Cavs should avoid the hype and not draft Duke’s Zion Williamson

The Zion Williamson hype train is rolling straight into this June’s draft and there’s no stopping it. But the Cleveland Cavaliers should be smart and get off the train before it’s too late.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to be in line for a top draft pick in this June’s 2019 NBA Draft. With so many prospects making their case as to why they should be the first player off the board five months from now, Duke’s Zion Williamson is the leading candidate in most’s eyes.

Williamson is the freshman that has claimed college basketball’s top headline every night, from his highlight-reel dunks to whatever he has to say regarding his NBA future. The 19-year-old has nearly everyone salivating at the mouth at the thought of just how good he can be at the next level.

But the Cavaliers would be smart to avoid the hype surrounding Zion, choosing to not draft him if the decision is up to them in due time.

Sure, it might sound like crazy talk at first. How could a team devoid of a ton of talent decide against drafting Williamson, the most must-see prospect?

Once you get past the hype, you’ll see a number of flaws in Williamson’s game that should raise some concerns.

For starters, Zion’s lack of a true jump shot is something that should concern NBA teams. In an era where perimeter shooting has taken over the landscape of the NBA and is more important than ever, shouldn’t the top pick in the draft have some resemblance of a consistent jumper?

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While the fast response to that question may be “What about Ben Simmons?”, let’s not attempt to classify Williamson as even half of the passer the Philadelphia 76ers’ star is. Williamson’s passing should also raise some red flags, as he won’t be able to use all of the attention drawn to him to help his teammates get open looks.

Anyways, back to the shooting. As of now, Williamson has only attempted 37 three-pointers this season. If he connected on a high-percentage of that small sample size, it would at least give hope that he could be a respectable shooter from behind the arc.

That isn’t the case at all, as Williamson is hitting just 27 percent of his threes. In total, he’s hit a whopping ten, yes ten, three-pointers on the season, per Sports Reference.

Going into the 2019 NBA Draft, that’s not ideal.

His mid-range game is essentially non-existent as well, with Zion really living inside the paint to collect his buckets on a regular. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind when he has the ball that the rim is where he’s headed. But due to his incredible stature, no one can stop him from getting to the key and punishing the rim and his defender if they are willing to meet him there.

There’s a big difference between college and pro-level competition, however.

What will Zion do when he runs into Steven Adams, who has a strong case for the league’s strongest player? Surely he won’t be able to just run through him the way he does his opposition at the NCAA-level.

Defenders may be more inclined to foul Williamson when he heads to the basket simply because he hasn’t shown that he can make the other team pay at the charity stripe. While he’s getting to the free-throw line roughly six times per contest, he’s shooting a less-than-stellar 67.5 percent. Taking your chances on Zion making two consecutive shots at the line is not a bad bet to take part in. And when it comes down to icing a game, he could serve as a huge liability.

Imagine having to sit the first or second overall pick because he can’t hit a few freebies. Such a tough thing to imagine but it’s a reality to consider with Zion right now. Not to say he can’t improve at the free-throw line but it’s super tough to improve at that area of the game.

The defensive side of things is one-dimensional as well when it comes to Williamson. He’s a pretty good rim-protector as it stands right now, something that shouldn’t be disregarded. Zion’s posting 1.8 blocks per game currently (per Sports Reference) and has an incredible range when it comes to leaping up and defending shots inside the paint.

But, what about his perimeter defense? That’s another story.

Don’t let the two steals per contest fool you, that’s just a product of having three other top-20 prospects in college basketball on his team, according to ESPN’s Top 100. Zion’s been burned on more than one occasion this season when attempting to close-out at the three-point arc, his lack of agility proving to affect his defensive efficiency. Duke, like a lot of college teams, does an excellent job of shielding their players’ defensive deficiencies. Williamson’s benefited because of this.

At the NBA-level, you’re in a whole lot of trouble if you can’t defend man-to-man. And Zion will be in a lot of trouble if he can’t shuffle his feet and defend the most important part of the game, the three-point line.

There’s no doubt that the potential is through the roof for Zion Williamson. That’s not the question teams should be asking when it comes to selecting him in the 2019 NBA Draft.

But before taking the risk on Zion, the Cavaliers should ask themselves: “Is his play going to live up to the hype?”

For me, the answer would be a resounding no.