Playing buy or sell with 2019-20 NBA preseason trends
Zion Williamson is going to set the league on fire
Zion Williamson is having a preseason unlike any other in NBA history. While it’s somewhat concerning he’ll be missing the New Orleans Pelicans‘ final preseason game due to knee soreness and will also miss the first few weeks of the regular season, he’s quickly proved all the pre-draft hype was warranted.
It took less than two minutes for Zion to put the world on notice in his preseason debut, not only in regards to his athleticism and speed translating to the pros, but also how viral his every highlight will be this season:
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1181355628859707393?s=20
From his mid-air maneuvers to his proficiency on the fast break, Williamson has been breathtaking to behold. Yes, even in preseason.
Through four games, the Pelicans phenom has averaged 23.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in just 27.7 minutes per game, shooting an insane 35-for-49 from the floor (71.4 percent). Dating back to 2005-06, when preseason stats became publicly available, no rookie has averaged 20 points per game in the preseason. All those benchmarks are stupid for anyone, let alone a 19-year-old rookie.
As SB Nation‘s Mike Prada illuminated, Alvin Gentry has done an excellent job designing his plays to get Zion the ball going downhill, where he’s impossible to stop with all that momentum. Defenses will adjust, but barring further injury concerns, his combination of size, strength and speed is unprecedented. Look out, world.