Zion Williamson is a man among boys at the high school level.
Attempting to watch a Spartanburg (SC) Day School boys varsity basketball game live can be an exercise in patience and futility. When they played against Shannon Forest Christian School (Greenville, SC) this past Tuesday, several hundred fans were lined up at 5 PM for a 7:30 PM tipoff. Shannon Forest students arrived at school before 7 AM for a lottery, with the first thirty students getting tickets. They sold out in five minutes. Those who did not get tickets were right back in line when the bell rang at 3:15 PM. I managed to be in line by 5 PM and earned a spot in the gym.
A friend I had persuaded to come with me sprinted from the parking lot, only to be nice and hold the door for another person sprinting alongside him. That gentleman was the last person allowed entry and my friend was left standing outside, hoping to get in. Those of us who did get in crammed into a tiny five hundred seat gym. We all came to see one person, junior phenom basketball player, and sixteen-year-old man-child, Zion Williamson.
Most people have probably been introduced to Williamson through one of his many highlight videos on YouTube, his appearance at number one on SportsCenter’s Top Ten Plays, or when rapper Drake posted a picture on Instagram of himself wearing Williamson’s number 12 jersey. He has exploded onto the national stage, but those who have been paying attention really took notice last spring.
After winning a state championship with Spartanburg Day, he proceeded to dominate the summer camp circuit. At the National Basketball Player’s Association Top 100 camp in June, Williamson dominated the competition. He led the camp in scoring on his way to co-MVP honors and the team championship. Those who had not been paying attention to Williamson quickly took notice. On June 15th, the first day coaches are allowed to contact prospects in the 2018 class, Williamson’s phone began to blow up.
He began receiving regular contact from Baylor, Clemson, South Carolina, and even blue blood programs Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky. He then followed up his NBPA camp performance with dominant showings at the Adidas Gauntlet and Adidas Nations series in July. The comparisons began coming in, with Larry Johnson and Julius Randle among the most popular. Then, in August he put it all together in the Under Armour Elite 24 all-star game in Brooklyn, NY. Against some of the best players in the 2017 and 2018 classes, including Trevon Duval, Jalek Felton, and Silvio De Sousa, Williamson proved he was one of the best. He went 10 for 10 from the field and earned co-MVP honors and silencing any remaining doubters while he did it. Felton who hails from Gray Academy in Columbia, SC, is committed to North Carolina. He has not been shy about recruiting Williamson to follow him to Chapel Hill.
In the spring, Williamson was not even ranked among the top fifteen prospects nationally according to the 247 composite ranking, which averages the rating of four major recruiting services.Today he is ranked second overall and is making a strong push for the number one spot, which currently belongs to Marvin Bagley. Williamson carried all of this momentum into the season. He had forty-two points in a season-opening win against Cardinal Newman (Columbia, SC), and followed up with fifty points a week later in a win against Proviso East (Maywood, IL). Against Ben Lippen (Columbia, SC) in December, he threw down the alley-oop dunk that would vault him to fame.
Rising through the air, he caught the basketball in front of his face, and when his head was nearly level with the rim he threw down the windmill jam. He was number one on the SportsCenter Top Ten Plays that night. At the Chick-Fil-A classic in December, facing off against Felton and Gray Academy, he dropped a tournament record fifty-three points. He simply could not be stopped, going 25 for 28 from the field (zero misses from two point range) and getting whatever he wanted at the rim. This is a theme that has become all too familiar for Spartanburg Day opponents this year.
This leads us back to that tiny gym in Greenville, SC, that was packed to capacity. Among the throngs of fans who showed up early was North Carolina coach Roy Williams himself although he came in right before tip off and assuredly had less trouble getting in. One of the most successful and decorated college basketball coaches ever and he was not even the main attraction. After slogging through a less than competitive girls game, the wait was finally over. The doors at the end of the gym opened, and Spartanburg Day’s boys team entered with Williamson coming in last.
Anticipation in the gym was feverish by this point and the fans were beyond anxious to see the 6’ 7”, 220-pound athletic marvel and social media sensation go to work. He kept it subdued during warm ups which served to increase the crowd’s impatience. Finally, tip off had arrived and everyone stood in anticipation of what has now become a spectacle every time WIlliamson takes the court. He scored on an easy drive just a couple minutes into the game. Then, Shannon Forest turned the ball over, Williams gathered it and took off down the court. He rose up, seemingly floating towards the rim and threw down a powerful one-handed slam.
The basket did not count as he had been fouled before the shot, but the crowd did not care. They were getting what they came for. Almost everyone had their phone pointed towards the court, hoping to record some of the sensational athleticism they had all seen and heard about. He followed up by rebounding one of his just two misses on the night and slamming it back home over multiple defenders. Later in the quarter, in a span of less than a minute, he threw down two alley-oop slams. One of these was thrown from near midcourt and the crowd became unhinged. What they had seen on video was happening before their very eyes.
The forty-six inch vertical was not just coach speak, it was real and on full display. The game was out of hand very quickly and the other team, like almost everyone he Williamson faces, was simply overmatched physically. High school kids and grown adults alike jumped up from their seats after every highlight play. A putback dunk here, a menacing staple block against the backboard of an opponent’s shot there, and they couldn’t get enough. He scored sixteen points in the first quarter, and forty-one for the game, with at least fifteen highlight plays mixed in. The Zion Williamson show had come to town and was met with rave reviews.
Spartanburg Day is the favorite to repeat as state champions and Williamson joined the two thousand point club earlier this season. Next year, they will certainly be favored to win it all again, and Williamson has a chance to become just the third player in South Carolina high school basketball history to score three thousand points. Considering he averages twenty-nine points a game for his career and is averaging thirty-six a game this year while shooting a ridiculous 75% from the field, three thousand career points is a near certainty barring unforeseen circumstances.
From a scout’s perspective, Williamson was certainly a marvel but he also has some weaknesses in his game. He took just two jump shots against Shannon Forest, one a three that he missed and the other a mid-range jumper that he made off an offensive rebound, and was just 3 of 6 from the free throw line. His jump short form is not terrible. The release is quick but he has a straight line shot with little arc. This leads to inconsistent shooting from the line and beyond the three-point line. Defensively he can be special. His elite athleticism gives him incredible range across the court, and he generates a ton of steals and blocks.
Since he is so physically dominant against the overmatched local competition, he rarely has to try very hard to get whatever he wants on the court.There are times when he did not hustle down the court on a fast break, content to let his teammates finish the play off. He did not attempt to box out much, simply relying on his overpowering athleticism to grab rebound. However, this is all overshadowed by his enormous potential. He has a lot to work on, especially his jump shot and defensive positioning, but he does not have a ceiling on his game right now. Any doubts of whether he was simply dominating weak competition were alleviated this past summer.
Zion Williamson is more than a highlight machine, although we can count on many more of those before his high school career is over. He is a legitimate number one prospect with a very bright future. It remains to be seen how the sixteen-year-old junior handles his sudden rise to fame, but all signs point the level-headed teen navigating it all successfully. His mother Sharonda Sampson still makes him hand over his phone every night at 10 PM. In all his interviews he praises his teammates and seems to genuinely enjoy watching them succeed as much as himself. Duke and North Carolina are the current favorites for his services, with Kansas and in-state Clemson still in the picture. Wherever he goes, success is likely to follow the prodigiously talented kid from Spartanburg, SC.
