In psychology, the term “cognitive dissonance” refers to “a situation that involves conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.” In terms of NBA fans, a good example of cognitive dissonance was the opening of the “Pelicans Plus” podcast two weeks ago. After an opening in which a recording is played in which Commissioner Adam Silver says “New Orleans choosesZion Williamson“Accompanied by applause, then an enthusiastic broadcaster shouts” Welcome to the NBA! “
The other commentators on the panel actually showed a little more optimism, talking about the youngsters getting precious parquet time, the players giving heart and soul for Willie Green in a way not seen in New Orleans since coach Monty Williams (that Green was his assistant last year at Phoenix), and victories will come, after all They are without their two best players, Zion and Brandon Ingram. In the meantime Ingram is back, wins have not come yet and the short-bench Miami has even given a voluntary rest to Kyle Laurie, its opening quarterback, in an away win over the Pelicans between Wednesday and Thursday. And fuck? When will he return?
If you read the official announcements, you’ll be glad to know that Zion has already “progressed to one-on-one training” and “continues to progress toward back to the parquet,” according to a rare update released by the Pelicans. On the other hand, these are the same Pelicans whose general manager, David Griffin, showed up on the opening day of training camp, and updated the media in a laconic way that Zion broke his foot and underwent surgery, but should be fit for the first game of the season on October 20th. Zion himself, an actor who combines the mass of a tractor and the speed of a Formula 1 car, said similar things.
A month has passed since then, and no one still has any idea when Zion will play basketball.
What are you hiding?
NBA fans can live with a team that stinks of hardwood, they can understand injuries, but there is nothing that drives them crazy more than uncertainty and a feeling that someone is hiding the truth from them. Griffin, the New Orleans manager who arrived glorified from that historic Cleveland championship, is considered a control freak with an iron fist on the information tap. It is possible to dismiss the matter in the “disgruntled journalists”, but in the meantime it is one of the worst teams in the league, with a balance of 14: 2, when we passed almost 20% of the season. It could be that until Williamson returns, all that is left for the Pelicans to fight for is barely a place in the play-in, facing a deep and crowded West.
One of the reasons for this policy of Griffin Is the desire to keep a fuck wrapped in cotton wool, inside two layers of crackling paper, inside a safe that is located 20 feet underground. “We have a big responsibility to allow the fuck to stay in a space of joy and gratitude, as much as possible,” the manager said before the rookie season. This is a sensitive guy with a big ego, a mother who he said was “my toughest coach”, and in general, a family that is rumored to already want to bring him to a bigger market. In New Orleans, this is a sensitive issue: The club, which came to Louisiana after losing crowd support to Charlotte, who over the past decade has become the only owner to function without a husband, handed over to Chris Paul, Anthony Davis and Holiday – trembling for fear another superstar would leave.
On the other hand, market size is no longer an excuse. In Milwaukee and Phoenix we saw two general managers in their first senior career, around the age of 40, building good enough teams, with patience and stability, around young superstars – and reaching a final series. Williamson begins a third season of his career with a third coach, third center and third leading guard. In the first season he had Gentry, Favers and Holiday, in the second season he had Stan Van Gandy, Stephen Adams and Lonzo Ball, in the third season he had Green, Valanchonas and Devonta Graham. The most stable player throughout those three seasons is Brandon Ingram, who we are not yet convinced his combination and that of Zion works.
And perhaps New Orleans’ biggest problem is not the players next to Zion – but Zion himself. And this is a problem, sorry in advance, weighty.
Learn from Charles Barkley
Candice Buckner, The Washington Post’s excellent publicist, wrote a column claiming that Zion was being fat-shamed. This happened, among other things, after news broke that the weight of Zion Emir to 145 kilos and he became the heaviest player in the league (all about 198 cm), caused Charles Barkley to enter it from the front. “He looks like my and Shaq’s baby,” he said Barkley. Nowadays such jokes are less politically correct, but in Barkley’s case one can understand where this is coming from. He is from the older generation, and one encounter with a superstar from the even-older generation, the one where they would still tell the truth face to face without fear of unique snowflakes, changed his life.
