Statistical Profile
Before we go any further in exploring why drafting Zion Williamson in the 2019 NBA Draft would be a good idea for the Atlanta Hawks (duh), it’s worth it to just take a minute and explore the historically brilliant statistical profile he produced in his freshman season.
Beyond the fact that he will only be 18 years old on draft day (and 19 throughout his entire rookie season), Zion’s number in his lone year at Duke were patently absurd and frankly unbelievable.
Zion produced a truly masterful true shooting percentage above 70 percent in his freshman campaign while logging a total of 746 points on the season. No other player in College Basketball Reference’s database logged such a high true shooting percentage with that scoring volume. The closest was Evan Bradds in 2015-16 for the Belmont Bruins with 564 points on a 72.5 true shooting percentage.
Zion swept a variety of awards (Wooden, Naismith, Karl Malone, various player of the years), and with good reason: His 40.8 player efficiency rating was the highest in CBR’s database OF ALL TIME. Notably, Brandon Clarke of Gonzaga would’ve nabbed that record this year with an insane 37.2 PER, but sadly for Clarke, he played in the year of Zion, so tough luck.
Really, an entire article could be devoted to Zion’s stats, but suffice it say, Zion is simply the best college prospect in the one-and-done era of NCAA basketball – even superior to, say, Anthony Davis.