So you found a NY media guy that hyped up his own player.
RJ Barrett isn’t even the best player on his own team. Before tonight’s game Zion scored 28, 38, 39, 30, and 34. Zion is averaging 10 more points a game than RJ. Shooting 20% better from the field and has more assists than RJ (who also plays ty defense!)
The amount of nitpicking here about Zion is ridiculous. You have to go back to Tim Duncan to find a rookie that made all nba defense his rookie year and David Robinson before that. And nobody is arguing Zion is as good as they were as rookies. No rookie is good at defense (and please don’t mention 8 minute a game Vassell). Even rookies whose strength in college was defense suck at it early in their career. The game is much faster, the season is much longer, and the athletes are usually a lot stronger than them too. I will agree though about his rebounding.
Secondly, who gives a about #2 draft picks. Michael Beasley was picked second. Thabeet was picked second. Darko was picked second ffs. Derrick Williams. Stromile Swift. MGK. Bagley was picked over Luka! Lonzo is a bust. He’s outshined by the 29th pick in the very same draft! And Brandon Ingram is your empty calories guy on the team not Zion. And even if you want to say well Zion is all offense and no defense. Here’s a list of players who were that (and still are) Lebron, Steph, Harden, KD, Luka. And none of them scored as much as Zion does so early in their career and at such a good clip. I dare you to find me a 19 year old who scored 26 a game on 62% shooting. give me any player who has ever done it, rookie or no rookie. It hasn’t been done. So this “ “ you put on transcendent looks stupid and if you can’t see that then idk what to tell you