Zion Williamson Is A Confusing Ball Of Awesome
A new “LeBron James” might be emerging at Spartanburg Day High School.
Before establishing himself as arguably the second greatest basketball player of all time, LeBron James was dominating the high school ranks as early as his sophomore year in St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. He was best known for using his monster frame, along with his ridiculous athletic ability to score on the fast break, or in creating for himself in the half-court. Sure, he had a very high Basketball IQ, but for fans, what mattered were the dunks and chase-down blocks that came out in SportsCenter.
The SportsCenter Top 10 culture has led fans to make hasty comparisons when it comes to assessing high school talents. If you’re a forward who’s incredibly athletic, you’re immediately the next LeBron James. One recent example is Andrew Wiggins, who turned into an internet darling when his mixtape of highlights started to circulate around social media. He was dubbed as “Maple Jordan,” but the player many saw as a more accurate comparison was The King. Both of them were clearly miles above their competition thanks to their athletic gifts, and it also helped they had rivals who were also compared a lot to each other (Jabari vs. Melo).
Fast forward to 2017, and we have another player being dubbed as “The Next LeBron James.” You can even make a claim this kid is more LeBron than Wiggins. Wiggins was flash more than power; he had a subtle grace to his game with spin moves that left defenders shook, and a ridiculous hang time that made him look like he was sipping tea as he was about to dunk. This batch’s next LeBron has raw power, even being dubbed a “flying tank” by SLAM Philippines’ Polo Bustamante.
Enter Zion Williamson.
Williamson is a senior who studies in Spartanburg Day High School in South Carolina. He started to gain attention nationally last year, when his mixtapes started to circulate around the internet. The statistics don’t lie — Zion is incredibly popular. He has multiple videos that have one million views or more. Some NBA players don’t even have mixtapes that can crack at least 50,000 views. Heck, he even has his own SLAM Magazine cover already.
When you watch his highlights, you can’t help but be amazed. Watching Williamson throw dunks is an absolute joy. The way Williamson throws the ball down is the perfect depiction of how fans would want to dunk if only they were athletic and strong enough to do so. You don’t want light, baby dunks and call it a day. You want to destroy rims, and every time Williamson takes flight, it feels like he could pull the backboard down with him.
You get it. Zion Williamson is an absolute monster, who is incredibly fun to watch. Start convincing yourself the hype is for real. But then, you take a step back and mutter to yourself, is it really REAL?
Is he really the next LeBron James?
When you watch his highlights for a second time, you start to see a recurring theme with what’s being shown. All dunks. They show raw power. Describing him as a flying tank is very accurate. He has a very strong body. You could even go as far as to say he’s already an NBA-ready athlete.
You then tell yourself, “Alright, he is for real!” Rarely, if ever, do we see players with the blend of athleticism and strength as Williamson. Some have NBA-ready bodies, but lack athletic ability to really excel (Ben Simmons), while there are those who are gifted athletes, but their bodies still require a lot of work (Andrew Wiggins).
Williamson just so happens to have both. Practically no one can stop him when he elevates because he’s so strong and athletic. He doesn’t just use these tools in order to create highlights. He’s also able to produce for his team, as evidenced by the 82 percent 2-point field goal percentage that he put up as a junior. It’s like having Shaq, except he’s faster and much more athletic.
Another thing we have to take note when talking about Williamson’s athleticism is his ridiculous body control in the air. Just look at the beauty of this move:
Doing the behind-the-back dribble is cool and all, but look how he’s able to power his way up. In the process, he calmly dips the ball for a terrific finger roll. He isn’t all power, ladies and gentlemen. He also has grace to finish when in flight.
Have fun with Williamson’s highlights by typing into the search bar again, “Zion Williamson highlights.” By watching his highlights, you start to see some other plays aside from the dunks he makes. He’s not just receiving lobs or throwing down the ball off fast breaks. Williamson makes crossover dribble, then all of a sudden, a great pass is thrown. He isn’t just some one-dimensional basketball player.
Williamson isn’t an elite passer yet, considering he averaged just 3.2 assists per game as a junior. He also came up with a subpar assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.41. But, seeing passes like those give hope. Williamson isn’t someone with tunnel vision who just runs to the rim when in the fast break. He doesn’t just throw down dunks all the time and look to score. Williamson has shown he can pass the rock when needed.
You also start to see that he can also create for himself in the half-court. Of course, it helps to have that monster frame to create space when driving down low. Other than just using his physical gifts, however, Williamson can use the occasional crafty dribble in order to get to the rim to score. Being strong can only do so much. A player can still be susceptible to swipes by defenders with quicker hands. Thankfully, Williamson has enough of a handle in order to get to the rim without much worry. He isn’t Kyrie Irving yet by any means, but he isn’t Andris Biedrins either.
Williamson has shown he can get to the rim with a sneaky handle and has a penchant for making the occasional pass. But, when discussing why he’s such a high upside player, people often end up talking about how physically gifted he is.
