Zion Williamson will be an All-Star of he does these things

I have to say that I did not buy the hype around Zion Williamson last summer. Even though he had a great freshman year at Duke where he averaged 22.6 points and 8.9 rebounds on 68% from the floor I thought he was too much of a tweener to be very successful in the NBA. I thought that his bullying of other college players was just due to weak competition and that when he was playing professionally he would struggle against much bigger and stronger athletes.

Then he injured his knee before the regular season started and I thought this was going to be it for Zion. In my mind, there was no way his knees would be able to withstand his 285lbs landing on them for 82 regular-season games plus Playoffs given how high he jumps. He would sadly not stay healthy and another potential hall of fame career would be tragically lost to injuries.

I am very glad to say that I was wrong.

Even though he’s only played 19 games due to his injury and COVID 19 he averaged 23.6 PPG which is more than Shaq (23.4) and Allen Iverson (23.5) averaged in their rookie years. He also averaged 6.8 rebounds and did it all on 58.9% from the floor.

I still have Ja Morant winning Rookie of the Year simply because Ja has played the whole season, but if we had finished out the campaign and Zion was still putting up those numbers I reckon he would have walked away with the prize.

Nevertheless, Zion has proved all the doubters (myself included) wrong and shown that he can be an All-Star as soon as next season. If he wants to truly fulfill his potential (potential MVP winner) then he does need to improve his game and these are the areas he should work on.

Conditioning

Even though it looks like Zion has recovered from his pre-season knee injury, working on staying healthy is vital for him given his size and athleticism. The NBA season is absolutely grueling; 82 games, traveling thousands of miles, little sleep, intense practices. It will take time for his body to adjust to the routine and he needs to stay healthy whilst that happens.

It’s hard to tell any 19-year-old that they need to focus on staying healthy because they feel like they are invincible. They are simply too young to understand what not being mobile feels like, because all they remember is being able to jump out the gym.

Putting in the time to establish a good diet and conditioning schedule will not only reduce the likelihood of injury, but it will prolong his athleticism and career, thus allowing him to make more money in the process.

Ball-handling

At just 19 years old, Zion Williamson might already be the strongest player in the NBA. His 285lb frame and extremely explosive playstyle mean that when he is at full speed there’s no player in the league that can stop him.

This makes Zion potentially devasting in transition and if he is to reach the heights of MVP winner scoring on the fast-break will be very important. So far Zion’s ball-handling isn’t up to scratch when compared to the likes of LeBron and Kevin Durant. Working diligently on his handle will give Zion more options in half-court settings and make him terrifying on the break.

Free-throw shooting

Zion had done most of his damage this season at the rim which is why he has such a high FG% (58.9%). Because of that and his very physical playstyle, Zion is fouled a lot. Williamson averaged 8 FTA per game this season why ranked him 9th in the NBA despite only averaging 29.7 minutes per game. However, he has only been hitting 64.5% of his foul shots.

Zion is going to take a lot of free-throws throughout his career, so getting his FT% to above 80% will be extremely valuable in getting easy points without expending too much energy. Right now, fouling Zion is an effective method of containing him at the rim. Improving his charity-stripe shooting will make it much more costly to do so.

Shooting stroke

Given that Zion is so devastating in the interior, opposing defences will be geared up to try and keep Zion on the perimeter. When he catches the ball away from the rim, oppositions will be sagging off him, daring him to shoot. He needs to be able to punish them for doing that.

Right now Zion’s shooting form needs some serious work. It’s more of a heave right now and he uses a set-shot rather than a jump-shot. Working on his form will not only improve his outside shooting, but it will help him with his free-throw shooting as well.

It will be tough for him to change his form given it’s likely that’s all he’s used so far since he started playing basketball, but one of his teammates is actual proof at how valuable putting in the work can be.

Lonzo Ball had one of the worst forms I think I’ve ever seen and it lead to him shooting only 31.7% from 3 and 43.4% from the foul line in his first two seasons. This year Ball’s form is so much better and his shooting has improved dramatically. He shot 38.3% from 3 and was hitting 2.5 a game which is fantastic and he averaged 56.7% from the charity stripe. Granted he can still improve his free-throw shooting a lot but it’s a huge step in the right direction.

Zion should talk with Lonzo about improving his form so that he too can reap the benefits from being a more well-rounded offensive player. 

If Zion does all these things in the next few years then there’s no telling what Zion can achieve. The sky is the only limit to