Zion Williamson
New Orleans Pelicans

Player Facts

Height: 6'7"
Weight: 284lbs.

Wingspan: 6'10.5"

Date of Birth:
July 6, 2000
College Experience: Duke (1 year)

Selections

All Star: 2
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 10
Physical Strength: 10
Positional Size: 7
Positional Wingspan: 6
Paint Scoring: 10
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 5
Dribbling: 7
Passing: 7
Perimeter Defense: 6
Interior Defense: 4
Rebounding: 8

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Explosiveness

> Interior Power

> Post Play

> Rolling to the Tin

> Playmaking Potency

> Strategic Slicing

> Piling Up Boards

> Playing with Energy

> Struggles at the Stripe

> Offensive Works in Progress

> Defensive Miscues

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of Smart Highlights & NF Highlights (YouTube)

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Claiming that Zion Williamson is historically athletic would be an understatement. Listed at 6'7" and 284 pounds but with crazy explosiveness, Zion is a unique physical specimen, to say the least. His wingspan was measured at 6'10.5".

He has tremendous speed, strength, leaping ability, and a killer first step. He's nearly unstoppable when he decides to just go to the rack decisively right off the catch. The two-time Rising Star has a bright future in the NBA.

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Explosiveness

Zion's athleticism is showcased as a dunker in both the half-court offense and transition. He skies to catch lobs and finishes with authority off one or both legs. He gets numerous dunks in the half-court via spin-offs for lobs after his man tries to deny the post entry to him.

The supersized southpaw loves to drive left, but is dangerous enough going right to keep defenders honest. He can get himself deep into the heart of the paint with or without a ball screen. With his shot diet so heavily skewed towards the interior, Zion must be able to arrive there in a variety of ways.

On the fast break, he bursts into the frontcourt to create an advantage then fills the lane for a slam. Williamson's formidable playmaking skills allow him to lead some fast breaks as well. Moreover, the opposition has made a grave mistake if they allow him to get behind the defense for an quick and easy lob.

As a freight train in the open court, Williamson needs multiple bodies committed to him to slow him down. He has been a fast break force since entering the league and all signs point to him continuing this trend for years to come.

He owns a glorious 70.5% shooting efficiency in transition from his rookie season. This lofty figure was higher than virtually every meaningful contributor on the break, from Pascal Siakam to Ben Simmons and Bradley Beal.

Interior Power

Williamson does the vast majority of his damage inside of the paint. He piles up points here and draws fouls at a very high clip as well. Favoring the two-foot finish for stability and power, Zion routinely rises straight up on his lay-ins. Moreover, he's shockingly nimble both on the ground and while airborne - leading to some high-level defender-evasion around the cup.

An amazing feat, he averaged the most points per game in the restricted area in his 2019-2020 rookie season. Here, he outpaced relentless interior scorers like Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook that season.

Rim protectors of all sizes tend to be ineffective at slowing down Williamson. He almost always holds at least one physical advantage to explore one-on-one. In 2019-2020, Zion still shot 53.8% from the field when a defender was 0-2 feet from him.

Post Play

The post is another viable avenue for him to score and facilitate. His passing skills are especially prevalent on his post-ups, finding open cutters and shooters alike. Zion makes rapid reads with his back to the basket and locates others as the double approaches.

As a post scorer, he gains ground by using his big frame as a sort of battering ram. Also, Williamson will often use his quick first step to blow past after facing up. The 6'7" dynamo also uncorks a nasty spin move here, one that fully leverages his quickness.

The jab steps that he frequently prefaces his attacks with are deadly given the type of explosion he possesses. 2019-2020 saw Zion overwhelm defenders with 3.9 points per game from the post, superior to Montrezl Harrell and Deandre Ayton.

Rolling to the Tin

In terms of the pick-and-roll, Zion typically plays the part of the diving screen setter. As of his sophomore NBA season, he has been empowered to handle the ball in these sets as well. His ability to accelerate towards the hole in either of this roles, at his weight, is nothing short of spectacular.

As the roller, he combines insane burst with good timing and soft touch to be a lethal finisher. He has great chemistry with Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram in these actions. Additionally, he is incredibly acrobatic in mid-air for a player of his size.

