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Theoretically Ante Zizic

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All I can say is I feel just a little vindicated for sticking up for this kid, and to everyone who kept saying he's not an NBA player? Suck it. :chuckle:
Or maybe he's improved since then?

Oh, i forgot, that's impossible, because the Cavs only ever make players worse and routinely destroy careers.
 
Yep. Needs to get stronger in general too. Young players improve the most with turnovers, and Zizic has good hands. I really think he is going to be a good scorer and as a garbage man he is almost perfect. When bigs have no time to react, he scores immediately and keeps the ball high. It is awesome having 2 guys that can score down low.

He also has been way better at defense lately. He is making the right rotations and he cuts off the rim. When he was out guys were scoring in the paint at will. Not a shot blocker, but he makes guys take shots out further than they want to.
The stronger part I agree...he's also got to understand that when he goes inside he needs to go harder and draw a foul, not be concerned with getting his shot blocked.
 
The stronger part I agree...he's also got to understand that when he goes inside he needs to go harder and draw a foul, not be concerned with getting his shot blocked.

Yep he needs to shove everything into the basket.

I will say 2 games in a row with a tough matchup. He fought Embiid at the rim and prevented a lot of easy baskets. He pushed Embiid out further than he wanted to be and made it hard to finish over.


Also the big knock on Zizic to start the year was "stone feet". He has had good footwork and has even come out and guarded the 3 pretty well for a 7 footer. The interior d is so much better with him in.

If you want a switchable defense and want to contest 3s Nance is better, but if you are looking to wall off the paint ZiZic and Love are doing nice job preventing penetration.

When it has come down to it, we are lucky that all 3 young guys are showing progress and are looking like NBA players. I'm more confident in Kobys talent evaluation.
 
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Yep he needs to shove everything into the basket.

I will say 2 games in a row with a tough matchup. He fought Embiid at the Tim and prevented a lot of easy baskets. He pushed Embiid out further than he wanted to be and made it hard to finish over.


Also the big knock on Zizic to start the year was "stone feet". He has had good footwork and has even come out and guarded the 3 pretty well for a 7 footer. The I terror d is so much better with him in.

If you want a switchable defense and wan to contest 3s Nance is better, but if you are looking to wall off the paint ZiZic and Love are doing nice job preventing penetration.

When it has come down to it, we are lucky that all 3 young guys are showing progress and are looking like NBA players. I'm more confident in Kobys talent evaluation.
Zizic is the type of guy you want if you need a versatile team. He will help our guards play defense, and if teams want to run a bunch of screens to get him off the court, then you bring in Nance and exploit their defense with Sexton's speed.

I think @Sir'Dom Pointer was right last year... Not playing Cedi more was a mistake, but Lue's biggest mistake was benching Zizic. Zizic would have really helped against Indiana and Boston, and hell, maybe even against Golden State (though I think they were committed to KD at center that series).
 
Yep he needs to shove everything into the basket.

I will say 2 games in a row with a tough matchup. He fought Embiid at the Tim and prevented a lot of easy baskets. He pushed Embiid out further than he wanted to be and made it hard to finish over.


Also the big knock on Zizic to start the year was "stone feet". He has had good footwork and has even come out and guarded the 3 pretty well for a 7 footer. The I terror d is so much better with him in.

If you want a switchable defense and wan to contest 3s Nance is better, but if you are looking to wall off the paint ZiZic and Love are doing nice job preventing penetration.

When it has come down to it, we are lucky that all 3 young guys are showing progress and are looking like NBA players. I'm more confident in Kobys talent evaluation.
Your right, all three young guys are progressing. When Z is playing you need a good rebounding player next to him, but offensive play is where he has really grown. Not sure he will ever be light on his feet, but he is working on it....jumping is not his strength. He has had a good developmental year no doubt. Age is in his favor. Not sure he will ever be a great starter, but he is in the rotation and if he continues to work on his complete game we will see.
 
@Sir'Dom Pointer and I are definitely taking the victory lap on Zizic.

Haters be damned, we knew who this guy was and what he will become. All he needed was a chance.

