ESPN's NBA Draft Lottery special wasn't about the 2019 draft class as a whole, nor the teams whose fates would be so drastically altered by the bounce of ping pong balls. Instead, the “worldwide leader” spent a full hour fawning over Duke sensation Zion Williamson to the extent that it easily made some viewers, and Williamson himself, uncomfortable. It's safe to say that Cam Reddish, his Blue Devils teammate, was among the many who thought ESPN went overboard in its all-out praise of Williamson.
Reddish, himself a surefire lottery selection come June 20th, told Scott Gleeson of USA TODAY on Thursday that though the spotlight following his former teammate is a bit “unfair,” he knows Williamson can handle it.
“I do think it’s a little bit of unfair,” he said of the attention paid to Williamson. “But I think he’s more than capable of overcoming all that.”
Clearly.
Williamson, more YouTube phenom than generational NBA prospect before his freshman campaign, put up one of the most impressive debut campaigns in history of college basketball this season. The 6-foot-7, 285-pound wrecking ball averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 2.1 steals per game en route to consensus National Player of the Year honors, firmly staking his claim as the surefire No. 1 pick in the draft.
Reddish was considered a darkhorse contender for that honor before the season tipped off, too. He disappointed with Duke, though, averaging 13.5 points per game on awful efficiency, clearly beset by sharing the ball with Williamson and fellow freshman R.J. Barrett, a likely top-three draft pick.
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