On Williamson...
Yes, Zion Williamson laid an egg in Vegas last Thursday, and the unavoidable comparison didn't help his cause. The 23-year-old appeared about a quarter as sprightly as the 38-year-old LeBron James, as the Pelicans lost to the Lakers 133-89 in the semifinal round of the In-Season Tournament. Williamson had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, with two rebounds, three assists, and three turnovers in 26 minutes of a game that largely consisted of garbage time. He did not look conditioned enough for the two-way demands of the NBA, and frequently caught his breath instead of dialing in on defense or on the glass. Williamson had been playing well recently, but that performance was enough for the bloviating class to declare open season on the poor Pelicans forward.
The TNT nu-vaudeville routine of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal addressed Williamson with uncharacteristic sincerity, as if urging a troubled youth back on track. "Somebody has got to get a hold of him." Barkley said after Thursday's game. "'Cause he got so much talent. He's going to be somewhat successful, but he could be special. I don't know if he has a Moses Malone, who told me I was fat and lazy. He owns that organization already." Comparing the Pelicans star to himself, O'Neal said that Williamson "does not run hard" and "does not rebound," referencing his own early career follies.
The weekend offered no respite for Williamson. On Monday's episode of First Take, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith was claiming he had sources in the Louisiana culinary community and passing along their reports verbatim. "You got chefs in New Orleans who love him, they're looking for him," he said. "The word out on Zion Williamson is that 'he'll eat the table.' I'm quoting." Smith doubled down on his gastronomical reportage on Tuesday, supposedly after talking to Williamson's stepfather. He was trying to help Williamson, you see, by telling him "what they're saying about you behind your back."
I know folks hate Randle but the notion that the same people that hate Randle are going to end up absolutely despising Williamson is very real. To bank on the "he doesn't want to be in NO and if you simply swapped the 'O' for 'Y' he'd be fired up is a pretty risky gamble. To eat himself to his current state, given the talent and overall positivity he has there with the Pelicans is alarming. And you can only blame everyone else but Zion so much (and we know how Knick fans LOVE to blame their "best player").
Randle at the very least produces and he produces at an extremely high level that just is not superstar level. A 300+lb Williamson isn't going to be able to produce at a superstar level either. So if Knick fans are ok with getting a Randle like level player production then ok. But that's not how fans work right? They want to trade for the superstar Zion and expect superstar Zion. What happens if (and right now very likely when) you aren't getting superstar Zion? What happens when you get the current version of Zion who has played more than 29 games in a season just once in his 5 year NBA career (let me repeat...he has played more than 29 games a season just one time in 5 years due every single bit to poor conditioning)?
Rhetorical questions of course. We know exactly what will happen. Knick fans will look to burn him at the stake like never before for disappointing them and not being able to do the impossible. What Knick fans did to Marbury, Melo, etc. will seem like a WS parade. Him wanting to be in NY as a driver for Zion to become a better player? Marbury and Melo both also wanted to be in NY and that didn't change either of their spots either did it?
On the flip side, if I was Zion's advisors the absolute last place I'd suggest he try to go to would be NY cause it's an absolute catastrophe waiting to happen. Can you imagine the absolute venom that will be slung at him in MSG if swapping the "O" for the "Y" doesn't do diddly to get him to rethink his NBA existence.