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Zion Williamson 2019-20 Player Outlook
5 years agoLet the games begin! How high is too high to draft New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson, the 2019 first overall pick and one of the top prospects to enter the league in the past decade? Williamson should be a defensive force right upon entry into the league. He averaged 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game in his lone season at Duke last year. Don’t expect his numbers to be quite as gaudy as an NBA rookie, but he should still end up between one and 1.5 per game in both stats, which is a great asset. Rebounds and field goal percentage are the next two stats where he should be an instant contributor. Assuming he plays around 30 minutes per game and does most of his work on the inside, rather than as a wing, he should end up averaging around eight rebounds per game, maybe slightly more, while shooting over 50% from the field. Scoring-wise, expect him to be around 15 points per game, which is a great clip for a rookie, especially one that has so much more to offer. The place where you want to be targeting Williamson is somewhere in the late fourth/early fifth round. Taking him in the early/mid-fourth is viable if you aren’t crazy about what else is on the board, but don’t reach for him in the third round, especially in a ten-team league.
