 So before I get into the video here's a quick breakdown on what I'm going to be discussing today. Firstly we're going to discuss Xion Williams since NBA debut and my thoughts on the whole game and how crazy it was. Secondly we're going to look at the Pelicans and my thoughts on if they can make the playoffs and why I think they can but what they may need to do to get there. And thirdly we're going to look at some trade scenarios for the upcoming trade deadline and I want to know before we get started in the comment section down below what pieces do you think they need to go after in order for them to make the playoffs and do you think they can still make the playoffs and obviously I want to know about what you thought about Xion Williamson's crazy performance. Anyway let's get on to the video. So Xion Williamson officially made his NBA debut and it was the craziest debut I've seen in a very very long time. Xion Williamson is the first player in NBA history to score more than 20 points in less than 20 minutes in their NBA debut but if you had only watched the first three quarters you wouldn't have imagined that. Xion Williamson in that last quarter turned the switch on and just went ham and this video is not about Xion Williamson directly. Yes there obviously will be a little bit of a discussion about Xion Williamson and his first ever NBA game but this video is more so about the pelicans not necessarily what we learn about Xion Williamson in his first NBA game. I want to talk about the new Orleans pelicans and now what they could be with Xion Williamson now on the team even on a minute's restriction. He started the game off looking very slow and I tweeted he looked like an old veteran player like an old Xion camp or shack in his final years but he also looked like a rookie. He made some clumsy turnovers that didn't really look like Xion Williamson in college and even through the NBA preseason but that's to be expected. He's coming off pretty big surgery and he's also making his debut where the pressure is on him. He was nervous and I think we could tell but then that last quarter he brought the pelicans back into the game. He's hit double the amount of threes that Ben Simmons has hit his entire career. He ended the game with 22 points and at the start of the fourth he only had five points. He scored 17 straight fourth quarter points including fourth threes and he also finished the game with seven rebounds three assists and of course he did have turnovers but in the end it was a phenomenal debut for somebody who looked like he would have almost a quiet first NBA game but that's why you can't put so much pressure on a rookie because obviously let's say he didn't end up hitting the shots that he hit he would still be an amazing talent and you really can't look at each individual game and critique it or look at what he did well because obviously each game is going to be a different game and it just happened to be an exceptional game in his first ever NBA game but it easily could have gone the other way around so instead of looking at each individual game I think we should look at him in this first week then the first month then his rookie year as a whole instead of judging players so soon. You know what I mean? Anyway let's get into the video. If you remember a few videos ago I did post my thoughts on Zion Williamson and what we could expect once he returns to the league and I said in that video that I really expected him to have limited minutes and obviously we saw that and clearly it was disappointing to watch as an NBA fan and somebody who wanted to see Zion perform but as for the longevity of his career it's very important that he is on a minute's restriction just so he can get his body right because let's say he didn't have that last and crazy stint in the fourth quarter a lot of people would be looking at this game and saying yeah we need to get his body right he needs to be healthy he needs to lose weight and of course he still needs to do that but because of the confidence that we saw in that last quarter it was sad to not see him return back into the game but at the end of the day I think we can all understand the reasons why and it makes sense in the long term. But still for a team fighting for a playoff spot it was pretty unfortunate to see but yeah obviously it does make a lot of sense just as an NBA fan and even as a Pelicans fan I'm sure a lot of them would be upset that they couldn't get the win and they couldn't see Zion Williamson enter back into the game in the last few minutes to actually help his team win and obviously he would be disappointed but I think as a whole community we can understand the reasons why but it does provide a lot of hope and excitement for the Pelicans. This is not a video about Zion and the first game of his NBA career this is more so about the Pelicans as a whole because I haven't made a video on New Orleans and I think it's very important that we look at this roster and see are they good enough to make the playoffs now that they have Zion Williamson can they actually make the playoffs let's break that down in this video but before I get started if you enjoy these types of videos and you enjoyed Zion Williamson's debut let me know what you thought about the game in the comment section down below I would really really appreciate if you guys could drop a like to support the channel and if you're new around here be sure to hit that subscribe button so you get NBA content every single week and hit that notification button so you never miss an upload with that said thank you guys for all the support recently let's get into the video so firstly what we noticed with Zion Williamson in this opening game was the fact that he entered the game and he just created so much space you would assume that somebody that's so big would tend to clog up the pain but Zion Williamson clearly has a little bit more of an outside shot the people assumed he's obviously had the chance to work on that outside shot as he hasn't been able to play in the opening season so that's probably something that has created a positive outcome for his injury so far this season and so you can automatically tell that when he's in the game he just creates so much space when he's in the post they're gonna have to send a double team because it's very hard to stop a player like that one-on-one and if you have Lonzo Ball who's an improved outside shooter Brandon Ingram who's worked on his outside shot players like Josh Hart drew holiday and of course JJ Redick who's a prolific three-point shooter it's just amazing what you can build around Zion Williamson and he is the perfect player for what this Pelicans team needed and he's also the perfect player that they can build within the future but like I said this isn't about Zion Williamson and his opening game this is about the Pelicans so let's talk about somebody like Brandon Ingram Brandon Ingram obviously had a pretty rough night he shot 6 for 22 and 2 for 8 but if you actually watched the game he definitely picked it up towards the end of the game and especially in the last quarter after Zion Williamson was on the bench he ended up with 22 points which obviously he's had an amazing season so far averaging 25.6 points on 47% shooting and 40% from 3 with 6.7 rebounds per game if you compare that up with a young Kevin Durant his stats are actually looking very very good this graphic was made a few days ago but you look at the comparison between a young Kevin Durant at 22 years old and Brandon Ingram and Brandon Ingram looks like he's