What Zion has already, at least through college, is a dominant ability to score in a variety of ways. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...d-be-the-best-no-1-nba-draft-pick-in-a-decade Absolutely, he needs to continue to improve skill set. Even though he will still be one of if not the most athletic player at the NBA level... the difference between him and everyone else obviously shrinks. The good news, though, is that he ranks already ahead of many of his great lotto pick peers already in college. He can post up. He can pick and roll. Both as the picker, and the ballhandler. He can fast break. He's active defensively. Etc, etc. Also, he's listed at 6'7. Unfortunately, he didn't participate in the combine measurements that just happened. Draymond was listed as 6'7.5 with shoes. I've already discussed standing reach where they seem to be the same. In either case, I like Zion more as a 4/3 hybrid whereas Draymond is mostly a 4/5 guy.
There's definitely things to question. That said, anything involving athleticism really shouldn't be a problem. He's incredibly fast. Athleticism aside, he just test out so good overall: https://www.thestepien.com/2018/12/10/draft-notes-zion-williamson-stupid-good/ Overall scouting report that is pretty solid: https://www.thestepien.com/2019/05/09/zion-williamson-scouting-report/
No I'm not offended I'm saying one dude is 6'10 the other is 6'5...that's like saying PJ Tucker is comparable to Pascal Siakam because both are PFs lol. Height is important because the taller he is the better he will be at defense and rebounding, for reference PJ Tucker works harder at getting rebs than BG but he only has 5.8 rebs per game while BG avoids contact a lot but has 7.5 rebs per game. As for the weight I'm just mentioning it because BG has the right weight for his size whereas Zion seems to have too much muscle mass. Will he be able to slim down in the NBA and will it impact his strength in the court? If you remember Lebron's game changed when he slimmed down like 3 yrs or so ago, he stopped being as physical and started playing more on the perimeter. I dunno how that will impact Zion.
How can Zion be 6'7 when he is shorter than RJ Barrett? You can see that in all their pics together. Dude was labeled as 6'6 when he was in highschool and didnt have as much hype (as such nobody needed to fudge his nos), clearly he is 6'5 irl and Duke probably gave him 2.5 inch sneakers to wear when they measured his height: https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/the...ion-williamson-preseason-scouting-report/amp/ His standing reach a year ago is 8'7 Draymond Green is 8'10, the difference is pretty much what you'd expect if DG is taller than Zion to begin with. And if Draymond is 6'6 without shoes then obv Zion is 6'5 without shoes. At his height the most apt comparison for him isn't DG, it's PJ Tucker. As good as PJ is how do you feel about him being a franchise player and making the max? If Zion scored his pts on the perimeter then I would be a lot more confident in his transition but he pretty much got around by dunking all over unathletic kids in college, and he couldnt even carry his team to top 4 despite the talent in Duke. How do you expect him to immediately contend with the best players in the NBA if he can't beat college kids? Even in Zion's best case scenario of being Draymond Green do you think Draymond deserves 40M a year? I dunno man, if Zion becomes a superstar he's gonna be the first tweener in a super long ass time. We've had Beasley, Derrick Williams, Morris Twins, Anthony Bennett all these tweeners were also athletic beasts who owned people in college by dunking all over them like Zion. I'd also be worried for his longevity even if he comes out gangbusters unless he slims down he's gonna have a major injury in the next 5 years.
Look pretty similar height-wise. I'm not sweating a quarter inch one way or the other. I'm also not sweating the idea of "how come they didn't win the title" type stuff. Heck, KD lost in the 2nd round. I think Zion has much more of an outside-in game to be built upon, so I'm good with him as a SF, or more likely how he will be used, as a PF that is undersized in height but more than capable of holding his own. TIME WILL TELL!
Elvin Hayes - #1 pick of his draft by the San Diego Rockets. Rookie of the Year. Averaged 25.1 PPG and 23.8 TRB during his senior year at the University of Houston. He was a 4/5 who weighed 235lbs, 6’9” tall. Played 82 games his rookie year, averaging 45.1 MPG, 28.4 PPG, 17.1 TRB. Just thought some might find it interesting. I don’t doubt that Zion Williamson will be a great player if he stays healthy. I wouldn’t put him in the Hall of Fame just yet, however, where Elvin Hayes is. The kid has to earn it.
he's a little chunky, the NBA will not be kind to him in that stature, he can be a charles barkley type but his role will most likely be the 3 and to be a wing you gotta have more lateral quickness
Yeah time will indeed tell however KD was a pogo stick in college, he couldn't even do 1 benchpress IIRC, drafting him was more about his potential. OTH I'm not sure how much potential Zion has his height and chunky weight suggests to me he has a low ceiling. He's like Giannis but undersized and I dunno how good that will be. I didn't see anything from Zion that suggests he can play SF exclusively I mean he doesn't have elite passing or perimeter scoring most of his shots have come in the paint or stand still 3 pters. Again look at Anthony Bennett, Beasley and Derrick Williams these guys also looked pretty dominant during college. Zion might be the best of that bunch but considering those guys turned into no name players ZIon has to break a lot of precedent if he becomes a superstar. Let's see what happens I may just be completely wrong.
I think the motor/drive is there for Zion to be great. Just got to see if he stays healthy at that height/weight and hopefully he has even greater genetics that help he stay durable.
The reason I’m so high on him is because I was definitely in that this is just an athletic guy with limited skills camp before college and now I actually think he’s underrated in terms of actual skill set. As the stats relative to other top picks in college bear out. Combined with mentality. Beasley could have easily been KD esque. At least KD light. But that wasn’t his mentality. Zions mentality is all hoops, all team, all winning, all improvement. When I combine that with his athleticism, how active he is defensively... I’m betting on the ceiling. Get this guy in the gym 24/7 and improving an already good skill set and I think he’s getting there soon. I don’t care for the Rui types. Not sure what his unique skill set is. I can’t speak to Culver well enough. I did love Doncic for years, and was high in Trae last year and low on Ayton - can’t understand why you’d draft a big that can let play defense at #1. But I’m definitely no expert. I loved Fulton and thought Malik Monk would be a serviceable scorer by now while I wasn’t sold in Mitchell.... so who knows??
great example is Gerald Green. Somebody that could jump off 2 or 1 and with lateral quickness was Derrick Rose.
Yeah who knows indeed however from what I've seen chunky people mostly remain chunky their entire career, if they dont have the discipline to lose weight when they're in college and metabolism is at its peak they cant lose the weight when they reach NBA. Shaq, Cousins, Melo...I dunno why you think Zion's stats mean anything Derrick Williams and Beasley's stats in college are the same or better. Rui doesn't habe a unique skillset but his frame suggests as long as he works on his skills he will be a star similar to Giannis, Kawhi and Tatum before him. You are right we don't know how Zion will turn out I'm just looking at the precedent of tweener types before him and it ain't great.
We won't know he sat out the combine. Apparently thats been the tradition since KD gave the advice for the top pick to sit out combine measurements but part of me thinks he didnt want people to know his height without shoes lol
