Eddie Johnson comments on Zion Williamson injury: “His body is not built to play this game”
The Zion Williamson injury is unfortunate for him and his fans. Willamson was having an MVP type of season and it was fun to finally watch him after dealing with some injuries in the first few years of his career.
NBA analyst Eddie Johnson doesn't believe that Zion has the body to play in the NBA.
"His body is not built to play this game, it's not, but he's very good at this game. And that's why he plays it. But he's going to pay a price, man. That was ugly right there, that was ugly, that was non contact... That tells me he has some tightness going on."
Pelicans announce Zion Williamson has been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain and will be evaluated in three weeks.
@TermineRadio & @JumpShot8 react to the news. https://t.co/2McFufptCD
Another good thing to bring up that was discussed is the fact that the New Orleans Pelicans will now be in an even tougher position with Zion and Brandon Ingram out.
Zion Williamson injury
With Zion Williamson's injury history, there are always going to be concerns about him not being on the court. At the end of the day, Zion is one of the most enjoyable players to watch in basketball and a huge fan favorite since his high school days.
Despite the injury, his trainer spoke about their new workout routine as many were worried that Zion wouldn't be able to stay healthy. With his injury history, it's tough to argue with some of those people. However, Zion has done everything he can in terms of working out and doing what he's supposed to do. In an interview with The Athletic, his trainer had the following to say:
"This summer, we came up with a plan. He committed to the plan. We wanted Zion to not only have a great individual season, but we also wanted to focus on what he could do to help the team win. We wanted to develop him to be more resilient and to better handle the demands of being a very explosive athlete at his size."
He continued:
"We focused on addressing body composition — his body weight, body fat, etc. — while maintaining and improving flexibility, strength and power. We also focused on improving his overall fitness. The more weight he carries around, the more stress it puts on the body. We focused on aerobic and anaerobic basketball-specific conditioning."
He further added:
"One of the main goals was to get Zion back to the same athletic ability he had before the injury. In the process, he’s improved athletically. I truly think he’s a better athlete now than he was before. Once you guys see him on the court, I think you’ll agree."
Zion now finds himself back on the bench due to an injury. However, it's time to start recognizing that this is simply part of the game. He will continue to keep working hard to make sure that he can get back out there with his team.
The Pelicans find themselves in a great position in the Western Conference and need to continue doing so if they want a top seed come playoff time.