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Zion Williamson is about to embark on one of the most highly anticipated rookie seasons in NBA history. However, it has come with a notion that the big man is locked in to be a star and excel from the get-go. These are unfair and, quite frankly, unrealistic expectations for Williamson to meet as a rookie.
Williamson has a unique skill set that allowed him to dominate at the college level. At 6-foot-7 and 284 pounds, he brought the ball up the floor, operated in the post, skied above the rim, denied shots with ease, and hit the boards with the Duke Blue Devils. Williamson averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals, and 1.8 blocks on 68.0 percent shooting from the field in 30.0 minutes a game his freshman season.
He has the potential to dominate at the NBA level because he's a combination generally unseen in the sport over the last decade. For someone with his precise frame to handle the rock, overwhelm defenders in the post, finish relentlessly inside, and flourish on both ends of the floor is astonishing. He even shot 33.8 percent from beyond the arc.
The NBA is a copy-cat league. Teams try to copy other team's blueprint to success, but being different can be beneficial, and Williamson's presence will do as such for the New Orleans Pelicans. At the same time, it's going to take some time for the big man to have the same impact he did in the ACC in the NBA.
For starters, he's playing against grown men, not freshmen or sophomores. Granted he was a pig among guinea pigs against even the most potent of college big men, there's a severe difference in going up against a top prospect and Anthony Davis.
Williamson could very well, in time, be a double-double machine, but that's not going to be in the 2019-20 NBA season. He's going to get on the floor, try to play to his strengths, and experiment with what works and what doesn't. He's then going to gravitate towards what works, and that'll likely be playing in the post. Teams will respond by double-teaming him, which could force Williamson to add a new dimension to his game.
If he has to go away from his identity, which could mean hoisting up more outside jump shots or facilitating, will Williamson have the same impact?
You also can't ignore his injury history.
In February, Williamson suffered a knee injury which sidelined him for three weeks. He then suffered another knee injury in the Pelicans' first Summer League game, which made the organization sit the number one pick out for the rest of the summer festivities.
Williamson's violent and aggressive offensive skill set is deemed unnatural for someone his size. His ability to thrive under such conditions is remarkable and made him virtually unguardable at Duke. It's why the basketball world is so high on his future. The byproduct of it, however, could be missing a lot of time due to injury, even if it's just for precautionary reasons.
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And yet, Williamson was drafted into an ideal situation with a roster that complements itself nicely.
Jrue Holiday is a dependable scorer and playmaker, Lonzo Ball has a knack for finding the open man and hitting the boards, Brandon Ingram can get inside, JJ Redick is an elite outside shooter, Josh Hart is a nifty scorer, and rookie center Jaxson Hayes provides an athletic presence on both ends.
Williamson has the precise skill set needed for their rotation to flourish, as he'll serve as their inside scorer. Concurrently, it's important to remember how past number one picks were assessed, as well as their early results.
DeAndre Ayton was proclaimed as the next DeMarcus Cousins, and while his production in year one was encouraging for the Phoenix Suns' sake, it would be a stretch to say he dominated. Markelle Fultz doesn't have a considerable jump shot and was dealt at last season's NBA trade deadline. Even Ben Simmons has been inconsistent.
If Williamson figures out how to effectively play to his strengths and exploit teams' defensive tendencies, he'll be virtually impossible to defend in one-on-one sets. But it's going to take some time.
If Williamson has several bad games in a row, people are going to freak out, pondering whether he's a bust. If he averages a stat line of 14 points and seven rebounds per game, people are going to say he had an underwhelming rookie season. You can't expect a rookie to translate his college dominance into NBA dominance overnight.
Unfortunately for the big man, the amount of attention his game garnered has many expecting such results from the get-to, and anything less will have some people second-guessing whether he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Everything he does will be observed under a microscope.
Zion Williamson has the potential to be an all-time great, but such an outcome is nowhere near a certainty, nor is he going to be such a player in his rookie season.
