I don’t think Zion ever wanted to be in New Orleans. He didn’t seem particularly thrilled on draft night and he’s been pretty unprofessional in regards to taking care of himself physically since arriving. Will be interesting to see if this changes when he goes to another team.
As Bill Simmons revealed on 'The Bill Simmons' podcast, he was told that Zion packing his bags and being dealt is going to happen before Thursday's draft.
"I had somebody tell me yesterday that I trust that he [Zion Williamson] will not be on that team on Thursday. I was like, 'really, I haven't heard that. And they were like 'you watch.'" Simmons stated.
Very curious to see what he would fetch. Dude has all the talent in the world to be a top 5 guy but injuries and conditioning are a problem for him. His off court stuff lately doesn’t help but willing to cut some slack to a rich 22 year old. It’s not like he’s flashing guns on Instagram like Morant. He just hooked up with a crazy ****star lol.
playing 114 games in 3 years is a big red flag. I get the kid is young. but sports is littered with guys who never reached their potential because they are lazy/lack the mental fortitude to improve
Maybe he can keep it up for a season or two. but ultimately history tells me his career will be a big disappointment of "what if"
That's still 83 more games than Embiid played in his first 3 seasons. Obviously Embiid is the exception, but injuries early in your career don't have to be a death sentence
That is the gamble right there. Best case, Zion might be Embiid, a future MVP but with durability issues that require some level of minutes management or he could end up being Ben Simmons, a total head case with injury issues that he is unwilling to battle through.
On that scale, I would say that Zion's career is going to be more similar to Embiid than Simmons. I think Zion does want to play. He does seem a little lazy about his weight or off season conditioning. If the story about Coach K is true, Zion probably showed up thinking he could play but NOP management said you need to be in better shape before you are cleared to go back on the court. Maybe that was "tough love", trying to teach Zion a lesson. Maybe it was smart from a training perspective, to protect against injury, and nothing more than that. In any case, there seems to be some issue now in NOP. I think either CHA or POR would be really smart to trade their pick and get Zion. There is risk with Zion but there is probably even more risk with any draft pick. You have 114 NBA games where he showed he can be a star in the league with Zion. No uncertainty there.
