New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson’s Double Jump Could be His Signature Move

Zion Williamson’s Double Jump by the Numbers

Zion has already shown that the double jump is a dominant move in his short time with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Basically, it’s the same move older brothers used to do when playing against siblings who were smaller and weaker, if you miss, you just go get it faster than anyone else and the weaker opponents have no time to react.

Zion treats each shot he takes as a miss and his second jump is so fast that he’s there before anyone else if it is. Watch Zion simply beat everyone else to the ball for the putback.

Zion Williamson is literally the only other player visible in the screen on that putback. He treated it as a miss and jumped back up to get it before anyone else even knew what happened.

According to NOLA.com,  Alvin Gentry sees that the double jump is a weapon:

"“His second jump is ridiculous,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. “I’ve never seen anyone that has a second jump quicker or more accurate than his. He shoots it, and he has a good feel of where it’s going to come off if it’s not going in. And I think the most important thing is he plays all of his shots as a miss. He doesn’t assume that any of them are going in. He’s on the floor and back up trying to create rebounding position on every shot. That’s why I think he gets a lot of them back.”"

It’s not just the insane speed of the second jump, but also Zion’s instincts and hustle that make it such a weapon.

Zion grabs 46.1 percent of his offensive rebound chances, and 69.8 percent of his contested offensive rebound chances, so if two guys go up for an offensive rebound, chances are Zion is coming down with it or slamming it home.

Zion is 9th in the NBA in points off of putbacks, which is even more impressive when you consider he only played 19 games and was coming off a serious knee injury.

Also, most of the players above him, guys like Andre Drummond or Hassan Whiteside, are centers whose primary duties are rebounding.

Zion’s double jump utilizes his raw leaping ability and can be his signature move. We may even see Zion intentionally missing when he is tightly defended because he knows he’s statistically more likely to grab the miss than anyone else.

Once Zion, gets his hands on the ball, no one is taking it away, ask Kevin Knox:

Zion’s strength and leaping ability put him in his own category.

For now, he doesn’t need some fancy post move or a three-point shot, he just needs to keep collecting those misses and slamming them home.

The double jump could be one of the most unstoppable offensive moves in the NBA next season as Zion continues to refine his offensive game.