I looked at the beginning of the thread and it looks like a lot of people were sort of excited. He was getting burned in the pick and roll early in the season and people started criticizing him. Last year it was just accepted he couldn't help us.

I still think it's nuts Lue didn't give development time to 2 rookies who looked pretty good when the rest of the team did not care to try very hard.
 
@Sir'Dom Pointer and I are definitely taking the victory lap on Zizic.

Haters be damned, we knew who this guy was and what he will become. All he needed was a chance.
Congrats and all that, but please do consider that a chance might not have been all that he needed to be an effective basketball player.
 
Congrats and all that, but please do consider that a chance might not have been all that he needed to be an effective basketball player.

He needed to improve his stamina and foot speed, but you could already see it last year when he filled in during the season. His scoring ability is ELITE for a big man, something we have never really seen here.

Now that I watch him with Love on the court? I don't see any reason he couldn't put up 20 ppg easily in his career. His midrange game is improving and his defense will get there. At some point, he will be able to play with good footspeed and maintain his strength as well, probably after another year of a good workout regimen.

I don't know if he'll ever be Jokic, part of what makes Jokic is his incredible passing ability. I don't think Zizic will ever have that part of his game. But he's already, IMO, on his way to being a top 5 big man in the NBA, scoring wise. And lest we forget, he's also ultra efficient when talent is put around him. He finishes through contact, is a good FT shooter....he's got the talent to be an All-Star.
 
He needed to improve his stamina and foot speed, but you could already see it last year when he filled in during the season. His scoring ability is ELITE for a big man, something we have never really seen here.

Now that I watch him with Love on the court? I don't see any reason he couldn't put up 20 ppg easily in his career. His midrange game is improving and his defense will get there. At some point, he will be able to play with good footspeed and maintain his strength as well, probably after another year of a good workout regimen.

I don't know if he'll ever be Jokic, part of what makes Jokic is his incredible passing ability. I don't think Zizic will ever have that part of his game. But he's already, IMO, on his way to being a top 5 big man in the NBA, scoring wise. And lest we forget, he's also ultra efficient when talent is put around him. He finishes through contact, is a good FT shooter....he's got the talent to be an All-Star.

This feels sorta hyperbolic to me, but I will say he has great scoring ability. He needs more touches because he is so efficient. Also, I think if we get him more touches he is going to start kicking it out more rather than trying to put it in against a lot of defense.

I DO think he is under the radar due to Collin and Cedi's development. He could be very very good. Now that he is showing some defensive awareness, he is much more playable. I don't think he is going to get cooked like the Cavs would always handle Jonas for instance.
 
Lol.

I'm a ridiculously good scout.

Still, it's way too early...and I appreciate you guys mentioning me @jking948 and @Amherstcavsfan as I felt like I was alone back then.

What's crazy is that sometimes he looks awfully slow and other times he looks energetic and pretty damn agile. Was it against the Raptors that he looked spry as hell?
 
I'm impressed with him. One thing I think he needs work on is his hands. Not sure how much that aspect can be improved but he fumbles a lot of passes in the paint.
 
I'm impressed with him. One thing I think he needs work on is his hands. Not sure how much that aspect can be improved but he fumbles a lot of passes in the paint.

Looks like he is still getting used to NBA game speed. I think Cedi is the only one really playing at NBA speed and Collin is getting there.

Zizic exposes the ball too early. He is getting blocked quite a bit, and I bet that has never happened to him before. He is also getting the ball more and seems a little shocked by it.

His hands are pretty good. I think this is the area I am least concerned by. He is gonna figure that out.

The biggest reason he looks good with Kevin is that he is dealing with single coverage. He is getting blocked taking it against 2-3 guys. Also, no one was ready for some of those Embiid blocks. Collin was saying that Embiid likes to make you think you have him beat, but really he is just timing it perfectly to swat it away. There were 4 times I thought Collin or Cedi had him and got swatted.
 
I'm impressed with him. One thing I think he needs work on is his hands. Not sure how much that aspect can be improved but he fumbles a lot of passes in the paint.

You are mistaken. His hands are good..he doesnt fumble passes, he gets stripped. He needs a firmer grip and to get stronger.
 

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