He can go through traffic against 1 or 3 defenders and get that shot off with his verticals. But he is just a big kid that he lands awkward and he might be injury prone.
I'll disagree with this, based on what I have seen.
Zion is great at fending off someone he has on his hip, which shouldn't be a surprise given his frame.
What he is not good at is navigating traffic because he struggles to change direction when he gets going.
1:50 - Travis cuts off his driving lane, Herro helps and Williamson gets stuck in no mans land. He's able to squeeze off a shot over a guy who who's undersized for a PF (Travis) and who cannot block shots (22 career blocks in 99 games). This is fine against most average college defenders. In the NBA, he absolutely does not get that shot off. It is stripped away by the help defender or it easily blocked by his man.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_uqYRwjEc8
2:40 - Williamson is cut off by the help defender, he tries to force his way through the help, can't elevate off his path deviation and barely gets his shot off (short). This, again, is a shot that is going to get blocked 9 out of 10 times in the NBA.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKFYEFXN7zY
0:43 - Wiliamson doesn't see the help coming, tries to spin in to it, nearly falls down but somehow squeezes off a last ditch pass (looked like a traveled twice).
To me, these are all the things I am harping on. Williamson has a ton of talent but more times than not, these plays will be a negative result at the NBA level.....if he doesn't develop dribble counters or a step back. His athleticism is going to get stuck in the mud by on ball and help defenders cutting off his driving lanes. He has to show an ability to beat help off the dribble for me to really get excited about him.
Many examples of Barrett doing this but one to illustrate the point.....
1:28 - He initiates his dribble left, as he's doing so his eyes are up and he sees the help coming, he goes around the back to free a driving lane and then slides through a late help defender to his right (watch the replay behind the play.....his subtle hop step away from the help and in to his defenders path is something you can't teach), absorbs contact, finishes.
That is what separates the two, right now. Barrett has great dribbling court vision.....especially in ISO. He's able to quickly react to what the defense is trying to do and has many counters to get his or the help defenders out of position.
Barrett is also much better fighting through contact off the dribble.....even though he's a slighter build. He narrows his body really well and easily can split double teams (through contact) and still maintain his momentum and balance (2:30 - in the video above). He powers through contact and then you see that pendulum effect on his finish. That is incredible functional athleticism......to start, slow and then restart to blow by to the other side of the rim.
3:23 - Barrett drives right and has help collapse.....he uses his lead shoulder to deaden his defenders legs and shoots that baby step back / pull-up. He creates enough separation to reliably get that shot off whenever he wants. This is the move Williamson needs and should easily be able to execute with his frame.
