There were no surprises last night in the first three picks of the NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as the Pelicans did indeed take Duke’s superstar forward Zion Williamson with the Number 1 overall pick—something that had been inevitable once New Orleans won the draft lottery last month.
Williamson is a generational talent because of his combination of size, strength, speed and skill and was the dominant force in college basketball last season. As a freshman, he averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks, all while shooting 68-percent from the field that earned him the Wooden Award winner as the nation's top player.
Still, here’s an interesting fact about the NBA, in the 53 years of the Draft, only 10—that’s less than 20-percent—have won an NBA championship with the team that drafted them.
The Pels are hoping Williamson will become the 11th.
Like Williamson, the second and third picks also went according to plan. Murray State point guard Ja Morant went second to the Memphis Grizzlies, and Williamson's teammate at Duke, swingman RJ Barrett, went third to the New York Knicks.
Barrett had been hoping to join the Knicks all along. Barrett's mother, who is from Brooklyn, met his father, Rowan, while she was a track star and he was a basketball star at St. John's in Queens.
That’s the kid the Knicks need to build around.
Source:ESPN