Plus, I think New Orleans deserves it after losing CP3 and then AD. Really happy Zion ended up there rather than some big market team that has bungled every opportunity (The Knicks).
Pelicans are way too deep. At center they don’t have much unless Hayes is ready this season (with his fast progress I would not be surprised if he could be a back up center) but they are so stacked at wings and in the backcourt. Basically you need to share minutes at 1-3 between Jrue, Lonzo, Redick, Hart, Alexander-Walker, Moore and Ingram. The way NAW has played for them in the Summer League and preseason you can’t not give him 15 minutes a night at least. I think Moore will be the odd one out and I won’t be surprised if they trade him. There are also Frank Jackson and Kinrich Williams who aren’t actually bad either. If they go with Jrue, Redick and Ingram in their first unit, which I think they should, Lonzo, NAW and Hart will kill other teams second units. Lonzo will play quite a bit with Jrue instead of Redick too, I assume. Perfect trade for them would be to package some of that guards and wings and maybe a pick for Myles Turner or Sabonis.
Given that they are starting a rebuild around Zion and going young, I could see them trading Jrue sometime before the deadline. He is waaay underrated, but if they could get a young player and a good draft pick, it might be a good idea.
This kid can go against Gobert and push him into the basket. They cannot just play off of him. He will go wherever he wants like Giannis does. Btw Alexander-Walker is amazing as well. Pelicans future looks so promising all of a sudden.
For those that are interested, a great breakdown of how the Pels are using Zion in the preseason so far. It's working, but it is just preseason. https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/10/16/20913955/zion-williamson-pelicans-rookie-usage-play-types
And almost every other food native to New Orleans. Hope he can. I couldn't. Love me some gumbo ya ya.
