I hate the fact that a Pelicans controversial writer said this week's ago in a pessimmistic tone which turned people away and made folks defensive, but he was 100 percent right with the facts he said about Zion and the assessments we all thought about him from Duke to the NBA. Zion williamson so far is not the same player we expected, and to be honest if I knew so far that this would be who we were getting I would have EASILY drafted Ja Morant over Zion. I feel like a few people only have the stones to say that and I'm honestly one of them.
It's more than Zion tightening his handles, or learning defense, getting a jump shot, etc it's just his on court character so far that turned me off from him as well as interviews. He just so far doesn't scream leader, person who leave it all on the court, passionate gamer, etc like he showed at Duke. And if anyone feels that is the same person they are lying to themselves.
I disagree with the sports writer assessment that he lost his love for basketball, I believe it's more that Zion needs a sports psychologist to help with trusting his body and the mental block of preservation with his health. It's also possible with the surgery he lost his explosion or Pelicans medical staff at the time told him to preserve his movement with the whole "learn how to move kinetics" thing so it can honestly be the Pelicans organization telling Z to not move as freely to preserve his overall longevity.
The question is if this is true, is this just a early thing for his career or is this a forever thing. Also what kind of habits will that create with a young kid? With all this in mind, it just screams that Duke Zion is likely dead due to the injury and how his body is constructed, and this new heavier slower version of Zion is TBH not the type of player I feel comfortable in building a franchise around.
If I knew this will be Zion future projection a more polished athletic version of Zach Randolph, I will trade Zion while he is hot.
If I'm investing in a future, I want my franchise to be a better leader, have way less movement limitations, and can play defense. But thats just me.
