Sports
Alvin Gentry on Zion Williamson: We Worry About Him Too Freakin’ Much…He’s 19
Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesNew Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry shot down concerns about superstar rookie Zion Williamson’s conditioning following a 127-123 overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.According to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez, Gentry said: “I think he’s fine. We worry about him too freakin’ much, OK? He’s fine. He’s 19 years old. He’ll be fine.”Playing…
Tom Pennington/Getty Images
New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry shot down concerns about superstar rookie Zion Williamson‘s conditioning following a 127-123 overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
According to ESPN's Andrew Lopez, Gentry said: “I think he's fine. We worry about him too freakin' much, OK? He's fine. He's 19 years old. He'll be fine.”
Playing in the first back-to-back set of his NBA career, Williamson started slowly, but he still finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists in a career-high 35 minutes.
Zion acknowledged his sluggish start Wednesday and added:
“I think it was just one of those things where Jrue [Holiday], Lonzo [Ball] just kinda came to me and was like, ‘You ready to play?' because if you saw me in the second quarter, I think I just kinda turned around, looked at Lonzo, like, ‘All right, I'm awake now.' Because they just came to me, like, ‘It's time for you to wake up.'”
Nothing came easy for Williamson, as Dallas' big-man combination of Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber combined for 10 blocks overall and held Zion to 9-of-18 shooting—somewhat pedestrian number for him.
In 17 games since returning from a knee injury that cost him the first few months of the season, Zion is averaging 24.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. If not for all the time he missed, he would be a sure bet to win Rookie of the Year.
While there was no shortage of excitement surrounding Zion, the No. 1 pick of the 2019 draft, his weight was always a talking point. He is listed at 6'6″, 284 pounds, and while he was out with a knee injury, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith reported the Pels were “concerned” about his weight and wanted him to lose some to take strain off his knees.
It's unclear if the Pelicans requested that or if Zion obliged, but his weight hasn't been a problem thus far.
The NBA grind can be a challenge for rookies regardless of their weight since the schedule is far more intensive than what they were used to in college, but now that Williamson has his first back-to-back out of the way, he figures to be better prepared for the next one.
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