on a very nice trajectory to turn out to be a great player in this league he was obviously seen as somebody as a Kevin Durant type entering the league obviously the second overall pick same as KD a very skinny player same as KD a guy that looked like he would continue to grow in the league same as KD so there are obviously the similarities and he wasn't able to piece them together in LA obviously towards the end of last season he was able to piece it together but then he got injured that obviously had an effect on his career at that time because he was unable to play but now on a new team with a new franchise he is turning into an exceptional player and if you could build Zion Williamson up along with Brandon Ingram you have two prolific players on that team that can definitely take this team into the playoffs. Lonzo Ball's also playing really well he didn't start off the year amazing he was benched a few times but over the last couple of games he's definitely got his assist numbers up over the past seven games he's only had one game where he's averaged under nine assist and he's also improved on his points per game and even his field goal percentage he's become a better three-point shooter at 35 percent which isn't amazing but it's definitely an improvement on his past years and also his field goal percentage is around the same but he's still playing amazing defense as well and that's something that I think Lonzo Ball can definitely pride himself on his defense which hopefully that just continues to grow as well because when you think about it Lonzo Ball and Drew Holiday is a front court incredible defense Drew Holiday is still a veteran guy that can definitely play his role on a team and I think that at the start of the year they were looking to see what they could get for him in terms of trade but obviously he's coming back from an injury in his first game back against Memphis he dropped 36 points and against the San Antonio Spurs he had a pretty quiet game only scoring 12 points and shooting one from five for three but we know what Drew Holiday brings each and every night so all in all if you have the defense of Lonzo Ball and Drew Holiday you can get Zion Williamson healthier and hopefully you can play a few more minutes per game Brandon Nningram as your main scorer and then you've got JJ ready to come off the bench as a six man alongside Derrick Favors and then the younger guys in Jackson Hayes I think is very very exciting for the future but I don't think it's just the future I think this season alone they can definitely make the playoffs and here's why typically it's quite hard to see a team with only one all-star like Bradley Bill on the Washington Wizards Devin Booker on the Phoenix Suns Carl Anthony Towns on the Minnesota Timbles Trey Young on the Atlanta Hawks like all those guys could potentially be all-stars this year Brandon Nningram is a potential all-star this year but clearly he's not good enough to make that playoff push by himself but now this Pelicans team is unlike the Timbles it's unlike the Suns and it's unlike the Wizards and the Hawks because they actually have a good team around Brandon Nningram Zion Williamson despite not playing this season we all know how great he can be Drew Holiday was once an all-star and is still on the verge of being an all-star if he can stay healthy he's still a 20 point per game player and if they can start piecing a few wins together get on a winning streak they have the chance to make the playoffs this season so when you look at the Western Conference standings the Pelicans are the fourth worst team in the Western Conference but that only means there are only three games out of the San Antonio Spurs who are the 8c so it's really not like they're too far out of making the playoffs and with a guy like Zion Williamson back on this team it looks like they can definitely be on target to make the playoffs they currently sit fifth in points per game behind the Barks Rockets Mavericks Clippers and those are all very very very good teams they sit 18th at 45 percent field goal shooting as a team but with Zion Williamson that will bring them way higher and the highest of the Los Angeles lake is on 48.5 so it's really not that far behind their third in three point makes fifth in three point percentage they sit 20th in free throws attempted per game that will rise with Zion Williamson back they currently sit 11th in rebounds per game as a team which is actually pretty solid so offensively this team is very very good and they actually sit fine alongside some of the better teams in the NBA it's their defense that lacks in opponent points per game they're the second worst behind the Washington Wizards and that's something I think with Zion Williamson they can improve on and I think he makes this team better on the defensive end as well and with Zion Williamson's athleticism and ability to guard multiple positions I think that will really help out this team defensively which is where they lack most but I think if they want to make a strong push for the playoffs they're going to need to get a defensive minded center at this trade deadline because when you think about it their front court defensively is amazing Dru and Lonzo are very good defenders you put in Zion Williamson a bit healthier and with his athleticism and defensive ability he'll be able to guard multiple positions which definitely helps this team and then you really only need that defensive minded center and that team defensively is a very strong team and offensively they're very good as well which gives me an indication that this team will be fine not next year or in the future because I have no doubt they'll be one of the best teams in the future but this year alone if they could get a strong defensive center they could genuinely be one of the toughest teams to face off against which is very scary to watch because currently with Jackson Hayes that's who they would want to build into that role but this season Jackson Hayes is not that guy which means they're going to need to probably get somebody this trade deadline so that's going to be interesting and fun to watch to see who they can go after. Without doing a ton of research I will make a separate video on it but I think players that they could go after could be somebody like Tristan Thompson he's obviously on a pretty hefty contract but he would be great for this team because they need help on the rebounding side and he's also a pretty good defender. Hassan Whiteside if the Blazers go with Nurkic Whiteside might be expendable Whiteside could be a very easy trade target to get for the New Orleans Pelicans and he dramatically changes this team on the defensive end and I don't think the Raptors would be willing to give up Sergei Barker but he's also a guy that can definitely make an impact for this young New Orleans Pelicans team Tristan Thompson and Whiteside definitely two guys I think that the New Orleans Pelicans should go after. So let me know down below what you think in the comment section do you think the Pelicans can make the playoffs and I would love to hear who you think they should go after this trade deadline to help them push into the playoff race who should they go after and who should they target during the trade deadline I may make a separate video on that so stay tuned for that and if you enjoyed the video please be sure to leave a like subscribe if you're new for more NBA content every single week and hit that notification button so you never miss an upload it's been your boy Nick Smith I am out peace