His ability to handle in traffic, as seen above, is strong for a player his size. Williamson can genuinely act as something of a point forward at times, with the ability to grab-and-go off the defense glass. Until the summer between his freshman and sophomore year, Williamson was a 6-foot-3 guard who needed to learn craft to be successful. In terms of how he gets to the basket in the first place, Williamson’s most underrated skill at this stage might be the craft of his handle. We knew that Williamson was elite out on the break, but these numbers also give us further evidence that these skills should translate to more half-court dominated college games. Those marks also largely held up against higher competition levels at Adidas Nations. He scored more points per game at the basket in the half-court than any other player on the Adidas circuit at 10 per game, but even more impressively he made 72.6 percent of those shots, the best mark of all 294 players on the Adidas circuit with at least 30 attempts. It should come as no surprise that Williamson has been dominant in finishing at the basket. As a finisher at the basket, he can change direction and contort his body at an elite level even when he’s not capping it off with a dunk. This weapon allows him to change pace, keeping defenders off-balance as he goes up around the basket. He uses a jump stop really well, and his ridiculous leaping ability allows him to cover large swaths of court. Despite being so thick, Williamson has unbelievable body control that allows him to weave in and out of traffic, change speeds, and change direction - in mid-air finishing at the basket or on the ground weaving through defenders.ĭespite the fact that he often gets downhill quicker than most players, he rarely gets called for an offensive foul due to his body being out of control. Sure, Williamson’s remarkable physical prowess is unquestionably the biggest reason he’s able to put up numbers, but there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Basically, Williamson has been dominant thus far in his career, and he’s accomplished it by doing more than throwing down. He shot over 57 percent from the field and drew fouls at a more prodigious rate than all but two other players. Among players who played in at least 10 games on the Adidas AAU circuit last year, Williamson led the 17U division in scoring at 26.7 points per game while also finishing in the 94th percentile in terms of scoring efficiency. Montgomery, Immanuel Quickley, and more, Williamson averaged 22.5 points per game - nearly double the number of anyone else on his team - on his way to winning the event’s MVP award. At Adidas Nations in 2017 while playing on a team with potential first-round picks such as Quentin Grimes, Romeo Langford, Moses Brown, E.J. Williamson has been one of the most productive players at whatever event he’s played at over the past two years. There’s so much more to Williamson’s game already that he deserves to get credit for, even if there are concerns that push him down a couple of pegs to start the year. 4 on The Athletic’s 2019 NBA Draft Big Board only because he can dunk. Simply put, Williamson will not start the year at No. But while you have to start with the dunking and explosiveness when breaking down Williamson’s game, that’s not where the discussion of his game should end. That’s why Williamson’s aerial exploits have already become the stuff of legend and made him an online sensation. Hell, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an athlete at that size be able to do that kind of stuff, period. Simply put, we’ve never seen an 18-year-old at his size have this kind of bounce. From there, he’s turned into such a socially ubiquitous figure within the basketball world that if one references the mononymous name “Zion,” it’s immediately clear who is being discussed. He’s developed such an awe-inspiring reputation for violently attacking rims and punching basketballs through them that he’d become a sensation before even being legally able to drive.
In that vein, that’s where it’s necessary to begin talking about Williamson. If you have been on the Internet at all in the past three years, at some point you’ve come across Williamson and his jaw-dropping, impossibly explosive athleticism at the size of 6-foot-7, 285 pounds. But what happens you come across a player who is completely unlike what we’ve seen previously? When you watch someone who is unique? How do you go about scouting him? That’s the conundrum facing NBA front office people as they continue along the path of evaluating Zion Williamson - the most interesting man in college basketball and the NBA Draft this season.
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