Ante Zizic

[165bows]

Read on Twitter

What's the word on this guy in league circles, has he substantially raised his 'stock' or no?

[return2glory]

Zizic made a good choice listening to his brother and playing overseas. He is getting some good playing time and continued experience.

I feel he should be ready to come over next year and be a solid piece to the rotation.

[Ed Pinkney]

I feel that next season Ante should be getting all of Zeller's minutes (and then some) as well his monopoly on players with a surname starting with Z.

[Smitty731]

What's the word on this guy in league circles, has he substantially raised his 'stock' or no?

Not by a substantial amount. Still a late lottery pick in terms of trade value at the most. Some are skeptical of the opponents and that he's not as strong and physical as he seems in the highlights. The big questions are still if he can defend well enough. But he's very, very young and improving, so stock could still rise. I do know a couple of teams really love him. As they say in the NBA, "it only takes one (expletive deleted)."

One thing that has changed is that many like Zizic more than Yabusele. A lot of NBA teams are struggling to project exactly what position Yabusele will play, which caps his value quite a bit and projects him as more of a reserve.

[Ed Pinkney]

What's the word on this guy in league circles, has he substantially raised his 'stock' or no?

Not by a substantial amount. Still a late lottery pick in terms of trade value at the most. Some are skeptical of the opponents and that he's not as strong and physical as he seems in the highlights. The big questions are still if he can defend well enough. But he's very, very young and improving, so stock could still rise. I do know a couple of teams really love him. As they say in the NBA, "it only takes one (expletive deleted)."

One thing that has changed is that many like Zizic more than Yabusele. A lot of NBA teams are struggling to project exactly what position Yabusele will play, which caps his value quite a bit and projects him as more of a reserve.

I am surprised Yabusele would be projected as anything other than a four.

[Smitty731]

What's the word on this guy in league circles, has he substantially raised his 'stock' or no?

Not by a substantial amount. Still a late lottery pick in terms of trade value at the most. Some are skeptical of the opponents and that he's not as strong and physical as he seems in the highlights. The big questions are still if he can defend well enough. But he's very, very young and improving, so stock could still rise. I do know a couple of teams really love him. As they say in the NBA, "it only takes one (expletive deleted)."

One thing that has changed is that many like Zizic more than Yabusele. A lot of NBA teams are struggling to project exactly what position Yabusele will play, which caps his value quite a bit and projects him as more of a reserve.

I am surprised Yabusele would be projected as anything other than a four.

He is, but he has no lift at all. And he's not a good positional defender. Some still think they could get his weight down and he could defend threes. He's just kind of a tweener right now and projects as more of a backup, where the defensive issues don't matter as much.

[Elrod is Back]

These are probably the same scouts who discounted Draymond Green as too short and not explosive enough and w/o a position. That is why he was taken in the 2nd round.

I am not saying GY is another Draymond, mind you; only that expert scouts are often wrong and they sometimes underestimate a player's upside to cover their butts.

GY is a modern NBA 4, pure and simple, who should be able to defend the occasional 3 and 5. In the 80s or 90s the inclination would have been to have him drop 15-20 lbs and play the 3 a la Anthony Mason or even Charles Barkley for much of his career, but those days are long gone. He may never make it-- a year ago lots of smart people acted like Jordan Mickey was a sure thing and right now he looks like might not even be able to start in the Chinese League-- but Yabs could also become an all-star down the road. The potential is there.

[Ed Pinkney]

Not by a substantial amount. Still a late lottery pick in terms of trade value at the most. Some are skeptical of the opponents and that he's not as strong and physical as he seems in the highlights. The big questions are still if he can defend well enough. But he's very, very young and improving, so stock could still rise. I do know a couple of teams really love him. As they say in the NBA, "it only takes one (expletive deleted)."

One thing that has changed is that many like Zizic more than Yabusele. A lot of NBA teams are struggling to project exactly what position Yabusele will play, which caps his value quite a bit and projects him as more of a reserve.

I am surprised Yabusele would be projected as anything other than a four.

He is, but he has no lift at all. And he's not a good positional defender. Some still think they could get his weight down and he could defend threes. He's just kind of a tweener right now and projects as more of a backup, where the defensive issues don't matter as much.

