Clint's Notebook: Zion Williamson

Zion Williamson’s goal when it came to his basketball commitment was to shock the world. And he pulled it off by announcing for Duke, a school that had little to no buzz with him in the media and college coach circles. But the 6-foot-6 forward was able to throw off the scent enough and pull the shocker of the year in regards to 2018 recruits, when he pulled a Duke blue cap out from under the table at his press conference just over a week ago.

Now, Devils Illustrated takes a comprehensive look at the game of the Spartanburg senior, in Clint's Notebook. Williamson is the fourth prospect to commit to Duke from the class of 2018.

ATTRIBUTES

Uniqueness: People have tried many times to compare Williamson to former NBA players or college stars and they've never really quite nailed it. Some say he's a Larry Johnson type. Some prefer to compare him to Rodney Rogers. Many will say he is a shorter, but more explosive Julius Randle. And even a few take it all the way back to Charles Barkley. The truth is, he's not really a dead-ringer for any of them, and that's why there is no consensus. Look, here's the gist of it; Williamson will come into Durham next season and he's going to be different than anyone you've ever seen. Don't try to put him in a box or have a preconceived notion about him. Just watch him play and enjoy him for what he is. And that is very unique.

Explosiveness: Williamson is ferociously explosive. Built like an NFL defensive end, he has incredible quickness and explosiveness. You have never seen a 272-pound guy who can cut, burst and fly like this. He loves to drive to the basket and just cock that basketball back and crush powerful yet graceful dunks, not just in transition but also in the half-court set. Williamson is a freak of nature in the way that he just gets to the basket and finishes with powerful, raw, emotional thunder. His dunks are something to see.

Quickness: Here's the thing, Williamson is big and thick. He has a football body and it often looks like he's carrying about 20 pounds of weight that he may not need. He's just a big guy. And that may naturally lead one to think that he's not quick. But here's the thing, and we're not trying to use the word freak too much here, but Zion is a freak. He has unbelievable quickness and he drives right past smaller, leaner defenders. We watched him blow the doors off of elite level defenders at the USA mini-camp and the NBA Top 100 camp, time after time. This kid has burst, acceleration and he just slides right past respectable defenders with regularity.

Board Beast: Williamson really does a great job on the glass utilizing his size, strength, leaping ability and wing span. He seals his opposition with his big body and leaps effortlessly for caroms off of the backboard. And one of his best traits is hunting the offensive glass where he loves to snag rebounds high and slam them home. He'll be one of the better rebounders in the ACC as a freshman, barring some sudden shift of the planets.

Alpha Dog: Since Williamson has probably never met someone bigger, stronger and more aggressive than himself, he tends to take the alpha dog role pretty much every time on the court. He's always the aggressor and people seem intimidated with his confidence, his size, his ferocity and his general swagger in which he carries himself. He's dominated the high school ranks and I'm sure he's going to go up against some stronger, more assertive talents in college, but we just feel he'll continue his alpha traits pretty seamlessly into this next level.

Scoring: Williamson gives Duke someone that they can isolate against any defender. Put a big man on him and they're no match for his quickness. Put a smaller wing forward on him and he'll bully him on the block like Biff did to Marty McFly in Back to the Future. He's just going to be able to utilize his size, quickness and versatility to isolate and score. He was the leading scorer at the esteemed NBA Top 100 camp as a sophomore and we feel that he'll just continue to put up big point totals in Durham.

OVERALL

Duke has a new guy that can pioneer his own path at Duke. Williamson is not like anyone else that Duke has brought into the program in the past 20-years. He's unique. He's explosive. He's an unbelievable power athlete who will be able to score, rebound and energize a crowd. He's got ridiculous confidence and he's used to being in the spotlight, which will help him transition to Duke. His physicality is so far along that he'll be the guy that people will have to plan for, instead of the other way around.

The Duke coaches will have to put on their creative hats to figure out how to best utilize him in an offense that will feature three top five recruits, all of whom will be big time scorers as freshmen in the Atlantic Coast Conference. We imagine the staff will utilize him on the perimeter as a driver in space, while also using his power and quickness on the box. He will be a match-up problem for opposing coaches, who will probably have to build in some cushion to defend him and try to encourage him to shoot jumpers, which is not his forte at this point.

In conclusion, Williamson is a new age player for the Blue Devils, and he's entrusted the experience of Mike Krzyzewski to help him play one year of college basketball and move on to the NBA. One thing is for certain, Zion Williamson will add excitement and passion to the Duke lineup in 2018-2019.