Sixth luxury man, Zion Williamson is smiling again

A “franchise player” being used as a 6th man is probably unheard of… We don’t know if it will last until the end of the season, but for the Pelicans the formula is working as the Pelicans continue tonight, against the Mavericks5th win in a row with Zion Williamson is used as a wild card. This has not happened to the Pelicans since 2022!

“Unity” answers the All-Star power forward when asked what struck him in this series. “Everybody supports each other, everybody does what they have to do to help the team win. Since James Borrego took this job, his goal has always been to build the team’s identity. The results didn’t come right away, but from day one he talked about identity and finding it. And I think we’re starting to see the results of that.”

Zion Williamson accepted the project

It’s a really strong choice by Borrego to use his best player as a sixth man, but it pays off. And individually, since Williamson is up to his usual standards, but above all collectively.

“The goal is just to get the most out of your playing time” explains the New Orleans coach. “As I said before, it’s a game of calculation: using all my ‘reserve’ on the field, that was the goal. So I’m not surprised. But the most important thing is that he deserves to be congratulated. More than anything. I knew he would react well, but when I saw him approach it like that, maturely, with this collective mentality of being the first, that he’s the first, I shared the idea with him, to “sell” him something: he completely adopted it, he trusted it and makes the most of it.”

Like other legendary sixth men, Williamson doesn’t start games, he finishes them. He scored 10 straight points last night to fend off the Mavericks and appreciated having the ball in his hands at key times.

“We had a really good series, and my teammates and coaches trust me to finish the matches” he continues. “I love being that player. I love that my teammates and my coaches believe that I’m going to finish games. It’s mostly because of the plays my teammates made before that, in the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter. It opened up the game for me at the end and gave me space.”