Zion Williamson in the NBA?

[kxa007]

The guy is 6-6 and everyone compares him to the best forwards in the game. Can he shoot better than the best SG? Can he defend the best Guards? The 3 point line is farther away than college in the era of shooting 3's, some of you will be really disappointed.

From what I see, he has the lateral mobility on par with great wing defenders like Paul George and Kawhi, as well as the defensive instincts to use the mobility. He's obviously not gonna be having much success shooting 3s but he can go ham at the rim either on-ball or off-ball. Look at what guys like Montrezz can do just by having endless motor and a bit of muscling around, getting lots of lobs or paint finishes, that is something that zion should be able to do right from the get go.

All the guys you named are taller, I think he’ll be a good player but comparison should be to SG, not SF and PF. His risk of getting injured is higher too banging with those positions in drives

[Clemenza]

All star for sure.. still think he needs to drop 10 pounds or so

[Duke4life831]

I'm not sure he can handle the strength of the NBA. Zion is also very right hand dominant, can he ever use his off hand? Reminds me of Harden, he's a high usage offensive player that plays 0 defense.

I'm doing this correct right? This is the horrible take thread right?

[Ugly0598]

Kemp/Barkley/Griffin type player

[2LeTTeRS]

Is anyone whose calling Zion oberhyped actually watching this kid play? He's performing at such an amazing level that it is literally unheard of. How is it possible to overhype that?

PS -- I can slightly identify as a center who only grew to be 6'4; but seeing a 5'10 QB and a 6'6 PF be the first picks in the NFL and NBA drafts has to put a smile on the faces of short people everywhere LoL.

[birdlives_ma]

Is anyone whose calling Zion oberhyped actually watching this kid play? He's performing at such an amazing level that it is literally unheard of. How is it possible to oberhype that?

PS -- I can slightly identify as a center who only grew to be 6'4; but seeing a 5'10 QB and a 6'6 PF be the first picks in the NFL and NBA drafts has to put a smile on the faces of short people everywhere LoL.

This. I'm hearing so many buzzwords in the criticisms. The ones that usually mean people haven't watched anything other than the highlights. I get wanting to be edgy and go against the consensus, but geez. The "can he guard forwards at his height?" thing is the dead give away to me that people haven't watched him. This kid is gonna be Dray 2.0 the second he enters the league.

[birdlives_ma]

I'm not sure he can handle the strength of the NBA. Zion is also very right hand dominant, can he ever use his off hand? Reminds me of Harden, he's a high usage offensive player that plays 0 defense.

I'm doing this correct right? This is the horrible take thread right?

you had me there for a second

[baldur]

I'm not sure he can handle the strength of the NBA. Zion is also very right hand dominant, can he ever use his off hand? Reminds me of Harden, he's a high usage offensive player that plays 0 defense.

I'm doing this correct right? This is the horrible take thread right?

you had me there for a second

me too, actually,
i took duke4life831 seriously and it made sense to me. haha.

[abark]

There was NOBODY going first but James. From the ear before until the draft. No matter who picked. Cover of SI in HS, "the Chosen One" ...Come on...

I literally just posted a basketball analysis from 2003 that repeated my points for you, but you hang on to that, buddy.

I dont care what some blurb said. Literally everybody else that lived through the hype of Lebron's last two years of HS knew he was going number 1 no matter what.

He's the only player ever whose high school games were nationally televised events. There has never been more of a consensus number 1 pick in any sport in my lifetime.

I dont know how to more emphatically state that Lebron would have been picked #1 by every team.

[CelticsLV]

What sets him apart from a lot of these previously overhyped prospects like Ayton, Wiggins is that he plays with very high intensity and effort out there.

[Lalouie]

If he's not at least an All-Star caliber player I'll be shocked, players who are that special physically and have some semblance of skills/IQ/motor don't turn into busts.

Prove me wrong.

well,,,, only zion can prove you wrong
he's too large to not fail. i've given up on predictions when i realized the nba bar has been set so low that it's become a league of youngsters. zion will be facing 80 or 90 kids in the nba whom he played in aau ball. it's just a matter of how good.

[SlowPaced]

Every time there’s a physically imposing player who scores a lot of points playing bully ball, people say "He's not going to be able to bully in the NBA". And then most of those guys do end up being bully ball scorers at the next level.

The exact same thing was said about Julius Randle, he has no problems bullying his way to buckets right now. And Zion is much more physically imposing than Randle is.

Zion is 6'6" and 280 lbs with low body fat. How on earth can one claim that his physical strength will be diminished at the next level is beyond me. There's no player in the NBA that's as tank-like as he is, other than LeBron.

[FairWeatherF84]

I see a slightly more athletic Anthony Bennett on a stacked Duke team....Perhaps his motor will raise his ceiling to someone along the lines of Dejuan Blair .... I hope the Knicks win the lottery

[peZt]

I see a slightly more athletic Anthony Bennett on a stacked Duke team....Perhaps his motor will raise his ceiling to someone along the lines of Dejuan Blair .... I hope the Knicks win the lottery

Sure dude

[LuckyLeprechaun]

Every time there’s a physically imposing player who scores a lot of points playing bully ball, people say "He's not going to be able to bully in the NBA". And then most of those guys do end up being bully ball scorers at the next level.

The exact same thing was said about Julius Randle, he has no problems bullying his way to buckets right now. And Zion is much more physically imposing than Randle is.

