How good will Zion Williamson be at Duke and in the NBA?

L-J wrote:

yeah LJ's draft height was 6'5" and Mutombo clains LJ was like 6'3" for whatever that's wrrth.......but if LJ can go 20-10 I'm sure Zion will be fine.

LexRun wrote:

L-J wrote:

yeah LJ's draft height was 6'5" and Mutombo clains LJ was like 6'3" for whatever that's wrrth.......but if LJ can go 20-10 I'm sure Zion will be fine.

http://www.nba.com/draft2003/profiles/JamesLeBron.html

Larry Johnson, not Lebron James

Good to see you don’t let your hatred cloud your basketball judgment.

6 foot 10 inch wingspan and 40 inch vertical trumps 7 feet tall.

Coach K will teach him how to shoot like all of his players. Calipari would be a better coach for preparing this type of player for the NBA. He is taller than Barkley but with a higher vertical. However, I have some doubts about how he'll fare in the NBA, because it seems as if he will have trouble getting his shot blocked by taller players and players will back off of him and dare him to shoot if he doesn't develop a shot in the next year.

coach wrote:

or....... wrote:

or like Charles Barkley.

honestly what could Charles do what Zion can't?

Charles wwasn't always fat, and he didn't rely on athletic dunks. Zion will have knee problems by the end of his first year.

Barkley came into the league much fatter than Zion is now and then trimmed up. His college playing weight was ~300 at 6'4" 1/2

and LOL at Barkley not relying on dunking....he probably had more dunks than anyone in the NBA during his time on the 76ers. During Jordan's peak it was Charles Barkley, not Jordan who lead the league in dunks. Barkley's game WAS all about rebounding, putbacks , blocking shots, running the break, and dunking.....almost EXACTLY what Zion's will be.

Against the scrub Canadian team, Williamson did prove that he has a midrange jump shot. Hard to say anything else right now, because he could get to the rim at will but against whom?

I think he'll be all right.

damn....he just DESTROYED #2 Kentucky

If he were born in Europe, he would be a world class discus thrower.

Freak athlete who I am surprised that he's not playing football instead of hoops.

Should be fun to see how he develops his game both in the short and long term.

whoever is calling him fat is out of their minds. he is 285 of pure muscle. his vertical is 45", more than any nba player. duke dominated when he was on the court last night. ive never seen an athlete like him. he had some sweet larry bird esq assists last night too!

he is a combo of larry johnson/shawn kemp

kemp had a 40" i believe and 3 inches taller

what impressed me last night was his brand new cross over and drive...he never showed that in hs or his exhibition games in canada....dude has a legit cross and drive now and boom...if he did that ti UK, he can get 40 against mid tier teams

Even better than projected . 2 games....55 points.....5 missed shots. Insane.

agility/speed, ball handling much better than I expected, lots of coast-to-coasts in his future,

is there anything that a young Barkley could do that Zion can't?

NBA rookie year: 19pts- 8.5rbs - 1.5 blks - 53% fg

He is another JR Reid.

He is at his peak now.

I can’t believe everyone’s missing the point.

Zion is the sizzle but RJ Barrett will be the better in college & NBA. It’s not even close who is better from a basketball team perspective.

1ub2run wrote:

I can’t believe everyone’s missing the point.

Zion is the sizzle but RJ Barrett will be the better in college & NBA. It’s not even close who is better from a basketball team perspective.

based on what?

might be true but I'm not seeing it yet.

Ben L Wrong wrote:

He could be, at worst, the next Anthony Bennett, or the next Shawn Kemp. Not better than Kemp for sure.

RJ is far better than Zion now. The kid from Indiana (Langford) also seems to be more complete than zion

That said, the kid have good IQ, he's not a clown. He is going to have a long career at the NBA.

If he improves his shot selection, I see 15 and 7 for his freshman year under Coach K.

The free throw line dunk? It's great. And many people did that. Including players like Jonathan Bender, Gerald Wallace, Brent Barry, etc. But -for example- Brent Barry had a long career in the NBA because of his outside shot. And he was avoiding dunks after all. The landing hurts...

If you see 15 and 7 for him, you need glasses.

ummmm wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

This is a re-run. We saw this with Julius Randle at Kentucky.

Same s h i t. Same H Y P E . More than likely will be the same result.

Randle might be OVERperforming in the NBA from the #7 draft slot.

Both Randle and Zion putting up 20-10 type seasons..............so I guess Scorpion Jogger was right...SAME results!

Dude is putting up a PER of 40.7 right now.......40!

the most telling stats might be the 2 blks/2steals a game. Those are some of the best predictors of NBA success.

visually it's the better than expected ball handling/change of direction. The dude is shifty quick at 280 lbs.

1ub2run wrote:

I can’t believe everyone’s missing the point.

Zion is the sizzle but RJ Barrett will be the better in college & NBA. It’s not even close who is better from a basketball team perspective.

ummmmmm.......i'm gonna have to disagree lol.

Who would thought that we'd been underestimating this kid along......single handly DESTROYED a good St. Johns team today.

Barret is solid but Zion is on another level. Ball handling, defense and lateral quickness WAY better than advertised, and shot is developing....Heck zion might end up shooting a better percentage from 3 than RJ this year.

His 2p fg% is like 75%, unbelievable.