in 2020.

There was a familiar sight at New Orleans Pelicans media day on Monday.

Zion Williamson sat at the podium with his signature smile and chiseled physique from an offseason of hard work, talking about why this season would be different for him and his team.

For many NBA fans, these words from Williamson before the start of a season feel like a rerun of an old TV show they’ve grown tired of watching.

But alongside his optimism about the upcoming season, Williamson took a moment to candidly reflect on where he stands in his career.

“I’m not where I want to be,” Williamson said.

When asked to elaborate, he added, “I’m just not where I need to be. (I’m) not where I want to be.”

Considering Williamson was once viewed as the savior for basketball in New Orleans, it would’ve been impossible to believe back then that, as he heads into his eighth season with the Pelicans, the former No. 1 pick would have only two All-Star appearances and zero minutes played in the postseason.

Yet, despite his previous shortcomings, Williamson’s camp and the Pelicans organization strongly believe the franchise’s face has finally found a formula for success that will return his health and on-court play to the form it needs.

I wonder what fan merch they’ll be giving out to everybody. Probably just a t-shirt on everyone’s seat. If Zion wants to take the next step in his development, he needs to improve his ball handling skills and create a consistent jump shot. If I was Jamal Mosely, I’d tell him he needs to do those two things or he’s coming off the bench. Let’s flock up!!! If Zion can improve his game in those two ways, I can see us winning 50 games.

Is anyone able to actually subscribe to Pelicans+? I have tried the past 2 days to do so with no success on 3 different devices and different browsers with and without VPN. It is an endless loop of watch.pelicans.com redirected to NBA.com where neither gives me the option to subscribe. I even did a chat for about 30 minutes and they couldnt figure it out either. It is like it won't accept the zip code of my location. It kept reverting back to Suns+. frustrating. anyway they elevated it to their internal team and I await their response.

Update: I'm gonna take credit for them getting it fixed. Checked watch.pelicans.com just now and the homepage is slightly different and when you click to subscribe you actually can. Subscribed in less than 30 seconds.

https://www.nba.com/pelicans/videos

Only one worthwhile seems to be the light up fan chain and all the rest seem to be ass and that’s assuming the fan chain is made out of metal and not plastic. Glad I had the presence of mind to do a no call/no show last year and quit my job at the shitty ice cream shop in the French Quarter to go to the St. Patty’s Day ☘️ game last season and got the awesome fan chain they gave away. Why doesn’t this team have better promo nights? It seems like the Pels just shit in their hands and clap and call that a promo night.

Also in Pelicans news:

Trey Murphy has gained 14 pounds, now at 6’9” 220 lbs up from 206 last preseason.

Saddiq “LeBron” Bey has gained a whopping 25 pounds and is now 6’8” and 240.

19 year old Jeremiah Fears measuring at 6’4” and 188 lbs

Murphy, Fears, Queen, Murray, and Karlo have all gained 1” height which is especially nice to see from the guys in their mid to late 20’s

Flock up

And it was almost 700 minutes, which is a large sample size. Even if they can improve it by half, which would be excellent, they’d still give up 5 points more per 100 possessions than they’d score. This just isn’t the formula for winning basketball, particularly with a defensive minded coach. Just look at the combo of Banchero and Wagner and how that worked out. Here, it’s fair to say that Queen and Zion are worse than them in both offense and defense production. I just don’t see how this works out now or ever.

New coach, culture change, coupled with zion and tm3 coming into their own, DJM plus the young core. oh and dont forget mathurin. I mean call me an optimist but we didn’t pull the trigger on any of the stupid trade rumors this offseason, and herb still has that defense down pat.

I was listening to Joe Dumars at Media Day, and he mentioned that Derik Queen wasn’t cleared to play until the day before last season started. That stuck with me because a lot of people have already decided Queen and Zion don’t fit together.
Queen missed the chance to practice with Zion during training camp, and the games they played together were their first real chance to figure each other out. Now they’ve had an offseason to look at what worked and what didn’t, plus a new coaching staff to help make adjustments.
I’m not saying the fit is guaranteed. I just think it’s too early to write it off. I’m looking forward to seeing what Zion and DQ can build together this season, especially with Jamahl Mosley shaping the defense. What do y’all think?

