Zion is a Lebron/Giannis level athlete

[light]

There is no reason to shoot jumpers if they can't stop him from getting to the rim. He is scoring 26 ppg. He can blow past guys at will.

He will shoot an open 3 at times.

He'll need to be able to shoot at some point, especially in the playoffs. It's too easy to stop one player if all he does is drive. Look at Giannis.

[Xiao Yao You]

He'll need to be able to shoot at some point, especially in the playoffs. It's too easy to stop one player if all he does is drive. Look at Giannis.

have to play some D to get to the playoffs. He can shoot from I've seen. Last thing I'd be worried about with him

[FireDavidKahn]

Good lord you're annoying.

He ain't wrong.

Zion is fun as hell and his impact on offense is undeniable but his defense is really bad right now. Really bad.

[Axe]

'Lebron/giannis level' you say, despite having never played in the playoffs.

[LAmbruh]

There is no reason to shoot jumpers if they can't stop him from getting to the rim. He is scoring 26 ppg. He can blow past guys at will.

He will shoot an open 3 at times.

This


Look at the Consensus Top 10 ATG

Give or take 6-7 of them would shreek at the thought of a wide open 15 footer. You can mix n match your top 10 same result. Snaq, Oscar, Doctor J, brick brick brick

but MDE gon MDE

[ZionDunks]

'Lebron/giannis level' you say, despite having never played in the playoffs.

Took lebron a lot longer than it’s going to take Zion

[scuzzy]

yep, 100% evident boy Z was the real deal and NBA All-Star ready since highschool. 3 players peaked this early, Shaq, Lebron, Zion.


The way he scores ifs aesthetically chaotic, we've never seen that hybrid bullyball. That's why he's looking MDE in only his 60th nba game. There's never really been a 6'8 Derek Rose on Dianbol

[Marchesk]

Took lebron a lot longer than it’s going to take Zion

Lebron has also played at a high level for 17 seasons, and Giannis has a DPOY award to go with his back to back MVPs. This season has a play-in for seeds 7-10, so making the playoffs isn't hard. But before we start putting Zion in the MVP discussion, Pelicans need to have a winning team.

[Axe]

Took lebron a lot longer than it’s going to take Zion

Zion will probably make it immediately if he was drafted by a potential team in the eastern conference.

[StrongLurk]

I agree in this era, but in past eras it would be too crowded to just auto drive. You need some threat of the baby jumper to get in. Barkley, Malone, and others all had great midrange games that allowed them to get inside when forcing it wasn't an option.

Do you think a 19-20 year old Barkley would be putting up 25/7/3, 26.7 PER, 64.9 TS%, 4.9 OBPM in his first 67 games in this era? I certainly don't. Also, Barkley played his first 6 years in the NBA in the 80's which was a terrible defensive, fast paced era.

When did Barkley have this great midrange game that you claim? Certainly not in the beginning of his career, hell we also know Barkley is the worst volume 3-point shooter of all time.

I definitely think Zion can be the modern era Barkley-type player and even has the potential to surpass him. Zion can legit be as good as he wants as long as his body holds up.

[tontoz]

He'll need to be able to shoot at some point, especially in the playoffs. It's too easy to stop one player if all he does is drive. Look at Giannis.

Giannis isn't nearly as quick or as strong as Zion.

And lets not pretend Zion's shot is broken. So far in his career he is 14-37 from 3.

[tpols]

Do you think a 19-20 year old Barkley would be putting up 25/7/3, 26.7 PER, 64.9 TS%, 4.9 OBPM in his first 67 games in this era? I certainly don't. Also, Barkley played his first 6 years in the NBA in the 80's which was a terrible defensive, fast paced era.

When did Barkley have this great midrange game that you claim? Certainly not in the beginning of his career, hell we also know Barkley is the worst volume 3-point shooter of all time.

I definitely think Zion can be the modern era Barkley-type player and even has the potential to surpass him. Zion can legit be as good as he wants as long as his body holds up.

You're already setting your expectations way too high then. Barkley was considered a hair below MJ, almost his equal, and even won MVP over him in the early 90s. So you're basically saying Zion will be the GOAT. That's highly doubtful for him, or anybody for that matter. You're setting the bar too high.

[StrongLurk]

You're already setting your expectations way too high then. Barkley was considered a hair below MJ, almost his equal, and even won MVP over him in the early 90s. So you're basically saying Zion will be the GOAT. That's highly doubtful for him, or anybody for that matter. You're setting the bar too high.

Barkley is a top 20 player of all time and I'm saying Zion has the potential to be better. Not saying it will definitely happen, but how many players have been this dominant before turning 21? Lebron and Luka?

Remember, Zion hasn't even played a full 82 games yet and hasn't finished getting in peak NBA shape. He clearly has holes in his game but he is dominating in a Shaq-esque fashion already.

[Rudeboy3]

Zion is what happens when Shaq and Michael Jordan do the fusion dance. He's got balletic footwork/agility and body control like Michael Jordan along with MJ-esque first step, ability to jump equally well off both feet and explode off two feet from far away and contort his body in obscene ways to score. He's got Shaq's outlier size/muscle except in a 6'7" body. I think Zion is actually a lot more athletic than Giannis because none of Giannis' literal physical abilities outside his length are elite. Giannis does not have a 40 inch vertical, he's fast but not as fast as the pure speedsters in the league (Ben Simmons, DeAaron Fox, for instance) and he's also not really that quick laterally. He moves like a big man. That said he's still a great athlete. But Zion is legitimately one of the most explosive initial burst guys regardless of size, and he's maybe the best leaper in the league. He and Ja Morant are like tied for that.

Are you high? Giannis is 6'11 he isn't going to have a high vert simply based off his height, he's far more athletic than, we're talking about a guy who's jumped from the ft line multiple times in-game, jumped over another person, also in-game. And in terms of speed, he's by far the fastest PF in the nba. His speed for a 6'11 is insane, comparing him to guys who are 6'1 is stupid, it's all relative

[Street Hunger]

Imagine if the Pelicans had better outside shooters to pull help defenders away from Zion.