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NBA Draft: 2019 Mock 2.0: If the Dallas Mavericks land in top 4

By Kohl Rast

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils looks on against the Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils looks on against the Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 05: Zion Williamson of the Duke Blue Devils speaks during a press conference after being awarded the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Year prior to the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 05: Zion Williamson of the Duke Blue Devils speaks during a press conference after being awarded the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Year prior to the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images) /

. Zion Williamson. 27. . F. Duke. 1

It seems like over the past several years, the NBA Draft has gone from secret plans for teams to get who they want to an overall understanding of who should be the top overall pick. Anthony Davis, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Ben Simmons, Markell Fultz and most recently Deandre Ayton were all expected to be the top pick weeks before the actual NBA Draft.

This year there is absolutely no doubt who should be picked first overall and this time it is very justified. Zion Williamson was the best college basketball player this year and he has all the tools to convert that into the NBA. That kind of player does not come along everyday and whoever gets the top pick needs to recognize that.

Zion’s strengths are numerous and easy to see. He is a big body who can move with ease, dunks the ball better than 95% of the NBA and has a chance to be an elite defender in the league. He is also a good cutter, dangerous above the rim on offense and is developing a serviceable shot.

His weaknesses are linked to some of the strengths I just listed. For one, even though a serviceable shot is a big improvement for him, it is still far from where it needs to be for the way the NBA is going. Aside from that, even though he does have a big body, he is not very tall. He has been playing as primarily a PF/C at Duke, but he is more the height of a SF.

Player Comparison: TBD

Honestly there is no one like Zion Williamson. We have seen a bunch of different comparisons to players that are not all that similar and the simple explanation for that is that we don’t know which of the amazing tools Zion has will be the one that becomes his elite go-to ability. As of now, we just have to wait and see if we can get a player comparison for Zion.

(If Dallas had this pick, they would also take Zion Williamson.)

Next: Cleveland Cavaliers