Zion Hypometer: Still Sideways But Creeping Back Up

Most of the people who have offered Zion Williamson free advice for the last few months, well...most of it was useless.

So when someone says something other than the usual junk it’s worth listening to. So check out what former Arizona and NBA star Gilbert Arenas has to say because it’s actually interesting.

Like everyone else he sees Williamson as currently overweight but he’s the first person we can remember, other than Coach K, who sees him as a guard.

Arenas would like to see Williamson at shooting guard and playing at about 245. We’re not sure he needs to lose that much honestly although like anyone he could lose some. He also dismissed the criticisms about his shooting, pointing out that before he learned to shoot, Dwyane Wade lit someone up for 40 and didn’t take a single jumper.

Thing is, weight isn’t the only thing to look at. We’d be less concerned about that than body fat. And while we have no idea what it is, if he gets it in single digits, he’s pretty fit.

Some guys are just naturally bigger than others. Williamson’s new teammate, former fellow Devil Brandon Ingram, will probably never be overweight. He’ll be 70 and still slender. Certainly his bones will never get bigger. Those guys are just built very differently.

Arenas made an interesting point about weight, jumping and force, saying that every pound that goes up comes down with six pounds of force.

We don’t know if that’s accurate or not but his suggestion that Williamson carries extra weight at his own risk is sound Our point is simply that since no one has seen anyone like Williamson before, so who knows what his body can handle? Who would have dreamed he could blow out a shoe like he did?

His uniqueness is going to force people to measure him in different ways. He’s likely to get more stress tests than most players (think knees and feet here) and while body fat may be an accurate way to measure not just a good weight but a safe one for Williamson, they’ll have to build a new set of tools to fully figure him out and what’s the best way to manage his body.