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Senior writer Kevin Pelton and Kevin You recently wrote a great article about Zion Williams and making that leap to a superstar status.

What's the one stat when you dissected this season so far, that stood out to you?

Well, I think it's really about his pick and rules as a ball handler.

It's Point Zion now in New Orleans, and this is something we didn't see it all from me.

As a rookie.

We barely started all the 1st 10 games of the season.

This team.

Van Gundy taking over as a coach for the last 10 games.

Only there.

Two point guards Kyra Lewis and Lonzo Ball and then Brandon Ingram is their star wing at more pick and rolls per 100 possessions than Zion.

And it's working well.

He's got a unique ability of his size to get through small cracks in the defense, get to the basket and make plays once he gets there.

Now, my favorites.

That Kevin is that through his 1st 50 games he had a shooting percentage from the field of 60% beating out shock at 58 in Jordan at 52 So insane levels of production because he lives in the paint gets money down there.

But how sustainable is that level of productivity for a guy like Zion, who's only 67?

I mean, he's been doing it, you know, as long as he's been, uh, an elite prospect as long as he's been making highlights.

So you know, at some point later in his career, I think he's definitely going to have to diversify his game.

And it's good that we're seeing him start to do that by handling it more.

And, you know, it took a couple of threes against Milwaukee.

So, you know, I think that's gonna increasingly part of his game.

But, you know, it's remarkable.

One of the stats I had in my piece is if you look at since the NBA started tracking, where shots come from the two guys who have taken the most shots in the restricted area around the two seasons with the most shots in the restricted area area around the basket per 100 possessions both by Zion in the last two seasons.

Okay, that's a certain I mean, he's only 67 £280 too, by the way.

We're not like glossing over there.

Kevin.

Yeah, agility on top of that man.

He's just an embarrassment of riches right there.

Now, Kevin switching gears as we approach the All Star break, the NBA has released the second half of the schedule.

We want to know what team you think faces the biggest challenge.

Moving forward.

Yeah, I think Portland is a team that, fortunately, they're gonna get use of mortgage and C.

J.

McCollum hopefully back here before too long and be a little bit stronger than they've been in this first half of the season, where they've been hit by injuries.

But the schedule is gonna get a lot more difficult for them.

New York's another team, as you can see on that list, it doesn't really matter as much for Houston and Minnesota since they're out of playoff position right now.

But for the Knicks and the Blazers, their playoff pushes, that could be a big factor.

That's a shame about the Timberwolves, because D.

Angelo Russell has shown all of us that they like to lose in the proper manner.

Uh, Evan, we love you.

Thank you for the coming year on Sports Nation.

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