Author Topic: Zion Williamson is the final piece  (Read 13619 times)

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Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #45 on: August 20, 2018, 08:22:51 AM »

Offline JBcat

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His combination of size and athleticism is breathtaking. If he can become proficient in the other facets of the game, and that is a big if, he has the potential to be great, even at a less than ideal height.

Does some things incredibly, other things not as well. It doesn’t look like he has the lateral quickness to defend on the perimeter right now - at all. So he either has to fix that (lose 30 pounds?) or show he can defend the 4 or 5. Scroll about halfway down this page to see Langford get by him easily.

https://www.thestepien.com/2018/08/12/early-2019-draft-thoughts-zion-williamson/

Great article.  So long story short he has inconsistent form on his shot, but a shooting coach could go a long way.  He doesn’t have great lateral quickness on defense, and with his average length he doesn’t have as much room for error as other players.

Other than that he is mostly elite everywhere else.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #46 on: August 20, 2018, 08:43:23 AM »

Offline Sophomore

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His combination of size and athleticism is breathtaking. If he can become proficient in the other facets of the game, and that is a big if, he has the potential to be great, even at a less than ideal height.

Does some things incredibly, other things not as well. It doesn’t look like he has the lateral quickness to defend on the perimeter right now - at all. So he either has to fix that (lose 30 pounds?) or show he can defend the 4 or 5. Scroll about halfway down this page to see Langford get by him easily.

https://www.thestepien.com/2018/08/12/early-2019-draft-thoughts-zion-williamson/

Great article.  So long story short he has inconsistent form on his shot, but a shooting coach could go a long way.  He doesn’t have great lateral quickness on defense, and with his average length he doesn’t have as much room for error as other players.

Other than that he is mostly elite everywhere else.

Basically, yes; I think there are also some questions about his off-ball play/court awareness, but it's hard to tell when he's playing against outclassed HS competition or in exhibition games where nobody really plays a good team game.

All that fits with people pegging him around pick 3-6, depending on the mock; a player ranked that high has some very, very good characteristics. But the deficiencies are why he's not ranked 1 or 2 by pretty much anybody.

I don't love the fit for the Cs. He's not pushing Tatum out of the four and I'm skeptical he can play the five. If we're drafting a 3, Little, Reddish, or Barrett all look more appealing.

This is before we try to figure out the injury risk for a kid who is 285 at 18 years old who depends very, very heavily on elite athleticism and in a few youtube videos is wearing a knee support.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #47 on: August 20, 2018, 09:49:21 AM »

Offline GreenShooter

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His combination of size and athleticism is breathtaking. If he can become proficient in the other facets of the game, and that is a big if, he has the potential to be great, even at a less than ideal height.

Does some things incredibly, other things not as well. It doesn’t look like he has the lateral quickness to defend on the perimeter right now - at all. So he either has to fix that (lose 30 pounds?) or show he can defend the 4 or 5. Scroll about halfway down this page to see Langford get by him easily.

https://www.thestepien.com/2018/08/12/early-2019-draft-thoughts-zion-williamson/
Doesn't mean a thing. Langford will be doing that to A LOT of people this year. He's super quick.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #48 on: August 20, 2018, 12:02:19 PM »

Offline KG Living Legend

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 As an athlete he is a little strange. The running full speed free throw line dunks are the deepest we have ever seen.

 I've seen maybe two dunks ever from that deep. And he's 285 pounds.

 His second jump is very quick, but I'm not convinced he's super explosive from a standstill yet. 6'10" wingspan and About an 8'7" standing reach. Tatum is 8'11" and Bob Williams is 9'4" ultra elite.


 From what I see he needs that one big gather step to power it home in your face, and if he's running full speed just get out of the way or duck.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #49 on: August 20, 2018, 12:08:24 PM »

Offline Sophomore

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His combination of size and athleticism is breathtaking. If he can become proficient in the other facets of the game, and that is a big if, he has the potential to be great, even at a less than ideal height.

Does some things incredibly, other things not as well. It doesn’t look like he has the lateral quickness to defend on the perimeter right now - at all. So he either has to fix that (lose 30 pounds?) or show he can defend the 4 or 5. Scroll about halfway down this page to see Langford get by him easily.

https://www.thestepien.com/2018/08/12/early-2019-draft-thoughts-zion-williamson/
Doesn't mean a thing. Langford will be doing that to A LOT of people this year. He's super quick.

Not just Langford. If you go to the page, you'll see three other guys have their way with him on the perimeter, not just Langford. His anticipation isn't good, and he lacks the quickness to recover. Maybe it's fixable, maybe it isn't. If you want to be a small-ball five, you better be able to at least stay in front of your man on the perimeter to force a jump shot.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #50 on: August 20, 2018, 12:27:42 PM »

Offline Sophomore

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As an athlete he is a little strange. The running full speed free throw line dunks are the deepest we have ever seen.

 I've seen maybe two dunks ever from that deep. And he's 285 pounds.

 His second jump is very quick, but I'm not convinced he's super explosive from a standstill yet. 6'10" wingspan and About an 8'7" standing reach. Tatum is 8'11" and Bob Williams is 9'4" ultra elite.


 From what I see he needs that one big gather step to power it home in your face, and if he's running full speed just get out of the way or duck.

Yes indeed. Waiting to see who will be the first to try to take a charge when ZW has a full head of steam, and hoping that the young man will be OK.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #51 on: August 20, 2018, 02:19:43 PM »

Offline GreenShooter

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His combination of size and athleticism is breathtaking. If he can become proficient in the other facets of the game, and that is a big if, he has the potential to be great, even at a less than ideal height.

