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Southwest Notes: Zion, Spurs, Popovich, Rose

December 16th 2023 at 9:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

Throughout his NBA career, Zion Williamson has been criticized for his weight, his effort level and especially for his inability to stay on the court. Pelicans teammate Jose Alvarado tells Christian Clark of NOLA.com that Williamson is aware of the criticism and is trying to find ways to channel it into something positive.

“He learned,” Alvarado said. “He’s young still. We got his back. So it don’t matter about all that other stuff. But he hears it. He’s human. We (are) all human. We all in the generation of going on our phones and stuff is going to pop up. He’s responding. That’s a 23-year-old responding to the whole world telling him something he don’t want to hear. Like I said, it’s whatever. We’ve got his back. We tell him. We told him what he needed to hear. All the other stuff, I feel like was pretty unnecessary.”

Williamson became an easy target after New Orleans was embarrassed by the Lakers during the in-season tournament semifinals. Clark notes that TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal said Williamson “does not run hard,” and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith called him “fat.” Alvarado said the team has rallied behind Williamson to help him deal with the outside barbs.

“He’s human,” Alvarado said. “He heard all that noise about that game in L.A. One thing about it: We can get on him. But the whole world, they trying to push him to be great. Obviously, we appreciate that. But f–k all that negative towards him. He’s a human being.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • There was a mixture of relief and celebration as the Spurs ended their nightmarish 18-game losing streak by beating the Lakers Friday night, per Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Devin Vassell poured in a career-high 36 points in San Antonio’s first victory since November 2. “A hundred percent it didn’t feel like a normal win,” Vassell said. “You see people jumping around on the sideline and everything. … I’m trying to stay composed. But at the end of the day, it’s special. This is a special group.”
  • Coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t expect the Spurs to pursue a major trade to turn the season around, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. “Our focus is not immediate other than individual development and team concepts,” Popovich said. “But if there’s a trade that would make sense both now and for long-term, of course, we look at it. (General manager) Brian Wright and his guys are probably doing that already.”
  • Hamstring soreness forced Grizzlies guard Derrick Rose to leave Friday’s game, the team tweeted. Rose, who has helped the team weather Ja Morant‘s suspension, managed to play only about eight minutes.
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