On the eve of Season 8, Zion: "I'm not where I want to be"

== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man

First of all: the context of a career interruption

When New Orleans Pelicans selected Zion Williamson as the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft,[8] coming from Duke, the franchise was betting on a player capable of changing his game.[7] Seven years later, the reality is different: 278 games lost due to injuries and fitness issues, including the entire 2012-22 offseason.[8] At times when he was on court, however, Williamson delivered nearly 24 average points, combining force to end up touching the bottle with buried explosive.

The contrast between what he produces when playing and how much he manages to play is the common thread of his trajectory in football.NBA And it's precisely this contrast that season 2025-26 tries to break.

Development: what changed in the summer

New body, new posture

Williamson showed up to training camp in "flawless condition", according to Joe Dumars, the Pelicans' head of basketball operations.

Dumars, who is entering his second season in New Orleans, got straight to the point about what that means:

"At some point, you just want the player to understand. If somebody has to call you every morning to get you out of bed and take you to practice, you haven't got it yet. But when you're on your feet doing that, and you are leading, then you start looking at that guy and think: 'Okay, he is good.' That's what I saw from him this year. You can't play 82 games without being in great shape".

A more varied game

In addition to conditioning, Dumars spoke with Williamson about taking on more leadership and diversifying his repertoire - specifically, becoming a more consistent and willing middle- and long-range pitcher capable of punishing defenses that collapse into the bottle.

Williamson spent the summer "working with different people, looking at the game in different ways, trying to find different ways of improving".

"I've gotten better at trusting myself and my game, trusting the work I did to a point where I don't doubt myself".

About the new pitching stance: "If I make a mistake, it's wrong. The next one will go in".

The fifth coach in eight years.

Jamahl Mosley, who has coached the Orlando Magic for the previous five seasons, is Williamson's fifth head coach.NBA Mosley spent much of his first summer with the Pelicans traveling to find players in their offseason training.

"He shows up a lot", Williamson said. "Since the coach was hired, as a group we are stronger. You can see that it's not just basketball for him. He cares about the individual".

Mosley, for his part, highlighted aspects of Williamson's play that he said went unnoticed: the ability to pass and the potential to pitch out of the bottle.

"The challenge we want to put on the table for him is, how do you make your teammates better? Can you expand your game so that it's not predictable what you're going to be doing night after night?"

The cast around Zion

The Pelicans finished last season with a 26-56 campaign - the second consecutive year with fewer than 27 wins. In addition to adding scoring wing Bennedict Mathurin in free agency, Dumars made few moves and brought back virtually the same core.

Several of those players, however, struggled with injuries last season specifically Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray and returned healthy for the first training camp practice on Tuesday.

"I trust Joe's vision", Williamson said. "It is good to see a lot of familiar faces back in the locker room. Relationships have grown, bonds have grown and I think that is positive".

What's at stake

Williamson is under contract through 2027-28 and eligible for an extension this season. According to him, both he and Dumars agree that the focus needs to be on turning the Pelicans into winners first and that contractual talks can wait.

The 26-year-old frankly summed up his predicament: "I've had a lot of problems.

"I'm not where I want to be.

If he's still wearing the Pelicans jersey when the playoffs begin in mid-April, it will be the first time in a lucrative but unsatisfying career that season eight begins with a different body, a different coach and perhaps a different mindset.