Tag: New Orleans

Zion Makes a Statement in His NBA Debut.

Finally, after missing the first 13 weeks of the NBA season, Zion Williamson made his NBA debut against the San Antonio Spurs. While the hype is real, the questions were too. How good will Williamson be? How much will he get to play in his first game? Will Williamson be the same player he was before his injury? Well, we got answers to all of those questions and much more.

Coming into the game, the New Orleans Pelicans put a minutes restriction on Williamson. He would play the first four minutes if every quarter. Coach, Alvin Gentry, stuck to that for the most part. Williamson started the game and four minutes into the game was taken out. This may not have been a popular decision with fans in the arena, but the Pelicans motto this season might as well be “protect Zion”. Williamson was only scheduled to miss 6 to 8 weeks with his injury. Yet, the cautious Pelicans kept him out for 13 weeks.

The game started out slow for Zion and stayed that way through the first 3 quarters. He got his first NBA points via a clean rebound followed by a put back and he had a good looking assist to Ingram in the first. But he didn’t do anything especially impressive. There were small flashes of play in which he would show his remarkable athleticism but nothing that really got the fans going. Until the fourth quarter.

With 8:53 left in the game Williamson hit a 3. This would spark one of the most incredible fourth quarter performances by a rookie ever. The very next possession Williamson spun around Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan and caught a lob from Lonzo Ball for a quick lay up. This gave him 10 points. Keep in mind, Williamson had 5 points in the first 3 quarters.

In the next possession Williamson stepped up and hit another 3 pointer. Just 28 seconds later Williamson was blocked by Spurs center Jakob Poeltl, but that was not going to stop him. Williamson got his own rebound and quickly laid in the put back for another 2 points, giving him a total of 15 points with 10 in the forth quarter alone.

During the next possession Ball fed Williamson again, who hit a third 3 pointer. Once the Pelicans were in possession of the ball again, Ball sent it over to Williamson who hit another 3, this time with LeMarcus Aldridge guarding him, to give New Orleans the lead. Williamson was fouled on the next possession and made both free throws. He was then taken out of the game having a total of 22 points after he scored 17 straight points in the fourth quarter.

Zion Williamson finished with a line of 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists with 18 minutes played. He shot 8-11 from the field and was a perfect 4-4 from 3 point range. He is the first NBA player to hit 4 or more 3’s without missing in his debut. Even though it started off slow, Zion Williamson’s debut was nothing short of spectacular. Even though he had an incredible debut, Williamson still expressed that he wished his team had pulled out the win. Despite a great individual performance, it did not matter. His remarkable competitiveness drives him and Zion Williamson wants nothing more than to win.

Less Than 24 Hours Into NBA Free Agency And The League Is On Fire.

So many big free agents with so many options could only have led to a big free agency season this summer. Some big surprises have already changed the NBA and it hasn’t even been a full day yet.

The Nets are the obvious big winners. They have signed Kevin Durant for 4-years, $164M, Kyrie Irving for 4-years, $141M, and DeAndre Jordan. Despite not having KD for the upcoming season due to his achilles injury the Nets still have a very good shot at winning a championship in the next 3 years with these moves. There is even talk of Kyrie and KD taking less than the max so that Jordan can get more money. It seems that these 3 are already acting like teammates and with a great bench to support them we could be looking at the next dynasty.

The Nets also made a big move by trading D’Angelo Russell to the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors are likely to trade him so we will see where Russell lands. Wherever he ends up will get a very good and upcoming star in this league.

The Warriors also sent Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis will likely buy him out and Iguodala will become a free agent. Whoever lands him will get a good player and a great veteran leader.

The Celtics, Nets, and Hornets engaged in a 3-way sign and trade. The Nets got Kyrie through this but the Celtics ended up signing Kemba Walker for 4-years, $141M, to replace him. This could be a very good move for the Celtics. Kemba will give them a lot of great offense minus the locker room drama that Kyrie was partly responsible for. The Hornets received Terry Rozier, an excellent up and coming point guard who will be good for a young rebuilding Hornets team.

The New Orleans pelicans were also busy adding JJ Redick for 2-years, $26.5M. Redick will add a good veteran presence to a very young and rising Pelicans team. Redick will also give New Orleans some more great shooting.

A very interesting signing was the Detroit Pistons signing Derrick Rose for 2-years, $15M. For years Rose has been a shell of his former self. However, since he dropped 50 against the Jazz last year he has been a solid player for the Timberwolves. The Pistons now have a solid point guard to pair with Blake Griffin and help them finally get into the playoffs.

Miami has made possibly the second biggest move this free agency. The Heat finalized a sign-and-trade with the 76ers for Jimmy Butler. Butler fits perfectly with the Heat. And even though the Heat no longer have Hassan Whiteside, having traded him to Portland, they still have Kelly Olynyk and Meyers Leonard, who they got in the Whiteside trade. Miami has been a rough, hard working team since LeBron left and that is perfect for Butler.

The big losers in all of free agency are the New York Knicks. Before last night, Knicks fans were looking forward to a big free agency. They were potentially looking at getting both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. However, after the Nets beat them to it the Knicks were completely lost. They have gone from being a massive story in free agency to the biggest fail. The biggest player they’ve gotten is Julius Randle who, while he is a solid player, is no Durant or Kyrie. The Knicks can’t seem to catch a break.

Those are just a few 0f the biggest stories in free agency. With not even 24 hours since the beginning of free agency and Kawhi Leonard yet to make his decision, we are still waiting to see what next years NBA will look like. One thing is for sure, the NBA is going to look very different next season.