How will his game translate? He’s a man amongst boys in the NCAA right now, just bulls everyone over...It won’t be that simple once he gets to the NBA and other than his spectacular dunking ability, everything else seems raw. 3pt shooting 29%, FT 66%, Ast 2.2, Blk 1.8, Stl 2.2. Doesn’t have great ball handling skills. What do you think his ceiling/floor is?
I think ten years from now people are going to look back and think how silly they were for thinking Zion was the next transcendental talent. Not saying he won't be good or won't be able to carve out a nice career, but the next Lebron/Barkley he is not.
Guess I disagree. He is not as skilled as Lebron or Barkley. People comparing him in that way are just looking for similar body types. That's short-sighted.
I've said for a while that Zion is the forward/big version of Russell Westbrook. He will enforce his will on the game. He may not have Lebron's vision, or Barkley's feel, but he does have Westbrook's will.
His numbers and impact will be elite simply because of the way he players. I think he is a good enough passer to get to 5 assists a game when he reaches his potential. I expect his rebounds per game to be above 10 in his rookie year.
Randle tried to enforce his will on the game, but he isn't nearly as athletic as Zion. I think Zion will be a better finisher. He has already proven to be a good finisher against elite NBA prospects. Randle struggled with that in his time at Kentucky, which was one of the reasons he fell in the draft. Plus, Randle only averaged 1 block and .6 steals at Kentucky. Zion is at 2.6 and 3.2. If Randle was a good defender in the NBA, he'd be a max contract guy. Zion will be a good defender and at least comparable to the offensive player that Randle is.
I think Zion will be a Russell Westbrook type "transcendent talent," if you consider him a transcendent talent. He won't be as good as Lebron or Barkley though.