New Orleans Pelicans: Will Zion Williamson solve all their issues?

The New Orleans Pelicans couldn’t have gotten off to a worst start to the season without Zion Williamson. 

After an offseason that was full of questions and confusion from the New Orleans Pelicans, it seems as if they have carried that questionable summer into an even more concerning start to the regular season. Even without Zion Williamson in the lineup, I don’t think anyone expected the Pelicans to be this “bad” this early in the season.

Even though the Pelicans have had quite a difficult schedule to begin the season in the first three games, playing two of the better Eastern Conference teams in Chicago and Philadelphia, the fact that they are losing by an average of 14 points per contest is something to be extremely concerned about.

Heading into Monday’s action, the Pelicans are 0-3. Their schedule doesn’t get much easier as they are slated to play against five playoff teams from last season in seven games (after their matchup with the undefeated Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night.

It’s not just the 0-3 record that should have the team concerned. It’s how they’re losing and what some of the advanced stats say about this team.

New Orleans is bottom-5 on offense, bottom third in defense, and has the third-worst net rating in the league. They desperately need Zion to return and even then, there’s no guarantee that his presence alone is something that will solve all of their issues.

He’ll certainly help on the offensive side of the ball, in which he will emerge as a potent talent on that end of the floor next to Brandon Ingram (who in his own right has been exceptional this season for the team). But even then, the Pelicans still lack stability in the backcourt and a true third option that can help take this team to another level this year.

At this point, there’s no predicting when Zion will even be ready to make his return. Last week, the updated timetable was 2-3 more weeks. That means even if everything is perfect, the earliest that we see Zion rejoin the Pelicans on the floor is in November. And that’s assuming there’s no minutes restriction or anything like that tied to his return

The Pelicans have allowed a bad offseason to leak into the start of the regular season. The hope is that they can turn it around once they are fully healthy. That’s far from a certainty, however.

The pressure is on Zion as much as it is on the front office. And thus far, the front office has fallen flat on their faces; here’s hoping that Zion won’t do the same whenever he makes his season debut for the team over the next few weeks.