Hello everyone, my name is David Lee and I'm in the middle of my 4th annual 30 teams in 30 days series, the most comprehensive and informative previews for every team in the NBA. My goal is to cover each and every team with depth and nuance, providing quality analysis no matter how rough a team's season is projected to be. I bring on fans and analysts to provide expertise, this episode features Shamit Duoand Jake Madison from Locked on Pelicans!

Inside this video, you’ll get up to speed with the Pelicans’ offseason additions and the roster hierarchiy, learn whether they’ve addressed their biggest areas of need, ponder over 5 questions that will define their season and then decide whether you agree with my offseason grades and record predictions. These videos are accompanied with articles over on my editorial site: The Hardwood Collective and a full-length podcast over on The 5th Factor!

Would love to hear your thoughts about the topics I discussed plus your expectations for the Pels this season.

Head Coach: Jamahl Mosley, Colorado

Assistant Coaches:

Bret Brielmaier, Arizona

Dale Osbourne, South Alabama

God Shammgod, Providence

Randy Gregory, Kentucky

Mike Hopkins, Syracuse

Greg Monroe, Georgetown

Will Bynum, Georgia Tech

Vice President of Health & Performance: David Cosgrove, AECC

Head Athletic Trainer: Joe Sharpe, Old Dominion

last year

Head Coach: Willie Green, Detroit Mercy Associate Head Coach: James Borrego, San Diego Assistant Coaches: Corey Brewer, Florida; Jarron Collins, Stanford; Dan Geriot, Richmond; Casey Hill, Trinity; Darnell Lazare, Louisiana State; Jodie Meeks, Kentucky; Aaron Miles, Kansas Coaching Advisor: Mike D'Antoni, Marshall Head Athletic Trainer: Tom Maystadt, Iowa State Director of Performamnce & Sports Science: Daniel Bove, Penn State Director of Rehabilitation: Amy Atmore, Southern California

With the players the (N.O.PELS) have,they can be a 6or7 seed in the hard to win in west,the pels have an un-stoppable force in BIG Z ,a rain bow shooting drive to the rim slammer in (Trey) that alone makes the (PELS)back door lob seem unstoppable, and Derrick ain’t no Queen need I slather on the mayo.all the (PELS)need is a high-low game on the bench waiting for the starters to get tired and that boils down to (COACHING)and the PGs will have more points,assists ,3 point shots will be there… the pelicans have big and small guards that can fill it up…Big Ben (can be a game changer.)😄tootaloo all GO PELS.

New Orleans Pelicans (27.5)

Similar to the Bucks and Magic, I’m not particularly bullish on what this franchise is doing overall, but I think the bar has been set a bit too low.

New Orleans won 26 games a season ago despite numerous extended absences of key players. The most notable was guard Dejounte Murray, who missed nearly the entire season before playing 14 games at the end. (He looked good!) Worse yet, the Pels played Jordan Poole 39 times, something they won’t have to do this season with Murray back and Bennedict Mathurin added in free agency.

A starting lineup of Murray, Herbert Jones, Saddiq Bey, Trey Murphy III and Zion Williamson looks respectable, especially if Jones can bounce back from whatever caused him to forget how to play offense last season. (His 41.8 percent 3-point mark in 2023-24, alas, now looks like a wild outlier.) Mathurin should be among the league’s most productive sixth men. The Pels also have potential upside scenarios if they get second-year bumps from Jeremiah Fears or Derik Queen.

Thanks to revised draft lottery rules, New Orleans also has incentive to finish outside the bottom three. The Pels’ first-round pick in 2027 is the better of their own or that of the Bucks, with the additionally tempting nugget that they keep both picks if they land in the top four. (Otherwise, the lesser of the two goes to the Atlanta Hawks as a result of the trade for Murray.)

There’s always the scenario that the Pelicans’ season is destroyed by a hailstorm of injuries, because it’s what happens every year. But if they stay reasonably healthy, then 30-plus wins and fringe Play-In contention seems very attainable.

BPCC is hosting a clinic this morning and Coach O is explaining the defensive concepts that are core to the philosophy.

Thoughts ?