We’re back and it’s finally April and the mother-effing NBA playofffs! The time of year in the NBA when players don’t rest and commercials become worthy of your heart and spirit. The Lakers won their play-in game against the Timberwolves in a sloppy game that felt like they were hung over from a night of partying at the GOOP mansion (not sure if that’s a real thing). Lebron throwing the ball away like it was covered in farts and Anthony Davis fouling for fun-sies when the game is on the line! It can give an old woman like my babushka a heart attack. At least we won the game and we’re on to the playoffs to play the Memphis Grizzlies, a young team with a ferocious acrobat as their star player, and some three-point gun slingers to support him.
“Basketball and Feelings,” a new weekly Substack that explores what it’s like to be alive through the rim of NBA basketball, is back again.
Hope you enjoy this week’s poem on Zion Williamson. I’m trying really hard to see see the big picture, which is hard for me, I’m such an impatient person.
But this week I can’t help but write about the New Orleans Pelicans who got bounced the other night by a younger team that should not have beaten them. Shout out my neighbor / reader of the Basketball and Feelings newsletter, B. — for his passionate debate this week about the debacle that was the Pelicans disappointing season. Pause, now. I need to take a moment to bow at the feet of a great man, a player who I LOVE watching play to the core of my being. When the Pelicans were at the top of the western conference early this season — I saw it with my own eyes — I watched Zion try.
..…Try is the key word because there’s a decent amount of back and forth now as to whether or not he’s trying hard enuff to play for the Pelicans beyond this season. Whether or not he’s taking his body and diet seriously enough to truly make an impact in the NBA, and give the Pels the shot they deserve to fulfill the dreams of their fan base. The problem is, despite his majesticness on the court (just made that word up!) I have my doubts, man. In four long seasons Zion has played just 118 games. Said another way, in four seasons Zion has played 34% of his games. He’s making Kyrie Irving look reliable. Yes, Zion is in his very early 20s still and everyone knew his body might be a problem before he got into the league. People like my neighbor B. like to say, “look at what happened with Joel Embiid. There’s a model.” Yeah well I’m going to be a super model.
I’m still young enuff to catwalk.
A man of Zion’s size has simply never been seen to move that fast before. It’s like watching a tractor spin 360 degrees on the ice like a figure skater. He’s mythical. It doesn’t make sense!
So it’s more than fair for the Pelicans to explore what they could get on the trade market for Zion. They have a team of excellent role players and a kinda-almost-maybe star in Brandon Ingram. No Zion Williamson, but definitely a baller.
“Because of Zion’s injury history the Pels are likely not to get anything of value back for Zion if they trade him,” my neighbor says.
I say, “it’s worth trying.”
My neighbor B. disagrees. He is a Pelicans super fan who believes strongly that they should keep Zion for at least another year to give him a chance to get healthy. He liked what the Pelicans did this year, appreciates the improvements that were made by their rookies; even their veterans are forgiven for losing a billion games in a row during the middle of the season. But I would much rather be the Knicks right now than the Pelicans. They don’t have a player anywhere near as good as Zion or the ghost of Zion’s potential. Nowhere near, but they’re a far better team who can continue to improve their roster as they grow holistically as a unit, something that the Pelicans can’t do because they’re in this constant waiting game for Zion’s health.
I don’t care who you are. If you work at a restaurant and you’re always waiting for the chef to come to work it’s going to be hard to make good pasta pomodoro. If you’re a farmer and half of your farm is filled with shitty seeds, are you making bread? Sure the other cooks and staff and sous chefs or whatever they’re called can follow the recipes but there’s a reason that the chef is is the chef. Zion is the chef and if the chef ain’t cooking 65% of the time, his staff and patrons is going to get frisky when the rabbit comes out tasting different night after night.
Full stop— I don’t believe a team can reach it’s potential when their BEST PLAYER is in street clothes. A team can only reach its potential if there is consistency. That’s why teams like the Clippers, and frankly the Lakers, are potentially going to have problems in the playoffs over these next few weeks, and Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans make the Lakers and Clippers look like Navy Seals, models of consistent high level double black diamond effort.
See ya next week
-AL