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A Look At “The Zion Phenomenon”

People don’t fully understand what makes Zion Williamson unique. It’s more than just his talent.

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North Dakota State v Duke
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrates a dunk by teammate RJ Barrett (not pictured) against the North Dakota State Bison in the second half during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

There’s not really any news here but this is a nice article about Zion Williamson, his talent and his human appeal.

We’ve talked before about how we think his emotional intelligence is unusually high and how he uses that to make his team better.

You can get a sense of that here in other ways. It’s not just about basketball. It’s about his willingness as a human to reach out to other people. We saw it at Duke as he made sure the walk-ons were included and folks in high school saw it when he did things like tutor other students or, as a ball player who couldn’t participate in an event, his willingness to bring water to those who could.

You get a minor sense of this from the picture here with his little brother. We’ve seen multiple accounts of how good he is with his brother Noah and how attentive he is to him. He just has a knack for understanding and caring for people and it has proven invaluable as a teammate and leader.

We’re not saying he’s flawless or anything. Obviously we all have flaws and human weaknesses. In general though, his emotional intelligence is extremely high and he uses that in ways that are wise beyond his years. As much as his talent impresses us, that impresses us at least as much.

His next team is going to really benefit from that.

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