New Orleans Pelicans: 3 reasons why Zion Williamson was a great pick

1. He has complete superstar potential

There is no questioning Zion Williamson’s’ ability to be a star in the league in terms of watchability, but will he have the talent to help this team win? Absolutely.

In terms of numbers, Williamson dominated at the collegiate level. He was tied for 17th in terms of points scored per game at 22.1. What is interesting, though, is that he was only one of three players in the top 50 NCAA scorers with less than 13 shot attempts per game.

He shot 74.7 percent on 2-pointers and 68.0 percent overall during his time with Duke, which helped the team claim the fifth best field goal percentage on 2-pointers in the nation. He paired that superbly efficient scoring with 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals, and 1.8 blocks.

It’s hard to not get caught up in thinking of Zion as just a monster dunker, but his game is much more complete than that. Williamson has incredible defensive athleticism and timing and finished his college career with the eighth-best defensive rating for a player last season.

The only evident drawback so far in his game is the ability to be a consistent perimeter threat. Zion sunk 0.7 3-pointers per game for Duke at a rate of 33.8 percent. The upside of those numbers is that he should likely be surrounded with more spacing down the road during his NBA tenure. The downside is that if he wants to transform that part of his game, it may take a retooling of his shot mechanics.

If his deep range is the only true concerning aspect of his game upon entering the league, then there should be no doubt about his ability to be effective from day one. Just like it has been done with players like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the league is increasingly seeing the effectiveness of taking a special talent and casting ample shooting around them.

There may be a slight learning curve early on, but Zion Williamson has all the attributes and capabilities to be one of the NBA’s best players.