re: National Level Pels Coverage is Trash

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Good in the paint

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Great in the Paint

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Brings up the ball sometimes

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Rather true. It has only been a few games since the offense has been catered around him being more of a creator.

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High level observation that Zion's defense was better at duke.

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It was. He's played better on Defense the last few games but he was more athletic and a better defender (albeit against lesser competition) at Duke. He's still making mistakes on defense but at least he's now playing hard (which is a bigger sin) on that side of the court.
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that unfortunately is what’s going to happen when his contract is up .

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Giannis is just going to go to Miami or Toronto next year, right?

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High level observation that Zion's defense was better at duke.

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I'm so tired of this dumbass train of thought.

Yeah, he's gonna be better at defending some acc forward that plays in a rudimentary offense vs a fricking starting nba forward where everyone bangs 3s.

When it is their job to cover the league and the most hyped prospect, who you are doing a segment on, is putting up the numbers he is over the last 9-10 games then I do think it’s pretty crappy. They hand picked his two worst +/- stats and don’t mention he is +69 overall over the last 9. It’s lazy coverage. Just don’t do the segment if all it is going to be is “Zion still isn’t good because the Pels aren’t good yet.”

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But if you read a Kevin O’Connor article Zion was basically DPOY at Duke, when that was never the case.

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Because there are many scouting reports that talk up Zion defensively, including KoC and the Ringer's scouting report on Zion:

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Williamson hustles on defense, shows good awareness defending off the ball with only occasional lapses, and has magnetic hands that he uses to secure rebounds and loose balls. There’s little doubt Williamson will make a two-way impact as a versatile defender

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There are many reputable scouting reports talking up Zion's defensive abilities. The main issues are, we know rookies/youngsters will struggle defensively but we didn't really see glimpses of his 2-way potential. The other is, as you can see with the Ringer scouting report, is they specifically talked about his hustle on defense, and anyone(except for the most strident Zion fans) will tell you effort was absolutely an issue with Zion on defense in year 1, as well as the 1st 10 or so games in year 2.

Notice how I said “quality” scouting reports.

Kevin O’Connor is someone that repeatedly embarrasses himself as an analyst

This was put together by two current/former scouts, one formerly for the Suns, the other a AAU scout for various NCAA teams over the years....not some journalist grad with League Pass and a cocky arrogance in his opinion, even when most recently on the Ringer U his cohost had to stop Kev O and point out the criticisms he was making about Zion based on his college play(that he wouldn’t make for Morant) were incorrect. That as a Duke guy, he watched Zion and he always had a problem with ball watching and being late in read and react and it was one of the minor knocks on him.

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WEAKNESSES:

DEFENSIVE EFFORT/CONDITIONING:

- Poor effort defensively, rarely gets in stance, doesn’t play D at full speed. Conditioning questions, seems tired at times.

- Loses focus defensively at times, gambles for blocks and steals. Not always in great position, at times late on rotations


OVERALL Zion is a truly elite athlete with underrated feel and instincts, giving him the upside of a future NBA superstar. However, many still worry about his height, inability to hit jumpers and defensive conditioning. If he is even a slightly BELOW average jump shooter, should be a really valuable player.

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Thing is you can cover up a lot of weaknesses when you are playing against comparatively amateur talent on a condensed court. Which is what we saw with AD. Many expected him to come out playing at a minimum, like Marcus Camby on defense. But it took years for him to actually adjust to the space, complexity, and difficulty of defending in the NBA.

JFC, you still doing this ego preserving dance routine?

I (rightfully) took issue with you for attempting to write down Zion’sceiling after 35 games based on just the sort of unrealistic expectations espoused by these national guys, and getting indignant when I told you that his defensive problems aren’t simply an effort issue, that effort isn’t the primary problem here.

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JFC, you still doing this ego preserving dance routine?

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It's amazing that you still won't admit your nonsense. You flipped your shite calling me every name in the book because I said Zion lacked effort on defense and you stated that was simply not true, then you quote what you call a credible scouting report that says Zion lacked effort on defense.

Which is it?

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I (rightfully) took issue with you for attempting to write down Zion’sceiling after 35 games based on just the sort of unrealistic expectations espoused by these national guys, and getting indignant when I told you that his defensive problems aren’t simply an effort issue, that effort isn’t the primary problem here.

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This is all nonsense, you very specifically lost your shite and said Zion did not have a lack of effort on defense, don't try to run away from that now


So again, which is it? Was I correct all along and you were wrong for calling me all those names SPECIFICALLY for saying Zion lacked effort? Or, is that scouting report you said was credible actually not credible? 1 of those 2 things HAVE to be true if you have any sense of a rational discussion here, so again, which is it?