Jay Williams reveals key differences between Duke, Pelicans approaches to handling Zion Williamson

Zion Williamson had an incredible freshman season at Duke, earning National Player of the Year honors, while averaging 22.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

Williamson was drafted No. 1 overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2019 NBA draft and arrived with sky-high expectations.

Unfortunately for Williamson and the Pelicans, he hasn’t lived up to them thus far. Williamson has struggled to stay healthy and to stay in shape through his first three NBA seasons. During his first three years in the NBA, he has played a total of 114 games, including only 29 this past year.

ESPN analyst Jay Williams discussed why Williamson has failed to live up to the hype on Get Up Thursday morning.

“When he came into Duke, he was told … ‘Here’s our standard, here’s how you fit into our standard, here’s how we’re going to hold you accountable. Here’s what we expect,’” Williams explained. “When he got drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans, it was like, ‘Hey, we’re the Zion Williamson show. … What do you want to do?’ And by the way, when that standard isn’t set, because there hasn’t been a standard established in New Orleans, they’ve allowed him to do whatever he wants to do.”

That hasn’t worked out well, and Williams believes Williamson would perform better with more direction and a stricter message from New Orleans.

“I think David Griffin needs to repivot and turn that on its axis and say, ‘Here’s what we need you to do. If you can’t do that, you’re no longer going to be a part of our organization,’” Williams said.

“‘What are we trying to accomplish… If you want to be great, then the way you’ve been going about doing it has not led to you being great for our team. We need you to go about doing it a different way.’ I know the basis of who Zion Williamson is. He wants to be great. Like that’s who he is in his DNA.”

While Williams believes Williamson wants to be great, he added that Williamson might not necessarily be willing to do what it takes to be one of the best players in the NBA.

That needs to change moving forward, or a player with a ton of potential will have his talents wasted.

“He has to unlock it. And I’ll say this because I’ve talked to a lot of people around the league… you hear that he loves the game of basketball, but you’re not sure that he loves putting everything into the game of basketball,” Williams said. “And Zion Williamson ultimately has to make that decision. If he loves putting everything… Kobe Bryant loved the process of being great at basketball. That’s a question for Zion.”

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