The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Cavaliers desperately need a Zion Williamson
The Hope for the Woebegone Tour, starring Zion Williamson, made its scheduled stop in Cleveland on Jan.
28, and Cavalier fans took notice.
Williamson, chosen by New Orleans with the first pick of the 2019 NBA draft, is to the Pelicans and their fans what LeBron James was to the Cavaliers and their fans in 2003.
Normally fans boo or do not react when opposing players are introduced at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, but they gave a rousing cheer when Williamson was introduced. It is also noteworthy one of the largest crowds of the season turned out to see Williamson in his only appearance at the FieldHouse this season.
The Cavaliers chose James with the first pick of the 2003 draft. He led the Cavs to their first NBA Finals appearance in 2007 in his fourth year on the team and in the 37th year of the Cavaliers’ existence. They went to the Finals all four years of his second stint with the Cavs.
The Pelicans began their NBA life as the Charlotte Hornets in 1988. The franchise was moved to New Orleans for the 200203 season and renamed the Pelicans in 2013.
No matter the city they call home, no matter the name they go by, the Hornets/Pelicans have been stuck in a rut for more than 30 years. They have never made it beyond the conference semifinals in the playoffs.
But now that they have Williamson, there is reason for Pelicans fans to believe they will some day have their own parade. Every sorry team in the league can cling to the hope they will get their own version of Williamson someday.
Surgery on Williamson’s right knee just before the 2019-20 NBA season began forced him to miss the first three months of the season. Williamson played in only three games before facing the Cavaliers. The Pelicans lost the first two games in which Williamson played, but he played 17 minutes, scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Jan. 26 when the Pelicans upset the Celtics, 123-108, in New Orleans.
“We were just talking about how crazy athletic a man can be at that size with that body type,” Cavs coach John Beilein said before the game. “That’s what’s most amazing about him.”
The Pelicans, 18-29 before facing the Cavaliers, are 12th in the NBA West, 4.5 games behind the Grizzlies, who currently own the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference.
The Pelicans still have time to fight their way into the 2020 playoffs. But even if they are shut out of the 2020 postseason, Williamson, 6-foot-7, 285 pounds, gives them a reason to believe better days are ahead.
“He just as that ‘It factor,’ I think,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said before tipoff. “He’s all about the team. He’s going to play hard. He’s going to do things that help other guys become better. He’s a good, good guy.”
There is no secret to success in the NBA. Coaching is overrated. It is a league ruled by its superstars and divided into two distinct groups — the haves and have nots. Sixteen of 30 teams make the playoffs, but most fall into the “have not” category, and that includes most playoff teams.
For instant proof, look at the Western Conference standings. Start at the top and keep going down team by team until you get to the bottom, where you will find the 10-37 Warriors.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, smarmy and smug while his team played in five straight NBA Finals from 2015-19, now is in charge of the team with the worst record in the NBA. He no longer is a coaching genius now that Kevin Durant (injured) is with the Nets, Steph Curry is recovering from a wrist injury and Klay Thompson is recovering from knee surgery.
Likewise, the Cavaliers, to put it in basketball terms, are an air ball without James. They were 108220 in the four seasons before they literally won the lottery so they could take him with the first pick of the 2003 draft, low-lighted by going 17-65 in 2002-03.
The Cavs were 97-225 when James was with the Heat from 2010-11 through 2013-14.
They were 19-63 last season, James’ first with the Lakers after signing there as a free agent in July 2018, and they are a pitiful 13-34 this season.
There is no way to predict when the Cavaliers will be lucky enough to be bad enough at the right time to have a chance of winning the lottery so they can draft a player who can dominate the way James did and the way Williamson is expected to dominate for the Pelicans.
It is the only way they can get out of the quicksand they are stuck in now.