Zion is 6'6" and 280 lbs with low body fat. How on earth can one claim that his physical strength will be diminished at the next level is beyond me. There's no player in the NBA that's as tank-like as he is, other than LeBron.

Personally, I don't doubt the Zion will still be physically dominant in the NBA. What I doubt is that a guy can still get by primarily on bully ball. You cited Julius Randle. I think that's perfect, because he's amounted to a role player who is a huge defensive liability. His overall basketball skill level prevents his physical prowess from leading to all star level play.

In Zion's case, he's even more physical than Randle and I would say more skilled as well, but he has no where near an all star level skill set yet IMO. His overall commitment to developing his skills, as well as ending up on a team that helps him do so effectively will determine if he's closer to the next LeBron or the next Randle.

[theonlyclutch]

Every time there’s a physically imposing player who scores a lot of points playing bully ball, people say "He's not going to be able to bully in the NBA". And then most of those guys do end up being bully ball scorers at the next level.

The exact same thing was said about Julius Randle, he has no problems bullying his way to buckets right now. And Zion is much more physically imposing than Randle is.

Zion is 6'6" and 280 lbs with low body fat. How on earth can one claim that his physical strength will be diminished at the next level is beyond me. There's no player in the NBA that's as tank-like as he is, other than LeBron.

Personally, I don't doubt the Zion will still be physically dominant in the NBA. What I doubt is that a guy can still get by primarily on bully ball. You cited Julius Randle. I think that's perfect, because he's amounted to a role player who is a huge defensive liability. His overall basketball skill level prevents his physical prowess from leading to all star level play.

In Zion's case, he's even more physical than Randle and I would say more skilled as well, but he has no where near an all star level skill set yet IMO. His overall commitment to developing his skills, as well as ending up on a team that helps him do so effectively will determine if he's closer to the next LeBron or the next Randle.

Not too long ago there was another slightly undersized power forward with exceptional strength and athleticism, but not so much in the way of skills...

Spoiler:

(Okay fine Griffin was actually more skilled than his perception as solely a dunk machine then would lead to believe, but Blake found success as a rookie right away, and assuming his physical attributes hold up and his team isn't stupid Zion should be able to play like Griffin did then and find good success as well)

[CelticsFTW]

No, he's not going to be better than Lebron. Get real. I would bet on Zion winning multiple DPOY awards though. He has a chance to go down as one the greatest defenders of all time. He's more Ben Wallace than Shawn Kemp. Actually, he's Ben Wallace meets young Blake Griffin. He's a real life Looney Tune's Monstar.

Ben Wallace meets Blake Griffin sounds on paper as Top 10 player of all time

But I get your point.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using RealGM mobile app

[gh123]

Again a crap ton of Bron comparisons, and a mod was trying to ban me for pointing out the crazy. Shame on you.

[gh123]

Every time there’s a physically imposing player who scores a lot of points playing bully ball, people say "He's not going to be able to bully in the NBA". And then most of those guys do end up being bully ball scorers at the next level.

The exact same thing was said about Julius Randle, he has no problems bullying his way to buckets right now. And Zion is much more physically imposing than Randle is.

Zion is 6'6" and 280 lbs with low body fat. How on earth can one claim that his physical strength will be diminished at the next level is beyond me. There's no player in the NBA that's as tank-like as he is, other than LeBron.

Personally, I don't doubt the Zion will still be physically dominant in the NBA. What I doubt is that a guy can still get by primarily on bully ball. You cited Julius Randle. I think that's perfect, because he's amounted to a role player who is a huge defensive liability. His overall basketball skill level prevents his physical prowess from leading to all star level play.

In Zion's case, he's even more physical than Randle and I would say more skilled as well, but he has no where near an all star level skill set yet IMO. His overall commitment to developing his skills, as well as ending up on a team that helps him do so effectively will determine if he's closer to the next LeBron or the next Randle.

Not too long ago there was another slightly undersized power forward with exceptional strength and athleticism, but not so much in the way of skills...

Spoiler:

(Okay fine Griffin was actually more skilled than his perception as solely a dunk machine then would lead to believe, but Blake found success as a rookie right away, and assuming his physical attributes hold up and his team isn't stupid Zion should be able to play like Griffin did then and find good success as well)

Blake is 6'10 though and Zion 6'7.

[coldfish]

People keep talking about his height. Let's talk his weight. Supposedly, he is 285. Some other players listed weights per basketball reference:
C Turner (Ind) 250
C Embiid (Phi) 250
F Lebron (LAL) 250
C Capela (Hou) 240
C AD (NOP) 253
F Towns (Min) 248
F Giannis (Mil) 242

Those were the biggest, most athletic guys I could come up with. Most of the guys in his realm as far as athleticism are in the 220-230 range.

The only guy I found in Zion's zip code was Boban Marjanovic at 7-3 290 but I'm sure there might be a few others.

Regardless, there is no one in the NBA close to his athleticism who is going to either be able to hold position on or back down Zion. The people who are going to be able to keep up with him speed wise are going to be giving up 30 to 60 pounds on him. I think people are really underselling that. Charles Barkley was basically 6'4" and he made a living by just putting his butt and shoulders into people much taller than him, pushing them off then jumping over them. He played at 252 according to basketball-reference.

And Zion is a much higher motor / better defender than Barkley.