Basketball Gods Scouting Notes: Zion Williamson (NBA)

Basketball Gods Scouting Notes Will Be Updated Multiple Times When Needed, To Provide Basketball Fans With Enlightening Descriptions Of An NBA Player’s Skill Strengths & Weaknesses, Also An In-depth And Thorough Full Scouting Report Using Basketball Gods Analytics, Will Be Created And Provided To Basketball Fans Throughout The Basketball Season

Updated: 2/20/2020

Strength & Weaknesses

• Underrated feel for the game
• Capable of consistently making the smart, simple, needed, and spectacular play
• Powerfully Built
• Surprisingly agile for his size
• Powerful and explosive athlete
• Possesses an elite combination of quickness and strength
• Explosive/quick first step off the dribble
• Has elite run and jump athleticism
• Has elite vertical jump explosiveness
• Freight train in transition
• Moves people out of the way with his size and strength
• Graceful Athlete
• Has spectacular body control while driving and jumping
• Tweener
• Not a natural fit for the power forward or small forward positions
• Has height, weight, and length concerns
• Complete/Well Rounded Athlete (meaning: he’s a great all around athlete)
• Once In A Lifetime Athlete
• Unselfishness, impressive court vision, and underrated play-making ability allows him to dynamically create offense for others
• Best Case Scenario Player Comparisons: Charles Barkley/Anthony Mason/Isaiah Rider
• Has point forward potential if he improves his ball-handling skills, ball protection skills, court awareness, and ability to read the defense and make the right play
• Has an underrated all-around skill set, to the point where he can impact the game in a variety of ways
• Is more than just a great athlete and wants to prove that he possesses great basketball skills
• Is a skilled, powerful, and dynamic slasher/driver
• Utilizes quickness and strength to  create space and separation off the dribble
• Shows underrated skill and solid use of footwork & technique in his dribble drive game
• Can create space and separation off the dribble with quickness, strength, and solid use of skill, footwork, and technique
• Attacks the basket off the dribble like a running back running through a hole in the defense, this tactic allows him to take advantage of his strength and explosiveness, and shed defenders off of him like a running back that is breaking tackles
• Has very good court vision and shows the potential to develop into an elite passer
• Is a skilled, accurate, and efficient passer
• Loves to pass to teammates who are in position to do something in a manner that creates an offensive advantage against the defense
• AKA: Passes with a purpose, and passes to create an offensive advantage/opportunity
• Because of his unselfishness, desire to make the right play, and exceptional feel for how to best utilize the skill set of the players around him, he will develop into a player that can make the players around him better
• Style of play & intangibles will greatly contribute to winning games and create a winning environment and positive environment amongst teammates.
• He plays with great force, effort, energy, and has a great motor
• He plays with maximum effort, maximum focus, and maximum concentration on every possession, he takes no plays off
• Will not give up on plays, goes all out
• Effort and energy will be contagious (example: plays the right way, does the little things, is willing and ready to make hustle plays, and makes plays that creates positive momentum for his team)
• Because of his effort, energy, work ethic, unselfishness, and overall intangibles, coaches will love him
• Highly competitive and passionate
• Loves playing the game of basketball, which is an intangible that is needed to achieve greatness and maximize skills/abilities
• Is special and spectacular in transition as a play-maker, passer, ball-handler, rim runner, finisher, alley-oop receiver/finisher, and rebounding grab & go one man fast break threat. Reminds me of a young, dynamic, and explosive Charles Barkley in transition
• At the moment, he is just a average mid-range and three-point shooter, and he is just an average shooter off the dribble, this part of his game has to improve for him to become a dynamic all-around 3 level scoring threat at the next level. Doesn’t have to become an elite shooter from the mid-range and three-point areas, he just has to become a solid and reliable shooting threat from those areas on the floor to develop into an efficient all around scoring threat, and to maximize team spacing that improves his team’s offensive efficiency and effectiveness
• He is a dynamic mismatch threat and is a tough defensive cover for guards and big-men (meaning – he is too big, strong, and powerful for guards, and he is too quick, agile, and nimble for big-men)
• Is a dynamic, powerful, explosive, and spectacular finisher, plays way above the rim because of his athleticism, but can also finish well with either hand and has a soft touch, and he is a excellent contact finisher because of strength and body control ( meaning – can absorb contact, play through contact, and use his wide body and strength to initiate contact in the air, to force his defender to play off balance and clear space in the air to gain clean looks around the rim)
• Shows the potential to develop into a reliable help side defender and weak side shot blocker, and shows the effort and willingness needed to thrive in team defensive schemes
• Will weight management be an issue?
• Hasn’t shown much, in terms of using crafty and dynamic face-up triple threat footwork & technique
• Face-up shooting, face-up triple threat footwork, and post scoring arsenal need improvement/refinement. Development of these skills will make him not overly dependent on his spectacular athleticism and prevent a predictable style of play
• Actually shows solid use of a combination of post skills, post footwork, power, elite elevation, and strength needed to win positioning that creates scoring opportunities in the paint/low post. Really knows how to use his wide body and strength to gain and create an advantage in the lost post area. But his post scoring arsenal can improve to make him a more dynamic, efficient, and dominant post scoring threat. Dominate post scoring development relies on utilizing needed positioning and needed angles that consistently create an advantage against the defense
• Has the potential to develop into a Russell Westbrook type of player at the power forward position. His strength, athleticism, length, and motor will help him play bigger than his height
• What’s encouraging concerning Zion Williamson, is the fact that he is more athletic and more skilled than other former great players, who were similar sized players that had a lot of success playing the power forward position (example: Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson, Anthony Mason, and Clarence Weatherspoon)

Advanced Stats & Analytics