Zion Williamson: Trying My Best To Buy In Right Now

[DroopyDawg]

Crazy how a subject of Zion not buying in has become such an intense BI debate.

Back to Zion... if he's "trying" to buy in that means he hasn't bought in. Don't know how that has gone unnoticed. So what do we do with him? Do they continue to kiss his *** and MAKE him buy-in?

Or do you get what you can for him now while his value is somewhat high?

[Freyfamilyreuni]

No you're wrong again. They are not 1st and 2nd in iso TO as measured by Tov% which accounts for usage/possessions. Neither of them are even top 10.

The second stat is misleading since it includes lots of garbage time.

3rd, again, Ingram is top 15 in ppp in iso (70th percentile). The team scores when he's in iso.

They won big tonight. S.T.O.P.

Dude, read the game thread, I did nothing but praise BI’s play in that game. And the reason is simple. He got his points in the flow of the game. No obnoxious ISO that took up a big portion of the shot clock. He was extremely decisive throughout.

It’s what I said here. He has the skill set to play this way. I just wish he wouldn’t regress to those momentum killing ball hog offense.

When Joel and AD remark about ball movement and not dribbling too much, who do you think they’re talking about? They’re not going to come right out and say it, but it’s obvious they’re talking about BI.

I don’t care how many points Bi gets when he does this, it’s too often a momentum killer and kills our offensive flow. Especially when it ends in a turnover. Say what you will about Zion’s ISOs and I don’t think they’ve been especially good this year either. At least they don’t suck up the entire shot clock. And when he’s playing well he’s shooting at a 60% clip, which justifies the iSO more than BI’s fairly consistent 48% shooting.

I think I said upthread that if BI could change his style of play and take out some of his obnoxious overdribbling ISOs and get his points in the flow of the game, you’d see a guy that could be a consistent All star year in and year out. And I still believe that. The last game against the Mavs just proved that point. Easily his best game of the year and easily the game where he was the most decisive.

Now you saying that BI’s ISOs haven’t been a problem is something I very much disagree with. It’s a problem on several fronts. It kills the momentum, and is clearly not what the head coach wants, especially since his main offensive philosophy is not having the ball stick in any players hands, he wants decisive quick action. And it’s clearly not what our “offensive coordinator” Barrego wants, since he wants off the ball movement and a sharing of the basketball. BI’s ISO play is the opposite of that. The other problem is that it makes Zion completely useless during too many offensive sets.

Now some of that is on Zion. He needs to do a better job himself of offensive play without the ball. But so does Brandon, especially since his shooting should make him more suited for spot up shooting.

The problem I see is both of them coexisting for the long term. So the question is who do you want to keep and who do you want to trade? I personally think this team has a higher ceiling with building a team around Zion, but it also has a much lower floor, especially given Zion’s injury history.

[Pelifan]

Isn't this like almost word for word what BI said in the world cup? I expect players that are struggling to be a little disgruntled with their role. At least they're being honest about it.

Regardless BI and Zion both need to learn to attack from an area of the floor that isn't the elbow/freethrow line.