His leaping ability allows for a sizable catch radius on lobs in these scenarios. Moreover, he is outstanding at finishing off the pocket pass in short rolls, where he even demonstrates some nice vision. In these spots, Zion seeks to bump the defender off his spot with a couple of deliberate power dribbles. Overall, he was in the 64th percentile with 1.16 points per possession as the roll man in 2019-2020.

Playmaking Potency

A second-year Zion has been activated as a playmaker in pick-and-roll sets. He was at the helm of 197 screen-and-roll sequences across this 2020-2021 season. Not only did these heightened on-ball duties help tap into some playmaking ability that was always there, but it represents yet another means of getting him to the rack to score.

His downhill gravity is insane, sucking in multiple defenders after using the screen to attack. This means that his reads can become much simpler given that defenders are fully leaving their men to help on the drive. At 9.9 points generated for others per game, Zion outdid multiple big-minute guards.

Strategic Slicing

Off-the-ball, Zion is impactful when curling around screens into space. After receiving the pass, he continues along his route to the rim with the speed he has already built up. These routes alone carry gravity as the threat of Williamson's bounce and inside finishing sucks defenders in.

He shifts directions impressively sharply when a defender lies between him and the basket. He exhibits this agility most prominently on his basket cuts. Zion posted an insane 1.39 points per possession on cuts in 2019-2020, albeit on a relatively small sample size of games.

If nothing else, Zion's movement and sustained engagement level without the basketball causes defensive miscommunications and potential breakdowns. Also, it serves to place Williamson in prime offensive rebounding spots on the floor. In spite of his reluctance to shoot threes, his off-ball movement still creates positive things for the offense overall.

Piling Up Boards

Williamson's incredible max vertical works in concert with his good instincts to be impactful on the glass. He gets off the ground very quickly on both first and second jumps. Prior to this, he uses his wide frame to carve out space for positioning under the basket.

Zion cleans up his teammates' misses particularly well, tracking down boards here to the tune of 2.7 offensive rebounds per game in 2019-2020. This per-game average was higher than that of Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jokic, LaMarcus Aldridge and Anthony Davis.

The Duke product springs back up to put the ball in the hole after snaring the offensive boards. His physical, commanding box-outs and quick leaping help him nab and finish on the offensive glass. He offered 1.16 points per possession on putbacks in 2019-2020. This put him ahead of both Rudy Gobert and Andre Drummond.

Playing with Energy

Zion plays with a high motor on both ends of the court. Defensively, he competes well and is usually engaged. The former Blue Devil can contain ball-handlers of various sizes. He also covers ground fast to close out to shooters or rotate for an interior block.

The uber-springy big man has shown breathtaking glimpses of the kinds of swats he's capable of. If nothing else, these flashes confirm great timing and how fast he can rise off the hardwood. He profiles as a devastating help man who can erase what everyone else in the building anticipates as an easy layup.

On the offensive end, he forcefully chases after 50-50 balls regularly and is tenacious following his own miss. He averaged the second-most offensive loose balls recovered in the Association during 2019-2020.

WEAKNESSES

Struggles at the Stripe

Zion is a poor free throw shooter. His shooting mechanics here have a couple of worrisome defects. Getting to the line is one of Zion's greatest abilities, but his efficiency here needs some serious work.

Offensive Works in Progress

Williamson can get tunnel vision during some of his drives. This leads to him coughing up the ball after some clumsy dribbling. This area of concern will hopefully get ironed out as his career progresses.

Zion is far from a prolific long-distance shooter. When spotting up with a cushion of space, he's serviceable. Otherwise, Williamson is a predominately hesitant three-point shooter with no midrange jumper to lean on either. He attempted less than one three per game on average in 2019-2020.

Defensive Miscues

Defensively, he makes a troublesome number of mental mistakes on a nightly basis. These trouble areas can even stem from a lack of effort from time to time. His athletic gifts allow for some erasing of these initial blunders, but not always. There is considerable room for growth on this end for Zion, chiefly from a mental perspective. More specifically, his awareness and defensive instincts are clear areas of improvement.

His body positioning could be much better on the defensive end. His rotations could be sharper, his closeouts more controlled and his gambles more calculated. Zion's pick-and-roll defense is far from where it could be with his athleticism, as he is again held back by his suboptimal reads as the play unfurls. These are all mistakes that should get ironed out with years of league experience.

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Zion allegedly recorded a preposterous 45-inch max vertical leap while attending Duke