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The New Orleans Pelicans’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft Zion Williamson is THAT dude.
Standing 6’7″ and 285 pound Williamson, 18, averaged 22.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game as a Duke Blue Devil.
Wiilliamson was also the unanimous ACC Player of the Year.
Zion Williamson more comparable to Shawn Kemp or Charles Barkley?!
For those keeping score at home: Williamson recorded a total of 81 points, 30 rebounds and seven steals to help lead the Blue Devils to their 21st ACC title in school history.
Williamson was also one of four finalists for the Naismith Trophy, an award which recognizes the most outstanding men’s college basketball player.
Just yesteday, Portland Trail Blazers forward, Enes Kanter said on The Herd that 2019 No. 1 pick Zion Williamson is “overhyped,” calling him “Julius Randle with hops.” After the quote started picking up attention, Randle weighed in and called Kanter out on Twitter, noting that he scored 45 points on him.
Yikes!
Million Dollar Question: Who Does Zion Williamson play basketball like?
Some say LeBron James.
“The one thing that I noticed with his one year at Duke [is] that his energy was infectious,” James said on a recent episode of HBO’s The Shop.
“Every possession it seemed like he could make a difference on the outcome of the game.”
What about Charles Barkley?
On a recent episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, I discussed that with hoops analyst, Rashad Phillips.
See a portion of our discussion below:
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When you look at previous drafts do you remember people comparing Clarence Weathersopoon to Charles Barkley.
Rashad Phillips: I remember that too, [Weatherspoon] came out of Southern Miss, Yes.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Some people say that about Zion do you see that comparison.
Rashad Phillips: Charles Barkley, when I say comparison, this is how I look at it. I see flashes of Charles Barkley sometimes in Zion. I can’t say all the way but I do see splashes of Zion, Zion is an Ultra basketball player, in regards to he shows flashes of Shawn Kemp, Charles Barkley, and I see flashes of Rodney Rodgers who’d played.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: I miss Rodney Rodgers. I was a fan of his on the court. I ran into him in Charlotte during NBA All-Star Weekend. I miss his game.
Rashad Phillips: Yeah man, he was left landed. He was powerful, could shoot, dunk, like so I see Splashes of Charles Barkley. But I also, see flashes of Shawn Kemp, Rodney Rodgers, Larry Johnson. So he kind of has a mix of all of them. Like he was made in a lab with DNA and they brought him out like that.
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Pelicans’ Zion Williamson Gets Surprising Hall of Fame Comparison from Pundit