Zion Williamson is Not Normal: Pelicans Concerned With His Fitness and Movement

Zion Williamson is expected to make his NBA debut on January 22 against the Spurs. The road to get the No. 1 pick has been an exhausting yet exciting one. Executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin has been closely assessing Williamson’s rehabilitation before he spurs back into action.

Griffin says. “It’s fascinating to me. We’ve learned more during this process than we’ve taught him. We’re getting to the point where we actually think he’s as ready as he feels he is. So everything’s moving in the right direction.”

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David Griffin on Zion Williamson’s Weight Concerns

Zion Williamson weighed 285 pounds coming into the freshman college season. A weight a lot of NBA experts viewed with uncertainty.

Griffin didn’t express any significant concerns regarding Zion’s weight. He also noted that the training staff would ensure he’s eating right and keeping healthy during his recovery. Griffin’s major concern is the mechanics involving his every movement on the court.

“Our challenge with Zion is: How do you continue to give him enough strength to control the torque he generates without adding weight that increases the torque in and of itself,” Griffin told. “Giving him the ability to be flexible enough and to have the right mechanics, and supporting that flexibility with the strength that it takes to control it in the form of a kid who adds muscle mass as fast as any human being I’ve ever seen.”

Williamson is freak of nature, unlike anyone in the Pelicans organisation has ever seen. Multiple tests confirm the organisation’s statements too.

“He’s doing s*** from a physics perspective that no one else does,“ Griffin says

Griffin shared an incident about a week-long team-wide heavy weight lifting routine in the offseason. Zion gained a shocking 8 pounds of muscle during that span, stunning everyone around.

“He’s not normal,” Griffin says. “So finding stasis with Zion is the challenge, because he’s 19 years old. He’s still growing. It’s not going to be about a number. It’s going to be about metrics of flexibility and strength and control and all of the different things that we can measure that really are outside of weight.”

We have all seen Zion Williamson’s dunk a basketball and know that he’s out of the ordinary. These stories from the organisation put into perspective just how abnormal he is.