A player’s athleticism and physical tools create his ceiling. But, one’s floor is dictated by how skilled a player is. Injuries could happen, so there’s always the possibility someone has to rely on his skills more than his vertical leap. He could either be Grant Hill, an oft-injured player who managed to still be an effective wing in the league. Or, he could turn into Jonny Flynn, an athlete who wasn’t able to translate in the NBA due to lack of skill.
In Williamson’s case, his ceiling is already way up there, thanks to how strong and athletic he is. At best, he manages to justify being called the next LeBron James and has a lengthy Hall-of-Fame career.
His floor? It’s pretty ugly. At worst, he turns out to just be an internet darling — someone who couldn’t reach expectations of people because he wasn’t able to develop the other assets of his game. We can rave all day about how he could turn into a great passer someday or develop his driving game. That’s the thing though: these things are all developing. They’re not there yet, and right now, this lowers his floor tremendously.
You see the clip below, and chances are the first thought that enters your mind is, Whoa, what an amazing move by Zion! As a basketball fan, I can’t blame you. That was a sick behind-the-back dribble. But, with that clip, we can already see two glaring weaknesses.
It’s easy to get enamored by how flashy of a dribble that was. This leads some people to think he already has a great handle, which is completely false at this point. We have to remember: the entire point of having a good handle isn’t to do fancy moves just so a player can end up on YouTube. A player practices these moves for efficiency’s sake. A more efficient dribble gives a team a better chance at having smoother possessions. Based on what Williamson has shown, he is far from being an efficient ball-handler. He lacks the control to use these moves of his for meaningful baskets.
Which then leads me to talk about the second part of the play above: the pass he threw up. Quite frankly, WHAT WAS THAT?! We can infer the attempted dish was a result of lack of control.
A player who is sure of what to do with the ball could have done two things. One, he could have realized, Hey, these two chumps are smaller and well, SMALLER than me, so I’ll just drive past them! Or, here’s a better suggestion. This player could tell himself, Alright, let me attract the other defender a bit, then BAM I’ll pass it to the trailer! Instead, what Williamson did was, OH SHIT I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO UH, HERE TEAMMATE, CATCH!
We’ll give credit to Williamson for actually thinking of passing. The end goal is there. Now, if he can fix the things in the middle, like the quick thought process needed in order to make a great pass in transition and the body control required of a playmaker, then that would be great. He already has strength to be an unstoppable force in the fast break. Now, pair that with control? It would be like watching a 6-foot-7 Russell Westbrook rampaging to the rim on a daily basis. Absolutely scary.
Williamson shares two other things with Westbrook besides just being an athletic freak. The first: before entering college, their biggest weakness was their lack of a jumper. During Russ’ junior year in High School, he made just 11 3-pointers out of the 24 games he played. In Williamson’s case, he only made 22 treys in the 35 games he played. In today’s game, a forward making just 22 shots from outside is less than ideal.
It’s easy to argue Williamson doesn’t take 3s because he can easily ram his way to the rim with his strength. But, learning to take outside shots not only makes life so much easier for a player — thanks to the added space he’s given to shoot — but also because of how an outside jumper can help someone take more efficient shots all-around. Westbrook and LeBron were both great players without their outside shots. When they learned to take it from outside? They turned into absolute monsters.
If Williamson wants to make it big at the next level, he has to work on his outside shot. It all starts with his form, which needs a lot of work. He relies on his forearm a lot when shooting, which shouldn’t be the case at all. A shooter normally raises his arm, then uses the flick of the wrist to shoot the ball. This could be a case of Williamson not having developed touch just yet, since he does rely so much on power to score.
The second thing Williamson shares with Westbrook, is oddly enough, how their physical profile limits their upside. They’re ridiculously athletic players, but in terms of size, they have less than ideal metrics to pair with their skill-sets. For the 6-foot-3 Westbrook, he came into the NBA as a shooting guard trapped in the body of an incredibly athletic point guard.
For the case of the 6-foot-7 Williamson, he’s a power forward/center who should be playing as a very athletic wing in the Association once he’s drafted. This is the biggest reason why Williamson is such a confusing prospect to analyze.
You see his dunks and tell yourself, “Woah, UPSIDE!” Then, you see his lack of control and mumble, “Ehhhh that’s a shame.” Suddenly, he throws a promising pass and you find yourself shouting, “THE REAL DEAL!”
On the next play, he throws a brick, and you shake your head.
He has a high ceiling that’s somehow limited by his subpar physical tools and a low floor that’s supplemented by a developing perimeter game. It’s a mind-numbing exercise to try and determine just what Williamson will be.
If you say he’ll be a Hall-of-Famer, I won’t be mad. He could develop into just that.
Or, you could tell me he’s a bust. I wouldn’t kill you for it. That’s just how confusing he is. Chances are, even during his prime, we’ll still be up in arms when talking about just how good or bad a player Williamson is.
The journey of the flying tank that is Zion Williamson is just getting started. It’s a road which will confuse us because of his weaknesses. Then, wrapped around all the confusion is a lot of awesomeness. The dunks. The power. No matter what, it will be an absolute treat to watch.
