Zion Williamson

[reignfire]

He's legit. An all star caliber player.

A few questions:

I still don't know what position he's gonna play. I think most SFs in the NBA are long for him. And they run around a lot of screens.

4s are obviously too big for him but he can def take them off the dribble and go around them.

Durability. I just can't believe a guy his size can play an NBA season after season. There's a reason why NBA players aren't built like him. Except sometimes centers because they move the least.

Lebron, for example, could probably play and dominate at 300 lbs but don't expect the longevity that he has now.

[mattg]

Quick hypothetical. If Zion had gone to Wofford for this season (was his first offer) would they be substantially better than Duke would have been if they never had Zion this year? I’m having a hard time envisioning a Zion-less duke team this year not being really mediocre and being like 5th best in the ACC maybe while Wofford would have been a legit national title contender.

Interesting to think about.

[NO-KG-AI]

Easy first overall pick, great prospect, great kid, transcendant level of size/explosion combo.

That said, I don't think he lives up to the lofty expectations that have been put on him now as a GOAT level prospect.

[Funcrusher]

He's legit. An all star caliber player.

A few questions:

I still don't know what position he's gonna play. I think most SFs in the NBA are long for him. And they run around a lot of screens.

4s are obviously too big for him but he can def take them off the dribble and go around them.

Durability. I just can't believe a guy his size can play an NBA season after season. There's a reason why NBA players aren't built like him. Except sometimes centers because they move the least.

Lebron, for example, could probably play and dominate at 300 lbs but don't expect the longevity that he has now.

he's a 4 IMO. he can defend 4's in the post with his strength and as you said on offense it's a mismatch in his favor. he can defend 3s but it's more optimal to have him as a primary 4 that can switch 2-5 i think.

[CptCrunch]

He's legit. An all star caliber player.

A few questions:

I still don't know what position he's gonna play. I think most SFs in the NBA are long for him. And they run around a lot of screens.

4s are obviously too big for him but he can def take them off the dribble and go around them.

Durability. I just can't believe a guy his size can play an NBA season after season. There's a reason why NBA players aren't built like him. Except sometimes centers because they move the least.

Lebron, for example, could probably play and dominate at 300 lbs but don't expect the longevity that he has now.

he's a 4 IMO. he can defend 4's in the post with his strength and as you said on offense it's a mismatch in his favor. he can defend 3s but it's more optimal to have him as a primary 4 that can switch 2-5 i think.

He is a late career 4.

He SHOULD NOT be played as a 4 early in his career. He needs to slim down 10-20 lbs then defend wings. This will allow him to develop more ball skills as opposed to being a PnR roll + rebounding man.

[Funcrusher]

He's legit. An all star caliber player.

A few questions:

I still don't know what position he's gonna play. I think most SFs in the NBA are long for him. And they run around a lot of screens.

4s are obviously too big for him but he can def take them off the dribble and go around them.

Durability. I just can't believe a guy his size can play an NBA season after season. There's a reason why NBA players aren't built like him. Except sometimes centers because they move the least.

Lebron, for example, could probably play and dominate at 300 lbs but don't expect the longevity that he has now.

he's a 4 IMO. he can defend 4's in the post with his strength and as you said on offense it's a mismatch in his favor. he can defend 3s but it's more optimal to have him as a primary 4 that can switch 2-5 i think.

He is a late career 4.

He SHOULD NOT be played as a 4 early in his career. He needs to slim down 10-20 lbs then defend wings. This will allow him to develop more ball skills as opposed to being a PnR roll + rebounding man.

what does the position he defends have to do with him developing ball skills? And why shouldn't he be used as a roller/diver when that's clearly part of what makes him intriguing and potentially unguardable offensively?

[CptCrunch]

he's a 4 IMO. he can defend 4's in the post with his strength and as you said on offense it's a mismatch in his favor. he can defend 3s but it's more optimal to have him as a primary 4 that can switch 2-5 i think.

He is a late career 4.

He SHOULD NOT be played as a 4 early in his career. He needs to slim down 10-20 lbs then defend wings. This will allow him to develop more ball skills as opposed to being a PnR roll + rebounding man.

what does the position he defends have to do with him developing ball skills? And why shouldn't he be used as a roller/diver when that's clearly part of what makes him intriguing and potentially unguardable offensively?

Because you don't want him camping the paint or banging with forwards. He should be handling the ball more than rebounding the ball. He should not be played as an energy role players. 3 position players get more opportunities to play on the perimeter which is a skill he should develop more of.

[baldur]

are those rumours true? would he really stay one more year at duke?

[Duke4life831]

are those rumours true? would he really stay one more year at duke?

Haha no. He was asked right after the MSU game and said he won't give an exact answer right then (can't blame him) but obviously there is a high chance he goes. All the other things that you see like on Twitter are just April fools things. There is 0 chance he comes back.

[King Ken]

I expect our big 3 freshmen to be in the NBA draft.
Not sure about Tre Jones. He needs to return

[Roddy B for 3]

He's legit. An all star caliber player.