Zion Williamson dressed appropriately for this frigid day in DC. And arena. It’s cold up in this piece pic.twitter.com/yERVCcro1B
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) November 16, 2021
Barkley himself was an actor who suffered from weight problems. On the eve of the 1984 draft, payrolls for the Rockies did not yet exist and Philadelphia could only offer him $ 75,000 on a rookie contract. The Sixers were interested in him, and asked him to lose weight; He was less interested in the Sixers and in response, stormed the junk food chain Denny’s. “For breakfast I ate every pancake I could get in here, for lunch we went to the buffet, and in the evening a huge steakhouse,” he said in a radio interview in 2018. “When I got to Philadelphia it turned out I gained 10 pounds in two days. Choose me. “
Despite everything, the Sixers did choose him. When he got to the tough city, he met the Moses Malone Who slapped him: “You are fat and lazy.” Barkley, perhaps the most basketball-like basketball player in terms of a combination of structure and talent, took the criticism to heart. He remained round, but tore his ass off, managed to stay healthy most of his career and reached the MVP season and two championship wins away on Michael Jordan’s head. In his first nine seasons, 82 games each, Barkley missed a total of 52 regular-season games. In his first two seasons, 72 games each, Zion has already missed 59. If you include the current season, Zion has only played in 54% of his team games since being drafted, and as you know, has not yet reached the playoffs.
In some games he has been given rest for reasons of caution, and this season the Pelicans are also taking their time – but that’s part of the problem. If in your third season the health issues that cast doubt on your ability to enjoy a long career only get worse, it could be that the Pelicans are the ones to sell the goods – as far as it sounds psychic, given that last season he had 27 points per game in 61% field – as long It is relatively hot. After all, the matter of weight went beyond the limits of shaming – and became something that substantially endangered his career.
Not listening to nutritionists
Ahead of his second season in the league, part of the positive coverage around Williamson was that he somehow added more muscle to his body and lost 15 pounds of fat, when he “got rid of the bacon and sauces.” Now, as it seems, those pounds have come back and even added some friends. Journalists in New Orleans are already calling it by its name: unprofessionalism. And according to reports and stories that have been leaked from Griffin’s bunker, Zion is simply not listening to nutritionists. “The easy part is figuring out how to eat less,” former star and commentator Kenny Smith advised, in an interview with TMZ, “When it’s your profession, it should not be difficult. He has spent hours becoming a great basketball player. He will understand how to maintain his body. “In good condition. It’s not difficult, just eat less.”
Zion is supposed to know this simple math even without Smith’s advice. At his club is Aron Nelson, one of the best fitness coaches in the league. So either he really does not listen, or he does not care and he is willing to do anything to get out of New Orleans. It is not clear which of the options is worse, probably given the impact this could have on the continuation of his career. “The extra pounds put more weight on the limb, and every extra pound – probably after he has already torn the meniscus – can be aggressive and dangerous for him,” the sports physiotherapist tells us. Jonathan is readable. “For any person, being overweight is a risk – but in the form of his game, the risk is even greater.”
Kria takes us back to Derrick Rose, who won the MVP in his third season in the league, exactly the stage where Zion is – before he tore a ligament in his knee and his entire promising career lost direction. “Because of his explosiveness, Rose was repeatedly injured until he changed the shape of his game. A pretty similar fuck, he moves like a guard, so every pound affects him a lot more. Even without being overweight, he had to change the shape of the game to stay healthy throughout his career. “. The current injury, a fracture in one of the bones in the foot, is of particular concern. “If the bone is not fixed properly, suddenly the effect on his whole body will be more significant, and the chance of injury to the twins or the Achilles tendon will increase, for example. Statistically, in the current situation, I estimate he has doubled the chance of further injury.”
With these prophecies, and with the tractor grounded to a new post, the future of all sides of the Zion-Griffin-New Orleans triangle looks bleak. It’s hard to believe someone would be surprised if in a year or two the city loses its superstar, and Williamson and Griffin are out of the league. “A space of joy and gratitude”, in any case, it has long been not. And yes, the possibility that Zion will return in a few weeks, give a great season and carry the Pelicans against all odds for the playoffs and then the playoffs, still exists. But it seems that the number of believers left in New Orleans – in contrast to the volume of Zion Williamson – is only declining.
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