By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
The NCAA March Madness tips-off tonight and potential No. 1 overall pick, Zion Williamson of the Duke Blue Devils is ready to take the tournament by storm. Former Arizona forward, No. 2 overall pick and current star in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague competition, Derrick Williams talked to Eurohoops about Zion, saying that he is a mixture of three NBA players.
The 6’7” forward is having an unbelievable season at Duke, averaging 22.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, on an unreal 69.3% from the field. Ever since the start of the NCAA season, the 18-year old has been drawing comparisons to many NBA greats, including LeBron James. Williams believes he is a mixture of three different NBA players: “He gets in the passing lanes like Scottie Pippen, being able to jump through the lanes. He’s a mixture of three players. He’s a LeBron-ish type of athlete, Scottie Pippen in the passing lanes, Tony Allen on defense. He will be a very good player, I’m excited to see how he does”
Besides the comparisons, Williams, really believes he could be a generational type of player: “He’s a unique player. For somebody that’s 6’6”, 6’7” and 280 pounds, he’s so explosive. He could definitely be one of those generational type of players that people look up to. I think that he has the potential to have that. He’s a really good defensive player. That’s what people don’t really talk about. He gets in the passing lanes really well. It’s a little difficult to pin-point how he plays and who we could compare him to. Yeah… he has the explosiveness like LeBron; not to many people can jump while running full speed like that. LeBron developed his jump-shot, coming off the dribble and shooting, nailing the three-pointers. It’s going to be interesting to watch what levels of his game he’s going to have after Duke.”
Due to his incredible skill-set, physique and talent, Williamson will have tons of pressure heading into the NBA. Derrick Williams, who has played seven seasons in the NBA, compares his case to that of Lonzo Ball’s: “When people were putting up a bunch of pressure on Lonzo Ball, saying he will be the next star of the league, guys in the NBA saw that too, and they were like: “This guy can’t take over the NBA just like this”. They kind of take it to heart. So I think that Zion is one of those players that guys in the NBA will be like that: “Oh, this is the player everyone is talking about?”. He’s going to have a lot of pressure of trying to be the generational players.”
Finally, former Arizona man, agreed that Duke is the favorite to win the trophy this year and stated that anything less than a championship for this team, would be a disappointment: “They deserve to be the favorite. They just got to prove it. Anything less than a championship for that level of talent and that team, would be disappointing. You’ll look back on it and say they had so many potential NBA draft picks and I think that they would be disappointed as well.”
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