Is Zion comparable to Charles Barkley ... and Jabari Parker?

Yardbarker NBA draft analyst Brett Koremenos offered in-depth assessments of the top-five prospects leading into the draft Thursday. Here's his analysis of Duke's Zion Williamson, Yardbarker's No. 1 draft prospect. He was selected by the Pelicans with the top overall pick.

All prospect reports: 

No. 2: Ja Morant (Grizzlies) | No. 3 Darius Garland  (Cavaliers) | No. 4 De'Andre Hunter  (Hawks via Lakers and Pelicans) | No. 5 Jaxson Hayes (Pelicans)

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AGE ON DRAFT NIGHT: 18

HEIGHT: 6-7 | WEIGHT: 285 | WINGSPAN: 6-10

2018-19 RAW NUMBERS (Totals per game)

GP  | MPG |  PPG  | RPG  | BLK  | STL 

33       30.0      22.6     8.9        1.8       2.1

His Game

Unless you’re in hiding, it’s impossible to avoid Zion Williamson. Feats of his athleticism exploded across social media and sports shows this year. Fans of sad-sack NBA franchises looked to the 18-year-old as a beacon of hope. But let's not get caught up in the hype when evaluating the future New Orleans Pelicans' game.

Williamson has otherworldly athleticism, but he's not without flaws. Unsurprisingly, he is an absolute beast in transition. He was at his best last season when he got out ahead of the ball on the wing, received a pass and attacked backpedaling defenders with a full head of steam. But unlike Draymond Green and Blake Griffin -- power forwards who can run the break at the NBA level -- Williamson isn’t a finished product when orchestrating transition attacks himself.

If he pokes the ball from a defender or sneaks into a passing lane for a steal, Williamson does just fine as lead ballhandler. That’s mostly because in those situations defenders are either level with or behind him. It’s when he’s involved in “rip-&-run” opportunities -- where the player grabbing the rebound pushes the ball up court amidst a crowd of retreating defenders -- that things get dicey. Williamson’s 27.9 turnover percentage ranked 493rd out of the 626 Division I players who had at least 30 possessions where they led the charge in transition.

This is obviously a rather small flaw, the type of nit-picky thing you can dig into with a player as talented as Williamson. But it’s also indicative of a general shortcoming -- his decision making. Williamson is capable of making great passes, but he is far from the savvy ball mover that LeBron James is. Across the board, WIlliamson’s passing numbers out of post-ups, isolations or pick-and-rolls leave a lot to be desired.

It’s important to remember when evaluating this aspect of Williamson’s game that he won't turn 19 until July 6. Most players who enter the NBA with Williamson's talent typically develop better passing/decision-making skills because they are forced to. In high school, AAU and his lone season at Duke, Williamson, like others before him, could still dominate because of his sheer talent and overwhelming athleticism.

At the NBA level, longer, stronger, smarter and more mature defenders await. They will expose Williamson’s shortcomings as a decision maker early on. Williamson has flashed high-level passing ability, so he should become a much better playmaker with more experience.

In his first few seasons, however, Williamson will rely mostly on the same things he did to score at Duke -- power, first-step quickness and explosiveness. Even without an overly threatening three-point shot (he finished 2018-19 at 33.8 percent), Williamson still was able to effectively outmaneuver defenders. His combination of a deft handle and unparalleled ability to change directions while attacking downhill opened windows near the basket average players without a jump shot would never find.

That raw power and athleticism also helped Williamson become one of the more efficient post scorers in college basketball. His 1.312 points per possession on post-ups was the top mark in college basketball by a wide margin (of players with at least 50 possessions). In fact, the gap between Williamson and the player in second was bigger than the gap between second and 37th. That’s dominance on the block.

Yet before knighting Williamson a post-up savant, it’s important to take a deeper look at that aspect of his game. For the most part, the young forward lacks any real refinement on the block. Most of Williamson’s success on post-ups was due to him simply being more powerful and athletic than his defenders -- classic “bully ball” in some respects. Simply turning and jumping into defenders won’t work the same way in the NBA. Williamson must develop this aspect of his game if he wants to come remotely close to the same production he had in college.

That overreliance on his athleticism and power also seeps into WIlliamson’s defensive approach. In soccer, central defenders will say that if they have to go to the ground to make a shot-saving tackle, they’ve done something wrong. This sentiment applies to the way Williamson defends.

A lot of the highlight-reel blocks in his arsenal often come because Williamson defends in a way that allows defenders to beat him initially. Because of his outstanding leaping ability, Williamson could let college players get a step on him. Then he would fly in from behind and swat the ball away. This often glossed over some concerning habits in his general defensive approach.

In a lot of ways, Williamson is more style than substance defensively. He’ll fly around blocking shots or gambling for steals, but not put in the dirty work, though not all of that is effort related. Williamson isn’t a great lateral mover or defender in space. He gets stuck in his hips and can be exposed if a quicker player changes directions on him. That’s more a mechanical flaw. But the other areas -- like when Williamson flies at a shooter trying to tomahawk his shot into the stands instead of closing out under control -- are where the talented teenager must develop a more disciplined approach.