Cleveland Cavaliers: Why Zion Williamson would fit perfectly

The Cleveland Cavaliers could end up with the No. 1 pick, again. How well does potential selection Zion Williamson fit on the team?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way; every NBA team could use Zion Williamson. Physically, he’s more ready for the league than most players in the league. He scores at will with the ability to drop dazzling dimes like Ben Simmons or any other recent prodigy. Williamson protects the rim like someone 7’7″, not 6’7″. Anyone who’s been on the internet over the past two years knows about his dunking ability.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are licking their chops. They’re salivating at the prospect of landing Williamson in the upcoming draft. It’s not only the carrot at the end of an extremely dismal stick, it’s a whole vegetable garden.

Cleveland’s lottery luck is well documented with four first overall picks since 2003. Obviously, LeBron James was the most fruitful selection, with Kyrie Irving helping him bring a title to C-Town. Anthony Bennett was a bust and Cleveland smartly traded Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love.

Williamson is the surest thing since James. On a scale of Irving-to-James in terms of likelihood of stardom, he is way, way on the James side. Irving was a great, young player with an NBA-ready game. James was a prodigy. Williamson is more like James.

You don’t need numbers, or even your eyes to back that claim. A blind man hearing the rim rattle and crowd erupt following a Williamson dunk could tell you he’s special. But to remind you about his complete game, the Duke Blue Devils wing is averaging 21.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 66.2 percent. A 6’7″ wing is shooting 66.2 percent. Little more needs to be said.

Williamson would start next year on every team from Cleveland to the Golden State Warriors. Yet, he fits more snuggly in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup than maybe every other squad’s.

The Cavs are set at point guard with Collin Sexton. Check that off the list. Now, 14 more roster spots to go.

If rumors are to be believed — and in this case they probably are — general manager Koby Altman may try to deal Kevin Love before the deadline passes. A wiser move may be to hold onto the stretch-4. Love was averaging 18.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game on 44.3 percent shooting before injury. He appeared to be coming into his own as the team’s top playmaker.

He wouldn’t need to be if he stays and Cleveland drafts Zion. Like LeBron, Williamson would mesh perfectly with Love as partner-in-forward. Love could hover around the 3-point line, where he shot about 45 percent with LeBron dishing him the ball the past three years.

While not the passer LeBron is, Williamson could suck in defenders and find the open stretch-big outside. Like LeBron, Williamson would join Love as a fellow rebound gobbler. Missed shots would often find the hands of the two Cavaliers forwards.

Zion is (maybe unfairly) docked for two things: his outside shot and nonchalant attitude. Collin Sexton has enough tenacity to share with Zion and then some. Sexton’s mean streak is that of the Russell Westbrooks of the NBA. He’s a vicious, snarling attacker, especially when games are tight.

Zion is comfortable with the ball in his hands at all times, but he’s not a late game assassin like Sexton (at the very least) has the mental makeup to be. Case in point: Williamson only shot the ball once in the five minutes of overtime in a recent loss to Syracuse. It was a missed 3-pointer with 22 seconds left.

Love and Williamson match tactically, while the personalities of Williamson and Sexton fit perfectly.

It’s tough to tell who else will be on the Cavs when they are competitive. Seeing Williamson and Larry Nance Jr. share alley-oop dunks would be entertaining. Cedi Osman probably comes off the bench with Williamson on the roster, a better role for him. Like Love, Tristan Thompson teams with Zion to grab all the rebounds.

It actually be kind of fun watching a lineup of Thompson, Love and Williamson average double-digit offensive rebounds. Theb Cavs probably miss enough to get it done.

Now let’s pause to watch Zion dunk the ball. Just ’cause.

Regardless of who is on the roster, Zion fits. But he seems to fit well with, hopefully, the team’s main pieces going forward in Sexton and Love.

Most importantly, Williamson is a once-in-a-decade talent. Like James, there is no real comparison. He’s built like Charles Barkley, but his acrobatics around the rim remind of a young Derrick Rose. Like how he, 285 pounds and all, manages to stumble through the paint, somehow collect the ball and score from his hip.

To me this type of bucket, which Zion has been doing since high school, is most significant. Others can average 20-plus points like Zion. Others can block shots like Zion. No one else can take on five defenders, pirouette through paint and score while hardly being touched.

LeBron muscles through defenders like a fullback in football. James Harden hits seemingly impossible step-backs and Stephen Curry launches moonshots from 35 feet on the regular. Those are all really hard ways to score.

Zion gets simple, often uncontested, layups. It looks easy because it is easy for a player with his unmatched size and grace.  He did it in high school while shooting 78 percent. He’s doing it in college while shooting 66.2 percent, and he will continue doing so in the pros. Somehow he snakes his wide frame between defenders like a cartoon elephant squeezing through a mouse hole. This ability is more impressive than is highlight-reel dunks. It translates perfectly to the NBA.

Cleveland will likely have a 14 percent chance of drawing the top pick following season’s end. Whatever word is more perfect than perfect, that describes how well Zion fits with the Cavs.