He's Ba-ack.

[As I See It]

Second Season starts anew. The team we hoped to see in early October hits the court on Wednesday against 'Pop'. Good Luck, young man!!!!

[AussieHornet]

The atmosphere will be electric

[luckyman]

Everybody talks about the dunks. It's the stuff from the 12 second mark that should have you excited. Lots of "bigs" arent doing those things at 19. Nice tight handle. AD sure as hell wasnt.

[akhan786]

I hope him sitting out will be like a rookie QB getting some time on the bench to feel things out and then light it up by hitting the ground running ala Mahomes

[P_B_&_G]

[HartOfaPelican]

I want a win.... BUT..... I really don’t care what happens as long as he stays healthy!!! Big picture!

[13 - 3]

[Pelicanidae]

Everybody talks about the dunks. It's the stuff from the 12 second mark that should have you excited. Lots of "bigs" arent doing those things at 19. Nice tight handle. AD sure as hell wasnt.

For real. As incredible as Zion's dunking is (and it is incredible) it's probably the one of the least incredible things about him as a prospect. There are tons of players who can do wacky dunks, but can't play NBA basketball. His body control, sense of touch at the rim, spacial awareness, timing, positional versatility, playmaking potential, and defensive upside are all at least as exciting as the dunks. Those things just don't make it on the highlight reels as frequently.

You know, Zion was apparently a point guard before the growth spurt, which explains his handle a little. Of course, we hear that story for every slightly larger guy who can handle the ball a little (damn, we even heard it for AD ) but with Zion it actually appears to be true. Dude can dribble.

[Dago75]

This might sound horrible, but I am looking forward to having a Pelicans player who gets the superstar treatment from the refs. There has been a lot of inconsistency from the refs in how they call our games. God knows I have seen Hayes and Ingram get mugged without a whistle. Looking forward to having a player who gets the special treatment and with his size and aggressiveness he can get opposing players into foul trouble

[P_B_&_G]

He's supposed to start!

"Also in here: plan is for Zion Williamson to start on Wednesday night.

Pelicans want to play him in short bursts and he won’t have a hard minutes restriction. Still expect him to be closer to 15-20 mins instead of 30-35."

Per Andrew Lopez on twitter

[Pelicanidae]

He's supposed to start!

"Also in here: plan is for Zion Williamson to start on Wednesday night.

Pelicans want to play him in short bursts and he won’t have a hard minutes restriction. Still expect him to be closer to 15-20 mins instead of 30-35."

Per Andrew Lopez on twitter

Also in here: plan is for Zion Williamson to start on Wednesday night.

Pelicans want to play him in short bursts and he won’t have a hard minutes restriction. Still expect him to be closer to 15-20 mins instead of 30-35. https://t.co/ms3tIoQAUf

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) January 21, 2020

There's the tweet! This is pretty interesting because relatively recently someone said (and I can't remember if this was Griff or Gentry) that he'd probably be coming off the bench rather than starting immediately. Struck me as a little odd, but it makes sense that they'd change it; everyone wants to hear that pop when Zion gets introduced in the starting line-up for the first time at home. Will be electric.

The stuff about no minutes restriction falls in line with what Griff said last week. He was saying there would be no hard and fast minutes limit, and that they're going to play him in bursts rather than extended stretches (so I'm guess maybe 5-6 minutes at a time instead of 8-10) and see how he goes. If he's feeling great, playing great, etc, they might well let him play upwards of 25 minutes, but I feel like about 20 is a more reasonable expectation.

[Pelicanidae]

This might sound horrible, but I am looking forward to having a Pelicans player who gets the superstar treatment from the refs. There has been a lot of inconsistency from the refs in how they call our games. God knows I have seen Hayes and Ingram get mugged without a whistle. Looking forward to having a player who gets the special treatment and with his size and aggressiveness he can get opposing players into foul trouble

At college, Zion got 7.4 FTAs per 36.
In preseason, he got 10.6 FTAs per 36.

If Zion got 10.6FTAs per 36 in the regular season, he would immediately be 3rd in the NBA in FTAs per 36, just after James Harden (12.1) and Giannis (12.0).

But that's a lot, really. It's more likely that he gets something somewhere in between his college and pre-season attempts. So let's split the difference, average them out: 9.0 per 36.

That would still be sixth most in the NBA, behind Harden, Giannis, Doncic, Butler, and Embiid. Just ahead of AD, who gets 8.4 per 36.

Even if you're fairly pessimistic, and say he'll only get college level FTAs during the regular season and go with 7.4 per 36, that would tie Damian Lillard for 10th.

For what it's worth, Ingram and Jax both fall into the top 20 for FTAs per 36, with Ingram getting 6.4 (16th most) and Jax getting 6.3 (17th most).

But yes, you're right: Zion could easily walk in and, assuming normal super-star reffing, be one of the league's leading FT getters.