Gregg Popovich gives Kawhi Leonard-type praise to Zion Williamson’s Pelicans teammate

Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans are currently in the process of trying to secure themselves a top six seed in the vaunted Western Conference playoff picture ahead of the NBA postseason, which is set to begin later this month. Williamson has quietly been playing some of the best basketball of his career this season, thanks mostly in part to the fact that the star power forward has enjoyed his best health since perhaps his legendary high school days, and as a result, the Pelicans have been one of the better teams in the NBA essentially since the campaign began in October.

Of course, Williamson can’t do it all by himself, and one of the other main reasons for the Pelicans’ success this season has been the play of standout small forward Herb Jones, who has quickly turned himself into one of the elite perimeter defenders in the entire NBA just a few years into what figures to be a lengthy career.

One person who loves what he’s seen from Jones, and who knows a thing or two about good defensive players, is none other than San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who took the time to sing Jones’ praises before the two teams squared off on Friday evening from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

“Avoid him like the plague,” said Popovich about the Spurs’ strategy for attacking, or as it turns out, not attacking, Jones on that end of the floor, per Tom Osborne of the San Antonio Express-News on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “You don’t want him guarding you. You think I am just being funny? I told our guys, if he is there, give it to somebody else. That’s the deal.”

An important postseason for the Pelicans

The Pelicans have enjoyed arguably their most consistent season health-wise and production-wise in a long while so far in 2023-24. Last season, New Orleans was unceremoniously eliminated by the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in the Play-In round, a game that Williamson missed due to his season-ending injury sustained earlier in the campaign.

This year, however, the Pelicans appear to be in the driver’s seat to avoid having to participate in the Play-In round altogether. Of course, essentially every team in the Western Conference postseason picture this season is a threat, giving the league the most parity it’s had arguably since Kevin Durant made the controversial move to join the Golden State Warriors back in the summer of 2016. The point being, there are certainly no guarantees of a deep playoff run for anyone maybe outside of the Denver Nuggets, and it’s possible that the Pelicans would be the betting underdogs in their first round matchup, even if they have home-court advantage.

Still, with lengthy, athletic wings like Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, and of course Williamson on the roster, the Pelicans appear to have a roster built to find postseason success, as oftentimes the team who can put together the most stops down the stretch comes out victorious.