Does some things incredibly, other things not as well. It doesn’t look like he has the lateral quickness to defend on the perimeter right now - at all. So he either has to fix that (lose 30 pounds?) or show he can defend the 4 or 5. Scroll about halfway down this page to see Langford get by him easily.

https://www.thestepien.com/2018/08/12/early-2019-draft-thoughts-zion-williamson/
Doesn't mean a thing. Langford will be doing that to A LOT of people this year. He's super quick.

Not just Langford. If you go to the page, you'll see three other guys have their way with him on the perimeter, not just Langford. His anticipation isn't good, and he lacks the quickness to recover. Maybe it's fixable, maybe it isn't. If you want to be a small-ball five, you better be able to at least stay in front of your man on the perimeter to force a jump shot.
Fair enough. There are a lot of videos on that link so I'll check them out later. Zion is a very intriguing prospect and no one that size has the athleticism he has. He'll be fun to follow, along with Reddish on the same team. I'm not all that high on Barrett but that's only because he's a consensus first pick in the mock drafts and I see more value elsewhere (Langford being one you mentioned...he's very good). Then again, Anthony Bennett went first overall. Ugh!! Barrett is not that low on my meter.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #52 on: August 20, 2018, 02:37:14 PM »

Offline ETNCeltics

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Some of the questions about him are legit. The ones above about his athleticism are not.

He's also a very good ball handler and has excellent body control.

If he could consistently shoot 3s - and I don't think the jury is in that he can't - he'd be the #1 overall pick and there wouldn't be any question about it. There some video in the exhibition games Duke has been playing of him showing a pretty decent pull up jumper (with amazing lift, he'll be able to shoot over pretty much anyone), but we're going to have to watch him over the course of the season on his 3s.

On his D, yes, you can see him look sloppy, but let's be honest: he's spent most of his basketball life on D with half (or most) of his mind ready to take off for a youtube highlight dunk. With his athleticism, he can play D, it's just a matter of whether or not he's one of those guys who doesn't have a want-to.


Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #53 on: August 20, 2018, 03:10:09 PM »

Offline JHTruth

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Some of the questions about him are legit. The ones above about his athleticism are not.

He's also a very good ball handler and has excellent body control.

If he could consistently shoot 3s - and I don't think the jury is in that he can't - he'd be the #1 overall pick and there wouldn't be any question about it. There some video in the exhibition games Duke has been playing of him showing a pretty decent pull up jumper (with amazing lift, he'll be able to shoot over pretty much anyone), but we're going to have to watch him over the course of the season on his 3s.

On his D, yes, you can see him look sloppy, but let's be honest: he's spent most of his basketball life on D with half (or most) of his mind ready to take off for a youtube highlight dunk. With his athleticism, he can play D, it's just a matter of whether or not he's one of those guys who doesn't have a want-to.

Reddish will be the No 1 pick if he wants to be. Kid is freakishly talented. But hey if he falls to us I won't complain.

Zion is very difficult to project as a pro prospect. His current size means he will in all likelihood be 300+ in his prime. At 6'7" with only a 6'10" wingspan. How does that look in the NBA? We've never seen anything like it other than Jabba the Huts like Oliver Miller, Sweetney, BBD, fat Barkley and Kemp. Anyone else excited about those guys? I certainly am not.

How will keep his athleticism through his career? Very tough to say

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #54 on: August 20, 2018, 04:28:54 PM »

Offline JBcat

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My initial thoughts was maybe he could be at least a poor man’s Larry Johnson/Charles Barkley type, but both those guys listed weight was around 250, and Williamson is at 285!  The crazy thing is my eyes don’t tell me he looks overweight.  He seems pretty chiseled, but that is a lot of weight to carry for his height and worrisome as he gets older.

For me it will be interesting to see if becomes more of a wing with his quickness and lack of height and wingspan, or a big because of his strength.  Maybe he’s just a swing. Ha

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #55 on: August 20, 2018, 05:00:18 PM »

Offline Chief Macho

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Meh..I dont think he’s bball smart.  And the athletisism will be muted in the league.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #56 on: August 20, 2018, 05:22:54 PM »

Offline gouki88

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Meh..I dont think he’s bball smart.  And the athletisism will be muted in the league.
Why? His playmaking and decision making seem pretty good, not like he’s useless out there.

And when has a guy this athletically freakish had his athleticism muted?
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Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #57 on: August 20, 2018, 06:57:38 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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Really hope the Cs stay away from this guy. I think he could be a risky pick if the Celtics are in the top 4. Would rather Danny take Reddish, Little or Barrett before Zion.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #58 on: August 20, 2018, 08:02:10 PM »

Offline beantownboy171

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Meh..I dont think he’s bball smart.  And the athletisism will be muted in the league.
Why? His playmaking and decision making seem pretty good, not like he’s useless out there.

And when has a guy this athletically freakish had his athleticism muted?
Just gonna jump in here. I need watch more highlights to figure out if he's worthy of this comparison. But perhaps Blake Griffin? His athleticism translated for a while. But with declining returns and obviously was impacted by injuries. But the point is it is difficult to sustain that type of athleticism and what is left after it starts to fade?

That being said my mind isn't made up on any of these kids this early in the year.

Re: Zion Williamson is the final piece
« Reply #59 on: August 20, 2018, 11:31:55 PM »

Offline smokeablount

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Really hope the Cs stay away from this guy. I think he could be a risky pick if the Celtics are in the top 4. Would rather Danny take Reddish, Little or Barrett before Zion.

Concur- as of now.
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