The college basketball world currently revolves around Zion Williamson, the Duke dynamo whose highlights have become must-see, especially for Knicks fans dreaming of seeing him call the Garden home.
But just how good of an NBA prospect is the 6-foot-7, 285-pound freshman? That question was explored in a Yahoo Sports report which sought the opinions of more than 12 observers. Though there's a great chance Williamson is selected No. 1 in this year's NBA Draft, whether he improves certain aspects of his game could determine whether he becomes a professional powerhouse, or fails to live up to the hype.
"He has three cards, and he needs to add two - shooting and quick decisions with the ball," Hartford coach John Gallagher, whose team played Duke on Dec. 5. "When NBA people overlooked Luka Doncic, they undervalued skill, passing and shot making. That's what Zion does not have. Zion is going to have a great career, the question is whether he can add those two cards."
The chief concern regarding Williamson's game is his shooting. He's shooting 28.6 percent from 3-point range and 65.7 percent from the free-throw line. There's precedent for star players improving their shooting over their first few NBA seasons, but currently it's a weakness for Williamson.
"He doesn't have a traditional stroke," former Suns GM Ryan McDonough. "He flips the ball a little bit. And there's not great lift on his jump shot, which is ironic because he's so explosive otherwise. He needs to tighten his mechanics and develop a more consistent stroke."
Scouts surveyed by Yahoo are also wondering about Williamson's body type, which position he'll ultimately play and how his trademark explosiveness will translate to the NBA level.
Williamson is as tantalizing a prospect as anybody since LeBron James, but he's not a surefire All-Star just yet.
"It's amazing how divisive people are about who he will become," Army assistant coach Zak Boisvert, who coached against Williamson on Nov. 11. "Even within our own staff, we had guys project a range from Blake Griffin to Julius Randle, that's about a $150 million-dollar difference in salary."