The NBA's bottom-dwellers dream of Zion Williamson as they wait to discover their fate in the lottery. Here's how he might fit in some possible destinations. Before retiring last spring, the year-old taught a daily creative writing class, a yearlong elective for kids interested in developing their craft. Fewer than 10 students signed up for the course. One of them was year-old Zion Williamson. Pell lives on a quiet country road in Spartanburg, in an airy, sun-filled house built in the s.
At Spartanburg Day, he wanted to create a space for his students to express their feelings through writing. At first, Williamson tried his hand at short stories, but he wasn't entirely satisfied with the results. Then he started writing poems. Then all he did was write poems They were remarkable. Pell laughs. While the students occasionally shared their writing for critiques, Williamson didn't love reading his work out loud in front of the class.
But he saved one piece of writing that he feels comfortable sharing because it was read aloud at a school event. He opens a folder sitting on his lap and pulls out a sheet of paper. At the end of the school year, some of the senior athletes wrote letters to their teachers. A bit shyly, Pell hands over Williamson's note, which was addressed to him. The writing, clear and artful, conveys a level of earnestness that echoes Pell's description of his former student's poetry.
At the beginning, Williamson thanks his teacher for pushing him to grow outside of basketball. Pell slips the letter back into his folder gingerly, as if it were made of glass. Think about it: During his college career, when Williamson accrued single-moniker celebrity status -- his first name was as likely to be trending on Twitter on a random weeknight as any political issue or pet-friendly hashtag -- what did we really learn? We know he likes anime, because his mother revealed as much in a sideline interview bloggers were thrilled.
We know he listens to Jay-Z, a preference that his young teammates have described, disturbingly to anyone born before , as "old school. While Williamson and his family emphatically avoided the spotlight during his time at Duke, turning down most interview requests -- including one for this story -- there are lessons to be gleaned from examining his years at Spartanburg Day, a K school with just students Williamson's graduating class had 45 kids.