A few questions:

I still don't know what position he's gonna play. I think most SFs in the NBA are long for him. And they run around a lot of screens.

4s are obviously too big for him but he can def take them off the dribble and go around them.

Durability. I just can't believe a guy his size can play an NBA season after season. There's a reason why NBA players aren't built like him. Except sometimes centers because they move the least.

Lebron, for example, could probably play and dominate at 300 lbs but don't expect the longevity that he has now.

he's a 4 IMO. he can defend 4's in the post with his strength and as you said on offense it's a mismatch in his favor. he can defend 3s but it's more optimal to have him as a primary 4 that can switch 2-5 i think.

He is a late career 4.

He SHOULD NOT be played as a 4 early in his career. He needs to slim down 10-20 lbs then defend wings. This will allow him to develop more ball skills as opposed to being a PnR roll + rebounding man.

This is why I compare him to PG13/Rasheed Wallace

[EvanZ]

I expect our big 3 freshmen to be in the NBA draft.
Not sure about Tre Jones. He needs to return

He doesn't "need" to return if he's likely to be a first or even early second round pick. Seriously how do people not get this? Every year seeing guys like Jontay return to school and getting injured when they could have secured millions already. Tre needs to work on his shooting. He can do that better by working on it full time in the NBA, not going to classes and studying for Finals. The downsides of returning are way too risky. He might get injured. Even worse, he might just prove that he's never going to shoot it. At that point teams will entirely lose interest.

[HeadtopChunes]

Anybody know what Zions wingspan is?

Is the 6'10 number im seeing right?

[awkwardlycool]

Anybody know what Zions wingspan is?

Is the 6'10 number im seeing right?

By most recent measurements, yes

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

[HeadtopChunes]

Anybody know what Zions wingspan is?

Is the 6'10 number im seeing right?

By most recent measurements, yes

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah,that is something I don't like, especially regarding his ability to play small ball 5 or even the 4.

Hes explosive enough to get those help side blocks but can he play rim protector?

[EvanZ]

Anybody know what Zions wingspan is?

Is the 6'10 number im seeing right?

By most recent measurements, yes

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah,that is something I don't like, especially regarding his ability to play small ball 5 or even the 4.

Hes explosive enough to get those help side blocks but can he play rim protector?

He's not a center. He can be a great weakside rim protector along the lines of a Draymond or Bell, and probably better than either of those. But you don't want him matched up with Embiid, Adams, etc.

[HeadtopChunes]

By most recent measurements, yes

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah,that is something I don't like, especially regarding his ability to play small ball 5 or even the 4.

Hes explosive enough to get those help side blocks but can he play rim protector?

He's not a center. He can be a great weakside rim protector along the lines of a Draymond or Bell, and probably better than either of those. But you don't want him matched up with Embiid, Adams, etc.

I think in terms of interior defense id expect him to look a lot like Marvin Bagley or young Blake, explosive but lacks length. Although Zion seems to have better timing/instincts than both of them.

Perimeter defense is where he can really stand out from those two but im not sure how sold i am on that part of his game either.

[HeadtopChunes]

All right guys ive got some questions about Zion was wondering what you guys think

He's obviously very athletic and can make a big impact that way most of my questions with him are about the following 3 things

-will he be able to create for himself and others in the halfcourt? He didn't really do that at Duke, his handle is good in transition but I don't think it's good enough for the half court yet. He didn't really show an advanced face-up game or anything either. I dont see a consistent way for him to score yet, (in isolation?, posting/facing up?, in the PnR? etc)

-He does seem to have a decent feel for the game and tries to make the right play at least.

-How will he translate defensively? He has the size of a wing and some of you bring up the Draymond comparison but he doesn't have the same length Draymond does. (Having a 6'10 wingspan instead of 7+ like other undersized PFs (Draymond, Tucker, Rodman, etc)
- I have questions about his perimeter defense too, he seemed to be able to lock in and guard smaller players sometimes but not all the time. Can he do that in the NBA? How switchable will he actually be? If he cant guard the perimeter how valuable can he really be on defense?

- He should be strong enough to guard big men in the NBA but is he big enough or will the go over him considering his lack of length?


- I think he's going to be a complete non-shooter in the NBA, his form is really bad and the results are pretty bad too. I think he will at least start out at sub 30% from 3 on any sort of volume. Didn't really show much from midrange either.

[NO-KG-AI]

There’s just not a way I can see him giving guys like Davis or Giannis any kind of challenge when they are trying to shoot over him in the paint.

He will be able to play a lot of 4 in the league, but the superstar 4’s he’s going to have to be hidden from.


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[Funcrusher]

There’s just not a way I can see him giving guys like Davis or Giannis any kind of challenge when they are trying to shoot over him in the paint.

He will be able to play a lot of 4 in the league, but the superstar 4’s he’s going to have to be hidden from.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

not that hard to me. he'll just push them out of the paint and force them to shoot away from the basket. how is Giannis and Davis going to establish deep position on Zion in the post?