Player to Watch: Zion Williamson
Ethan Lau
30.10.2018
Early Life
Source: USA Today
Zion Williamson was born on July 6, 2000. At the age of 5, Zion Williamson sets sights on becoming a college basketball star. Shortly before ninth grade, he attended Spartanburg Day School, a small k-12 private school. Before summer he grew 5 ft 9 in and he would train in his school’s gym to practice his vertical jumps. Zion started his dunks by watching crazy dunks. He started doing crazy dunks that he had never ever tried before. Zion quote was: “Never forget who you are.” He would practice with his stepfather.
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Few days before his stepfather married Zion's mother, he attended the NBA camp. He got into a car accident. He questioned God why he had the accident. Zion Williamson was a recruit. He was rated a five-star player. He attended Duke Blue Devils. Zion Williamson had a reason why he chose the Duke blue devils. The reason was coach K was a legendary coach and he also said that he is a part of his brotherhood. His first game at Duke was one month ago and he scored 29 points and 13 rebound. His impressive work in the game got everyone hyped up.
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Unfortunately, his block was a goaltending. The third quarter made Zion Williamson change his life forever. 9 minutes left on the scoreboard and he was running down the furious court 18 seconds until shot clock ends. He grabbed the ball with his left hand, took two steps and threw it into the hoop like Shaquille O’Neal. Zion ’s second dunk was in the second quarter and he ended up getting the rebound and threw it in. His teammates found an open men alley-oop to Zion Williamson and he threw it down and the crowd goes wild.
High School Career
Zion Williamson second year of high school he stood 6 ft 6 in. He started as a new freshman and average 28.3 points, 10.4 rebound, and 2.5 assists per game. He led his team with their first win (South Carolina Independent School Association) state title. In July he attended National Basketball Players Association and was the top performer student in the camp. Since Zion was a senior, he averaged 36.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, winning his third State title. After a month or a year, Zion Williamson was selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game and took part of the Nike Hoop Summit.
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Zion was the third best prospect in the class of 2018, according to the 247Sports. Since he was a high school freshman he received his very first college offer from Wofford. At Duke (college/university) Zion Williamson joined with R. J. Barrett and Cameron Reddish, the two best recruit on the team. The Duke Blue Devils signed them to be the top 3 recruits on the team. Zion Williamson grade in the ESPN is about 96.
College Career
Zion Williamson made his first preseason debut for the Duke Blue Devils on August 15, 2018 in an 86-y7 win over by the Canadian college Ryerson. It is according to the double-double of 29 points, 13 rebounds, and his shooting was from 3-4 three-point range.
Player Profile
Zion Williamson is 6 ft and 8 inches and weighs about 285 pounds. Despite being heavy, he has great speed and leaping ability. 3 times NBA champion Kevin Durant describes him as a “once in generation type athlete”. Zion Williamson position is small forward but he is very capable of the small center ball which he is often compared with the former NBA stars Charles Barkley and Larry Johnson. He resembles or acts like Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
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His coach, Coach Roy Williams said: “ He is the best player I ever met since Michael Jordan.” A lot of people thinks that Zion Williamson is right handed but he is actually left-handed like James Harden, DeAndre Jordan, Isaiah Thomas, Ben Simon, and etc. In 2017 he was advertised by Adidas for James Harden's shoes.
Competition
Source: USA Today
Zion Williamson’s first game was with Lamelo Ball. Everybody was there to see Lamelo vs Zion. On Zion’s team they had lots of communication and Lamelo's team was him shooting from full court to impress people. Lavar ball was almost kicked out of the game. When it was 24 second on the clock to end the game, Zion Williamson made a fantastic dunk.
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Random people on the internet kept saying that Zion Williamson should fight Shareef O'Neal. For me, Zion Williamson is the Greek freak. On the All-American players that had a dunk contest, one of the contestants should have been Zion Williamson because he would have won the 2017 dunk contest for Ballislife. His vertical leap was + 13, higher than Cristiano Ronaldo. In the second game with Duke, he played against McGill. He had 14 assists, 43 points, and 5 blocks. In the year 2017, the North East Blue Chips visited the college basketball team the Duke Blue Devils. Zion Williamson introduced the whole thing like the tour guide.
Source: USA Today
