NBA Draft 2019: Best and worst fits for all potential lottery picks

1. Zion Williamson, 6-7 F/C, Duke

BEST: Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks

Listen: Zion Williamson will be a human wrecking ball that petrifies opponents and delights fans no matter where he goes. He’s special. He’s one of a kind. He’s generational. Plug him into any situation and he’ll find a way to dominate and impose his will through his natural skill set and historic athleticism. Every team would love to have him — but only the owner of the No. 1 overall selection in the 2019 NBA Draft will get him, and two possible winners of the “Not Tryin’ For Zion” sweepstakes stand out as electrifying landing spots due to the on-court and cultural impact that Williamson would bring: Atlanta and New York.

Unleashing Williamson in a free-flowing run-and-gun offense would be a match made in basketball heaven. Running Williamson alongside John Collins would be wholly unfair to the invented of the basketball rim, as every single rim in every single arena would be ripped from the backboard from the sheer force of the duo’s highlight-worthy dunks. Add in the fact that Trae Young would be the orchestrator of this youth-studded offense and that makes matters even more daunting for opposing defenses.

How do you stop a guard who can pull up from 30 feet or hit his bigs with every single pass in the book? How do you stop a pair of streaking, athletic phenoms running with reckless abandon in the open court and out of the pick-and-roll? The Hawks would automatically jump into the upper echelon of must-watch television, ushering in a new era of NBA basketball by having what could be the brightest young core the League has seen in quite some time. This team would be fun, plain and simple.

If Zion Williamson landing in Atlanta would be a match made in basketball heaven, then Zion Williamson landing in New York would be a match made in marketing heaven. Williamson would have the chance to be the face of a franchise in one of the biggest markets (if not the biggest) in all of basketball, the so-called “Basketball Mecca,” and would have universal branding appeal that would boost the league’s popularity immensely. Williamson would be an absolute ratings darling and would bring eyes like never before. His impact on the court would be stellar, too: He’d likely usher in the next great team to play on the historic hardwood of Madison Square Garden, whether he’s the lone star or the first of many to join the Knicks in the near future. Whether he’s lining up with the likes of Dennis Smith Jr. and Kevin Knox, or the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Williamson’s magnetic pull will be felt on and off the court, no matter who he suits up with.

WORST: Chicago Bulls

If it were not for the presence of John Paxson, Gar Forman and Jim Boylen, Zion Williamson would be fine in Chicago even with the current glut of frontcourt pieces. Any normal front office would simply sort through their options, make a few phone calls and ship out whoever they view as expendable. But if the Chicago Bulls are any one thing, they are definitely not normal.

Expecting “GarPax” to trade one of Otto Porter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen is a rather dim proposition, since Porter was just brought in via trade and Markkanen was brought in as a key piece of the 2017 Jimmy Butler trade. Would they be willing to move on from either player, or would they inexplicably believe that Boylen could make the pieces fit? Perpetually stubborn, the front office duo would likely trust in their coach, which could prove to be quite messy and suboptimal for a unique player such as Williamson. Expecting Boylen to figure out how to utilize point guards such as Ja Morant and Darius Garland is far more reasonable than expecting him to utilize a multi-positional force of nature like Williamson.

Bottom line: Zion Williamson deserves a better coach than Jim Boylen.