Zion Williamson enrolled at Duke with the reputation for being one of the best athletes we’ve ever seen enter the collegiate ranks.
At 6-foot-7 and 280ish pounds with a record-setting vertical that allows him to get his head above the rim, it’s no wonder that’s why people associate him with dunks. Reading a defense and making the right pass isn’t going to go viral, but this is:
Zion Williamson is good at sports pic.twitter.com/JVQcpsTDXx
— Graham Marsh🖱 (@1010XLGraham) January 6, 2019
Williamson, to his credit, hates that he is only considered “a dunker.”
“I kind of hate being classified as a dunker,” Williamson told ESPN.com. “Coach wouldn’t have recruited me if I was just a dunker. But I guess people on the outside don’t understand that. I can’t play to impress other people. I’m playing to get better for myself and my teammates and hopefully make a run for a national championship.”
He’s right, you know.
Williamson is averaging 20.9 points, 9.5 boards, 2.4 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.9 blocks -- a stat line that we literally have never seen before -- after putting up 30-10-5-4-1 last night in a win over Wake Forest. He’s shooting 67.9 percent from the floor and seems to have figured out his shooting stroke from the perimeter.
There is a reason that he is thought of as a lock to be the No. 1 pick in June, and it certainly is not simply because he can dunk.