Larry Johnson for me. But, Zion does not have LJ's handle. Zion sort of slaps the ball down and we won't know until he plays if he will get away with that in the NBA. It's no insult to anyone to be compared with GrandMaMa, of course. He was a singular talent.
Wouldn't it be more interesting to see who becomes an Allstar in the Zion Draft class than talking about him all day?
If he some how lands here in Houston, sure he could become the GOAT. Since that’s unlikely to happen, No.
Yeah ok if he was that good how come their college team got eliminated while he was playing with RJ Barrett, possibly the top 2 player in college? Defensively he's gonna have a major impact as rookie when he is 6'6 with only normal length arms and hands. He reminds of Charles Barkley except even smaller, way more athletic but with very little skill. I dunno how high Zion's ceiling is but if I'm NO I'm taking the flak and trading down to get somebody else. If even Thong Maker struggles to make an impact in the NBa despite being 7 ft tall, fairly athletic, and a good motor/work ethic I wonder how good a 6'6 PF/C can really be. Edit: Holy hell according to Givony tweet I looked up in google apparently his height is actually 6'5 without shoes, pretty much the same height as James Harden and PJ Tucker lol. The thing is, as good as Tucker is you don't want him as your franchise player making 40M a year, and Tucker is a lights out 3 pt shooter unlike Zion. I dunno how good Zion will be but I highly doubt he fulfills all the "chosen one" expectations on him he's just too small imo.
Ja Morant is already lock for an a star spot imo, spitting image of Lillard but possinly with decent passing and defense as a rookie. Rui Hachimura is like a mix between Kawhi and Giannis, if I want an athletic freak I take him over Zion imo.
Harden and Tucker are listed as 6'5. Harden measured 6'4 without shoes at the combine. Zion is listed as 6'7. He seems to have similar wingspan as Harden. Which would give him similar if not slightly higher standing reach. That is around the 8'11 mark. We all think Harden is great at defending the post, lol. Apparently. I think Zion is a more natural SF that can give you a small ball 4 and super small ball 5. But we'll see. Draymond's combine had his height with shoes at 6'7.5, wingspan at 7'1.25 and standing reach at 8'10. Zion fits in with all that. The idea of Zion is Draymond's versatility, with an offensive game and athleticism better than basically anyone, ever. The biggest question mark is the defensive versatility part.
He's definitely a contender for most freakish athlete ever, but "offensive game better than basically anyone ever?" He doesn't project to be the most skilled offensive player ever. His shot is suspect and he's hardly the greatest passer or penetrator in the halfcourt that the league has ever seen in a prospect. In transition, he's a terror but he has questions in his halfcourt game. I can imagine him as a top-five player or even one day as possibly the best player in the league, but I think you're overhyping his offensive game.
I guess I should have used a comma, lol. better offensive game, (comma) and best athleticism basically evern.
I would think his ceiling could be more Barkley or, if he really learns to shoot well, (and it pains me greatly to ever type this)... K... Kar...Karl Malone.
don't think he will ever develop the finesse of karla. and don't think he'll be as douchey either. at any rate. fukk karla... has he gotten bent yet?
Zion is not 6'7 he is 6'5 without shoes or 6'6 if you add shoes. It doesn't matter whether he is SF or PF 6'5 is too short for either position unless he has mummy arms like Tatum or he wears 3 inch shoes. What offensive game does Zion have besides bully ball in the post and super wide open 3s which he won't be able to do in the NBA? My idea of Zion is an even shorter version of Draymond who can dunk harder but has less actual bball skills. Maybe I'm wrong and he develops skills like Lebron but so far am not seeing it.
Lillard wasn't this good in college hence he came in 6th instead of first in his class. We've already seen superstar pgs in college translate well in the NBA if scouts think you are a top 3 talent in college and you are a scoring pg then you will have a successful career in the NBA. Morant is a good scorer and has ideal height and athleticism for his position he literally checks every box you want. Maybe he won't put as many butts in seats as Zion but it is almost guaranteed he will have a longer career than Zion who needs to dunk as high as possible every time he has to score and is a bad landing away from yet another season ending injury.
Comparing Zion to BG is a massive disservice to Blake Griffin as Griffin is a legit 6'9-6'10 and he already has a great face and post up game in college. Zion is 6'5 yet weighs as much as Blake in college so don't compare him to Griffin.
So first, i'll compare him to whoever i please. Second, its not really a massive disservice as you say. Yes BG had a better offensive game coming out of college but Zion's athleticism is superior IMO. Great face and post up game coming out of college is a stretch, I would say good. From what i remember he didn't shoot well from the field and his FT% was like 58%. They both had a lot of dunks/layups so its hard to say how well their shooting was from the field. In college, BG didn't take as many threes. BG took 0.2 and Zion took 2.2, different eras/styles. Physically they both overpowered the other college kids so we'll see how Zion translates to the NBA. Not sure what their height/weight had to do with anything but i will say i believe zion needs to loose some weight or else his knees could suffer. Are you related to BG somehow or maybe went Oklahoma? Maybe im reading it wrong but you sounded really offended lol. Also, nbadraft.net actually compares Zion to Barkley/BG...
