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How Zion Williamson's Pelicans can change 'toughness' conversation this season
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- How Zion Williamson's Pelicans can change 'toughness' conversation this season
How Zion Williamson's Pelicans can change 'toughness' conversation this season appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Toughness is one of those NBA words that can mean almost anything until a team is forced to prove it. EVP Joe Dumars has said the word so often this offseason that it has become shorthand for everything the Zion Williamson-era New Orleans Pelicans are trying to fix. They have heard the outside noise. Skepticism about their durability from a beleaguered fanbase, and about their ceiling with Dejounte Murray , Trey Murphy, and Herb Jones through the trade market has been noted, stored away for the summer's workout fuel.
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However, it's what Dumars has consistently said inside the building that stands out. Basically, it's a question of heart over whether this collection of talent can ever translate assumed potential into sustained winning. Toughness might be the word that determines whether this season becomes another exercise in explaining away disappointment or the beginning of the turnaround the front office believes is much closer than the standings suggest.
"We are going to build. We are going to win. We don't believe we are that far away from winning. We had a tremendous amount of very close games that we should have won," Dumars admitted in April. "I feel that we are close enough. But it takes some work. To the fans, I'd say I understand being discouraged. But I firmly believe we are going to win, and I don't think this is some long rehaul process."
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The Pelicans went just 10-24 in 34 clutch games. That is a lot of competitive basketball followed by a lot of empty trips back to the locker room. Woeful third quarters became a trend. Being so close yet fallen so far behind the NBA Play-In pack, it was hard not to conclude that there is one thing missing.
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"I would add more toughness to this team," stressed Dumars. "We have to be able to compete every night. We cannot get banged around, pushed around. We have to be physical and compete every night. There were some nights we did it, but too many nights we didn't compete at a high enough level for me. You can't get past that in this league. We have talent. But if you think you're just going to roll talent out on an NBA court and that's all you need to do to win, that's not going to happen."
It is going to take more than Jamahl Mosley taking over as coach and DeAndre Jordan in free agency to convince fans to fill the Smoothie King Center, though. Given the lack of moves this offseason, the Pelicans have bet that the locker room has a lot more to give than has been demonstrated. Every player must bring a bit more of an edge, a seriousness to the squad next season…or it'll all fall apart before Christmas.
Group project this may be, Williamson will get all of the blame if this blows up.
Zion Williamson 's showing work
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Williamson's camp (mainly trainer Kris Chrisp) has been releasing more workout footage this offseason than in any previous summer. Fans should appreciate deliberate signals that the 26-year-old forward is attacking his preparation with a new level of professionalism. Dumars does.
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"To be great, you have to be obsessed with this," Dumars explained. "You can't casually become great in this league. What I've seen from him this summer is that he's obsessed with the work he's putting in. And that is really encouraging for me that he's putting this type of work in."
There has never been much question about whether Williamson is physically strong enough for the NBA. The power/point forward might be one of the strongest players in professional sports. However, questions have always lingered about whether he could make that strength available often enough to matter. The habits in those videos need to survive road trips from Thanksgiving through Mardi Gras for the Pelicans to succeed .
That conversation changed somewhat last season. Williamson appeared in 62 games, the second-highest total of his career, while averaging 21 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. The Pelicans still lost; he took the blame. Clearing the 65-game All-NBA threshold has to be the goal moving forward. At least then New Orleans will not have to spend another spring wondering what its roster might have looked like had its best player actually been available.
Winning back fans requires a bit more, well, toughness in conditioning, in running back on defense instead of complaining about a foul, in rebounding when the Pelicans go small, and accepting that being the most talented player on the roster also means setting the physical standard for everyone else. Do all of that, and nothing less, and the fans will come back around.
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If Williamson gets to around 70 games, is obsessive with the details, and plays with the physicality Dumars is preaching, the rest of the toughness equation gets much easier to solve.
Doubting Dejounte Murray
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Only a select, unfortunate few can even understand toughness quite like Dejounte Murray. His introduction to New Orleans became a nightmare almost immediately. Murray's mother suffered a stroke shortly before his first regular-season game with the Pelicans. He then broke his left hand in that opener and missed 17 games. A cousin was killed. An uncle died from an overdose. His right Achilles tendon ruptured in January 2025.
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Murray later described that stretch as the worst three months of his professional career on and off the court. Basketball became secondary. Instead of shutting down completely, getting himself back became the challenge; those 14 games at the end of a lost season helped with the healing process.
"I worked my tail off to even be in a position to play," Murray shared.
Navigating circumstances bigger than sports is something New Orleans does very well. Finding a way to channel pain back into a positive is at the very essence of the city's history. That matters in a locker room Dumars wants to become harder to break, and it's one reason why there was no summer trade to shuffle the decks.
Looking solely at the on-court scheme, it all starts with the point of attack, table-setting guard, according to most coaches. Well, a full, focused season from Murray gives the Pelicans a defensive tone-setter and secondary playmaker who can take pressure off Williamson.
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Pelicans pumping iron
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Murphy III has added 20 pounds of muscle, a physical transformation designed specifically to help with defensive rebounding. The added strength should allow him to hold his position against bigger wings and contribute to the team's collective physicality.
Jones, meanwhile, is playing with a chip on his shoulder. The defensive stalwart has heard the chatter that his best days are behind him, and according to all reports, the Alabama alum is using it as fuel entering a season in which the Pelicans need his physicality on the wing more than ever.
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Not on Herb has built an NBA career by making people uncomfortable. The Pelicans need that player again. His value, however, has never been adequately described by points per game. Jones changes possessions single-handedly. He crowds elite ballhandlers. He blows up actions away from the ball. He gets deflections other defenders do not even attempt. He takes assignments personally.
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Who else can block a three-point attempt by going up, over, and through a screener? If Dumars wants the Pelicans to stop getting pushed around, Jones should be the personification of this particular mandate. Past that, there is a deep, relatively new supporting cast being presented with a golden opportunity.
Up front, Saddiq Bey and Derik Queen are becoming a formidable duo. Bey's veteran presence and Queen's energy have meshed in ways that have impressed the coaching staff, giving the Pelicans a rugged frontcourt rotation that can absorb minutes and physical punishment. Jeremiah Fears brings an unrelenting personality to a backcourt that has needed an edge, while Yves Missi has shown undeniable growth as a low-block option.
Mosley now has to connect all of it into a defensive identity because Dumars is right about one thing. Talent alone will not save this team. It cannot when sitting on the bench or being passive on the court. Thankfully, there is an easy fix that can change the entire conversation around Crescent City hoops.
Dumars has a confidence rooted in the belief that the talent is already in place. Toughness, after all, is not a label. It is a choice. Thankfully for season ticket holders, this year's Pelicans are seemingly choosing to be different.