I don't know about the lack of lift, he is playing above the rim much more in these China highlights than he showed in Summer League (which I am a little surprised by). Two foot and one foot dunks, quite a few blocks etc.

I would have thought based on his body type it would be more a case of him being a four who can play a bit of five (like Draymond Green/Sullinger etc) rather than trying to get him out on the wing on defense.

[Kalela]

Has he gotten taller this draft day or is he playing with much shorter players. He looks like a legit 7 footer now.

[Cibos]

Mega Leks coach Milojevic (who played PF/center as a player a few years ago) said they had absolutely no solutions for Zizic. He tried to defend him with 3 different players, but all of them struggeled.

I've read the serbian newspapers and forums (Mega Leks is a serbian team) and they are really impressed with him, not only because of this one game. They all agree that he's by far the most dominant young center in the history of the ABA league. As you probably know the Serbians and Croatians aren't really the best friends, so this should mean something.

But let's not overreact, he definitely will need some time to adopt to the NBA.

[ConstableGeneva]

But let's not overreact, he definitely will need some time to adopt to the NBA.

So basically he's gonna be the best European to come to the NBA since Dirk Nowitzki.

MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!

[Kolkmania]

Every time I see a clip of Mega Leks I'm fascinated by their jerseys. Those home shirts are even more distracting and painful to my eyes .

[Murta]

Every time I see a clip of Mega Leks I'm fascinated by their jerseys. Those home shirts are even more distracting and painful to my eyes .

That's because they're owned by a highly influential agent and it's his 10ish y/o daughter who designed the jerseys.

[Kolkmania]

Every time I see a clip of Mega Leks I'm fascinated by their jerseys. Those home shirts are even more distracting and painful to my eyes .

That's because they're owned by a highly influential agent and it's his 10ish y/o daughter who designed the jerseys.

Wow haha I didn't know that. One of my favorite fun facts I discovered at RealGM forums this year.

Another favorite:
Was watching NC State - Saint Josephs college basketball and noticed a human in a bird suit flapping his wings the entire game. A poster pointed out that someone gets a scholarship for doing that and being considered as a full member of the team.

"The Hawk represents the University's motto, "The Hawk Will Never Die" by flapping its wings non-stop (even during halftime) throughout every basketball game."

Watch on YouTube

The current one does it with both arms, intense. They even have a Wikipdia page for the mascotte: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hawk_(Saint_Joseph's_University_mascot)#Hawk_Selection

[aim2please]

Some of these performances have been phenomenal, but we shouldn't overreact and expect him to be the savior. Some of the guys guarding him look more like Jerebko or Brown, than a real NBA center.

Still, it's encouraging to see him dominate like this.

[ConstableGeneva]

35+12 in 29 minutes.
2pt 13/16,
FT 9/13.

Full game (for those interested):

Watch on YouTube

[SMTBSI]

Some of these performances have been phenomenal, but we shouldn't overreact and expect him to be the savior. Some of the guys guarding him look more like Jerebko or Brown, than a real NBA center.

Still, it's encouraging to see him dominate like this.

Definitely encouraging. Same rule as always applies: dominating over there doesn't mean he's going to dominate over here, but, it's sure as heck better than not dominating over there.

[MrTwister]

Watch on YouTube

[jrob23]

Read on Twitter

What's the word on this guy in league circles, has he substantially raised his 'stock' or no?

not sure but on a scale of 1-10 hype level for our rookies, to me, he's a 10 with Brown a 8 and Yabusele an 7. I've got to admit I haven't been this excited for a draft pick since Pierce. I'm way more excited and optimistic about Zizic than Brown. There aren't 10 more skilled players in the world at his size. He just moves so well and has great touch from everywhere. If he can shoot the 3 and be good defensively I think he'd be a top 5 center in the league. He's got K.A.T. and PorzinGod type upside as he's not even 20 yet. I was watching us when we got Bird, Maxwell, and McHale and suddenly had three of the best young players in the league. That was fun. I think we may have found our Maxwell and McHale in Brown and Zizic respectively...we need our Bird which we should get in the draft with BK17 to be set up for the next decade.

[Fencer reregistered]

Watch on YouTube

Nice. Those flip shots with either hand aren't easy.

But what was total attendance at the game -- 92?