October 7th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Atlanta Hawks - Preseason - 0-0

I’m watching some of the old Phoenix Suns sets with Nash/Amare and I get really excited thinking about the sets Holiday and Ball will run with Zion. I forgot how unstoppable Stoudemire was in the Pick and Roll offense. Zion needs to develop a mid range for the pick and pop. Once he has it in his back pocket, it’ll be an unguardable set.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Not around during the Jordan years? That's the only other player I ever saw with that natural off the charts athleticism above 6'6". Even Lebron needs a running start or windup. Only MJ could just hop into the air and make your jaws drop.

Until now.

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i LOVED MJ..I guess its been a while. Zion is going to excite and bring a whole new generation to the NBA.

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Originally Posted by AussieHornet

i LOVED MJ..I guess its been a while. Zion is going to excite and bring a whole new generation to the NBA.

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I'd also say that the stuff Zion is doing is perhaps more impressive than what MJ was doing.

Obviously that's no disrespect to MJ who is one of the greatest to ever play the game, but if two people stand at 6'6'' and they both make a free throw line dunk, it's more impressive coming from the dude who's 285lbs than the dude who's 210lbs.

Edit: to be clear, I'm only talking about pure athletic force here. Obviously Zion hasn't proven anything at all in the NBA yet as an overall player and winner, whereas regardless of where you stand on the specifics, MJ is a unanimous top 3 player of all time. No comparison there.

I think Jordan stepped on the line :) Zion didnt...

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Originally Posted by Snarly

I’m watching some of the old Phoenix Suns sets with Nash/Amare and I get really excited thinking about the sets Holiday and Ball will run with Zion. I forgot how unstoppable Stoudemire was in the Pick and Roll offense. Zion needs to develop a mid range for the pick and pop. Once he has it in his back pocket, it’ll be an unguardable set.

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Much rather Zion keep working on his 3 to be honest. His shot is a little janky and needs work, but Vinson is one of the best in the league as far as shooting coaches go, and the value of the 3 is so much higher, and it creates so much more space for others.

Think about it this way: you have to shoot the midrange at 50% to create the same number of points as shooting the 3 at 33%. Almost nobody shoots 50% from midrange, whereas getting to 33% from 3 is extremely realistic for most players. It's just more valuable.

At the same time, Zion was a much better shooter in college than people think. He was no dynamo or anything, but he improved drastically through the season to the point where in his final 10 games, he shot better than 40% from deep on 3+ attempts per game.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Much rather Zion keep working on his 3 to be honest. His shot is a little janky and needs work, but Vinson is one of the best in the league as far as shooting coaches go, and the value of the 3 is so much higher, and it creates so much more space for others.

Think about it this way: you have to shoot the midrange at 50% to create the same number of points as shooting the 3 at 33%. Almost nobody shoots 50% from midrange, whereas getting to 33% from 3 is extremely realistic for most players. It's just more valuable.

At the same time, Zion was a much better shooter in college than people think. He was no dynamo or anything, but he improved drastically through the season to the point where in his final 10 games, he shot better than 40% from deep on 3+ attempts per game.

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Agree, simply his outside shot needs a lot of work. It is very flat and he has a slow release. Even his FTs come off flat sometimes. I guess he is not used to shooting too much from outside of 10-15 feet.

he'll get his shot eventually it'll just take time

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Agree, simply his outside shot needs a lot of work. It is very flat and he has a slow release. Even his FTs come off flat sometimes. I guess he is not used to shooting too much from outside of 10-15 feet.

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I get the feeling with Zion that during high school, he was so used to dominating people by just being faster, stronger, smarter, and more athletic that he never really developed an outside shot. Didn't need to when he could get to the rim 100% of the time without any difficulty.

Then, in college, on a team with so little spacing, he needed to shoot more, and he kind of cobbled together a shot on the fly. That's why it's so awkward. But it's a credit to his touch and his skill that even in the college season, with relatively little time to completely learn a long distance shot, he managed to improve dramatically throughout the year. Give him a year or two with Vinson and Co. in the gym, learning how to actually shoot properly, and I feel like being a league average shooter from 3 is totally within reason for him.