Zion Williamson looks very much like a No. 1 overall pick, but he is still attracting some professional haters.
Retired NBA legend Charles Oakley spoke this week on SiriusXM NBA Radio. During the appearance, Oakley criticized Williamson’s style of play.
“[He] ain’t doing nothing special,” said Oakley of the New Orleans Pelicans star, per Diamond Leung of The Athletic. “He’s just putting the ball down. Guys they don’t slide no more. They reach in and then look behind like, ‘Oh, I thought I had help.’ There ain’t no help. Keep him in front for 2-3 dribbles, you might have help.”
Oakley’s take definitely comes across as bizarre and out-of-touch. The 20-year-old Williamson is far from an unskilled brute who just bum-rushes the rim on every possession. Williamson is very agile for a player of his size and is developing as an elite playmaker too. If stopping Williamson was as easy as sliding your feet on defense, everybody would have figured it out by now.
Williamson’s numbers speak for themselves. He is averaging 27.0 points per game this season on 61.7 percent from the field despite not having a reliable three-point shot yet. That means that Williamson’s style is more old-school than most players these days, making Oakley’s criticisms here extra strange.
