Zion injury update 1-3-2023

[13 - 3]

Pels Life

Breaking 🚨 #Pelicans news

Zion out at least 3 weeks pic.twitter.com/EM96UFgpk9

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) January 3, 2023

[neworleanshoo]

oh this is brutal. just when he was playing at a truly MVP level.

[13 - 3]

Welcome to the Jaxson Hayes era now. Hey has played well this season.

[As I See It]

Welcome to the Jaxson Hayes era now. Hey has played well this season.

Yep....

Back to the Future II

Against the Suns in playoffs last year it was:

CJ
Herb
JV
BI
JAX

with 3M3, DG, Naji, LNJ, and Billy coming off the bench. When BI returns, nothing changes other than we have added DD and Kira to the mix.

[markid]

May the team do well in Zion's absence.

[13 - 3]

Schedule about to get brutal too.

[superstar7th]

Schedule about to get brutal too.

Yep out of the next 12 we may only get 4 wins if b.i. is not back.

[PaKwAn]

Even though they say 3 weeks let's just say he misses the entire month of January. That's 15 games left this month with 6 at home and 9 on the road, i see 5-6 winnable games and the rest i could see as a loss. I didn't include BI yet cause God knows when he's coming back then still has to get acclimated to game conditioning. We could end up 28/29 wins with 23/22 loss record by that time.

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Houston felt a like trap game, but now it's a legit must win with this upcoming stretch. Would love to see them go .500 without Zion, but this could get dark. #Pelicans need BI, bad.

— Herb Jones, Fishing Enthusiast (@The_Fallon) January 4, 2023

[Creative]

Pelslife

[Brian]

The hope was we would have both healthy but at least we should be able to keep one of Zion and BI healthy if the other is injured.

We really need Brandon to show up and flex his skills asap.

[13 - 3]

It’s 3 weeks till he gets a review not when he returns. Know the Griff system. No player returns on time. In fact I would not doubt Zion does not return till March for the final run.

[JJackisangry]

The role guys tend to step up in these situations so let’s see where the storm takes us. CJ has proven he can run the team with BI and Zion out. We often play better basketball in general without relying on them. We should be okay.

[Pelicanidae]

It’s 3 weeks till he gets a review not when he returns. Know the Griff system. No player returns on time. In fact I would not doubt Zion does not return till March for the final run.

I'm not going to speculate myself about a return date, but the first part is generally true. Even if he gets that review in 3 weeks and is cleared to return, we also know it's Pels protocol to allow for a few games worth of ''ramping up'' in practice - so even though they say a review in 3 weeks, we can safely assume a minimum time of 4 weeks before he's back.

Of course, players do sometimes have miracle speed recoveries, but we have no real reason to expect that.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

I'm not going to speculate myself about a return date, but the first part is generally true. Even if he gets that review in 3 weeks and is cleared to return, we also know it's Pels protocol to allow for a few games worth of ''ramping up'' in practice - so even though they say a review in 3 weeks, we can safely assume a minimum time of 4 weeks before he's back.

Of course, players do sometimes have miracle speed recoveries, but we have no real reason to expect that.

He won't be back until after the ASB. Makes sense not for him to play before then, even if he is right to go. He'll then get extra time to condition.

[Pelicanidae]

He won't be back until after the ASB. Makes sense not for him to play before then, even if he is right to go. He'll then get extra time to condition.

Love to miss both of our best players for 30+ games every single season. Makes me very happy.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Love to miss both of our best players for 30+ games every single season. Makes me very happy.

This why I can't see this team winning games that matter. Can you honestly see BI, CJ and Zion not getting a boo boo in a 7 game series?

[PELICANSFAN]

https://clutchpoints.com/pelicans-zi...ate-from-shams

Comment from Woj saying it was not a mild strain and would expect him to be out a month plus. This could be a long extended absence.

[DarkHornet]

My mindset right now: This was always a building year for me, not one I was expecting us to be an actual contender. On that level, I feel very good about this team and its direction. If we get BI back, we are basically running back the team from last year that clawed back into relevancy and got into the play-in. If we could just compete at that level, we should be able to hover around or just below 0.500 during the stretch without Zion. I just want to see us in the race if/when we get Zion back, and see how far we can push. Nothing about the long term vision for this team has changed for me, and I'm looking forward to see how some of the younger guys can grow with the increased role and expectations, in particular Trey and Dyson.

[P_B_&_G]

My mindset right now: This was always a building year for me, not one I was expecting us to be an actual contender. On that level, I feel very good about this team and its direction. If we get BI back, we are basically running back the team from last year that clawed back into relevancy and got into the play-in. If we could just compete at that level, we should be able to hover around or just below 0.500 during the stretch without Zion. I just want to see us in the race if/when we get Zion back, and see how far we can push. Nothing about the long term vision for this team has changed for me, and I'm looking forward to see how some of the younger guys can grow with the increased role and expectations, in particular Trey and Dyson.

Great post and pretty much sums up my feelings. One thing is for certain. This teams potential is through the roof. Just need health from the key guys to meet that potential. Most of these guys are young so we have time.

[HorneyTexan]

My concern for the next month is how do we get points in the paint? Sure we can get them on the fast break but most of our drives to the basket have come from Zion. We'll get the occasional put back but this makes us very much an outside shooting team. Unless, we change our mindset and force the ball in the paint, not so much on post ups but more driving the lane. We have some long SG/SF so we must do this. Otherwise, teams will pack the paint and make us beat them with jumpers.

[hornetsrebirth]

Pels just put up 45 points, the most points of any quarter this season. We will miss Zion, but we are still a good team. Its crazy to think but this might even end up helping us by letting other guys gain confidence that can pay off in the playoffs with everyone healthy...

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Pels just put up 45 points, the most points of any quarter this season. We will miss Zion, but we are still a good team. Its crazy to think but this might even end up helping us by letting other guys gain confidence that can pay off in the playoffs with everyone healthy...

We shall see

Nets

@Mavs

@ Wiz

@ Celtics

@ Pistons

@ Cavs

Heat

@ Magic

@ Heat

Nuggets

Sure not a lot of home games coming up. Better get healthy soon.

[Upper Decker]

Last night's game was wildly entertaining. Sure, the Rockets suck, but our squad played hard and unselfishly. \

Definitely a tough stretch coming up, but I like our chances of finishing the month of January still in the top 4 of the West. We should be getting more BI updates soon. Larry too.

[Pelicanidae]

If we can go 5-5 over the next 10 games, I'll take that and run. Should be able to pick up wins against Pistons, Magic, and Wizards but beyond that every game is a complete uphill battle.