By ADAM ZAGORIA
There is a burgeoning debate among NBA folks about who should be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft — Duke freshman Zion Williamson or Duke freshman R.J. Barrett.
I recently polled half a dozen NBA guys, and they were evenly split on the matter.
What doesn’t seem to be debatable, however, is Zion’s ability to amaze in person and on highlights with his dunks.
On Monday in Maui, he went off for this windmill dunk in a game in which he only had 13 points and 6 rebounds while battling first-half foul trouble as No. 1 Duke route San Diego State, 90-64. Barrett went for 20 in the and Cam Reddish 16.
? ZION WINDMILL ?pic.twitter.com/4qPVT9i8o1
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) November 20, 2018
Of the dunk, Reddish said: “You don’t know what to think. It’s crazy. Yeah, he’s different and it’s really fun to watch.”
Coach K has called the 6-foot-7, 275-pound Williamson “graceful” despite his size, and he had more praise for him in Maui.
“We talk about Zion and the windmill dunk, but, to me his lateral movement and the steals and his hands are more, are bigger than that,” Coach K said. “I mean that’s a bang that he had five steals today, you know, and when he gets his hands on the ball he makes plays.”
The 6-foot-8 Reddish, meantime, had his own highlights.
This is Duke’s third-best freshman. Look at how much space he creates in the second clip. pic.twitter.com/ye8qPcK0ii
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) November 20, 2018
Duke could be the just the second team in 50+ years to have three players drafted in the Top 10 as I wrote here on Forbes.com, and in fact looks like they’ll have three picks in the Top 5 of the Draft.
Photo: Getty
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