SKC is going to be rocking this season. Love it.
Printable View
SKC is going to be rocking this season. Love it.
He is fat Michael Jordan. I don’t mean that he is literally fat, but nobody that size has the right to be that agile or quick on the dribble.
what’s crazy is that now we can all sit back and truly thank Coach K. He prepared Zion for what’s about to come. He’s about to get double teamed immediately...and that product that Duke ran out there last season was pretty much an answer to exploit that.
People dissed Coach K not utilizing him but in the end, he kind of knew they were going to shorten the floor on Zion all along.
Does anyone remember this much excitement and energy in the stadium the first couple of years of AD?
This feels....different
PS can we just make this the catchall Zion thread?
I think the reason Zion's having the effect he is, is because he's good at basketball.
Edgy take there, I know, but I think it's true.
If he had come out in the first two games on the road, and just been a none-factor, then I feel like enthusiasm would have been more muted for the home game, and certainly the hype wouldn't be as huge. Instead, people would be asking ''oh no, is he a bust!!!'' which would be an overreaction for a handful of pre-season games but you know how people are.
Instead, his offensive game (defensive game will still take some adjustment) has translated immediately into production.
Right now, Zion is averaging (per 36):
32.8 PTS
7.4 RBDS
3.7 ASTS
1.8 STLS
on 73.1% True Shooting.
His PER is 35.35 right now. 0.55 WS/48.
And he's doing this on a usage rate of only 27.5. That's barely a top 3 usage rate on this team: he's being used less than NAW, less than Ingram, and less than 2% more than Jrue. He's not dominating the ball, he's not taking shots away from anyone else, he's not playing selfish ball, and he's just dominating everyone he goes up against.
That's worth the hype.
Attachment 6491
Getting me one today. I know what I’ve seen with my two eyes.
He’s gonna send a message that you cannot have the Jacob Poetl’s of the league on him.
His highlights imo underrate him
P.S. what do people think of making this uniform’s colors as our main jersey and court design? Zion should have a fresh new start and I think Purple, Green, Yellow could be uniquely NOLA and pop kind of like those pink Vice Miami Heat Jersey
I’m really interested to see the size ratio between him and Embiid, AD, and maybe Draymond.
I think the reason why Zion has had more questions about translating to each successive basketball level than most young generational prospects is because humans are not naturally good at imagining size differences until they see a player on the court at each level. Early returns against 7 footers and NBA athletes for him are well...
Defenses should pack it in against him because idk what else you can do when he has space and is in motion.
Well, he's bigger than Draymond, in terms of both height (though barely) and weight (by quite a bit). Draymond's wingspan is longer though, by about 2 inches. I feel like Draymond will do as well against Zion as anyone can, because his technique and anticipation is so good, but he might get overmuscled from time to time.
For AD, it depends on how he's feeling. I think that a locked in, 100% AD would do pretty well, because he's got the wide shoulders, quick feet, quick hands, the length advantage, etc, but a 100% locked in AD is a rare thing. Plus, he sometimes has trouble with guys who have fast first steps, because although he has good hip speed, he has a high centre of balance so guys who get the shoulder low like Zion can force him off his spot sometimes. I guess we won't know until we see.
I feel like Zion will just blow by Embiid, to be honest. Embiid has good defensive positioning, very good strength, and very good anticipation at the basket, but he has slow feet and pretty mediocre hip mobility: same sort of issues that Gobert has.
Unfortunately for NBA defenses, I feel like packing the paint won't be a reliable option. Unlike Ben Simmons, Zion is willing to take a 3 (and is going to be decent at it, I think) when you sag off him, and unlike Giannis he has the shiftiness and handle to split heavy defense. I know the Bulls aren't a great defensive team, but they were packing the paint 4 men at a time vs us, with guys like Thad Young and Otto Porter (who are solid defenders) and it did absolutely nothing.
Maybe I'm just getting overly hyped about early returns but yeah, I'm getting the idea that there isn't a single, individual one-guy who can stop Zion from finishing at the rim consistently.