The Rocco Zikarsky Thread

[Devilzsidewalk]

I feel like Wolves social media is promoting this guy more than our 17th pick

He's stil a pretty big name. A year ago, he was seen as a lottery level talent on par with Maluach. Beringer was almost an unknown, but shot up the boards the past 6 months. And it's also just fun to root for the super tall guys. Like fans were always low-key pumped when their team brought Tacko Fall in for a look.

[Klomp]

I feel like Wolves social media is promoting this guy more than our 17th pick

I agree it feels like it, but looking back it actually is pretty even. But maybe that's exactly why it feels that way, given Joan was a first rounder and Rocco could be on a two-way.

[KGdaBom]

I don't recall seeing this posted, but Rocco did indeed sign a 2 way contract.

Rocco Zikarsky signed a two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves after being drafted 45th overall in the 2025 NBA draft. This means he will split his time between the NBA Timberwolves and their G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. The two-way contract allows him to develop his game while playing in both leagues.

[winforlose]

I don't recall seeing this posted, but Rocco did indeed sign a 2 way contract.

Rocco Zikarsky signed a two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves after being drafted 45th overall in the 2025 NBA draft. This means he will split his time between the NBA Timberwolves and their G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. The two-way contract allows him to develop his game while playing in both leagues.

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[younggunsmn]

If Rocco can turn into Walker Kessler at minimum, that's a major win for pick 46. Essentially a fringe starter at the center position as Gobert transitions to the golden years. We only need to hit on him or Beringer, both would be insane. Especially if Joan is ever able to play the 4.

Walker Kessler is gonna get the Jakob Poetl contract soon and Utah is asking for 2 firsts and a young player in trade talks.
He put up 11/12/2.4 BLK in 30 MPG last year and was maybe the best rebounder in the league.
If Rocco turns into Walker Kessler he will be the steal of this draft and the 2nd or 3rd best draft pick TC has ever made.

That being said, watching some of the full video I can see why Rocco slid in the draft.
Some very shaky defense and poor reaction time and short area quickness making defensive adjustments on players driving to the basket and making offensive counters.

Beringer had a lot of the same mistakes but his reaction time in recovering is much much better and masks a lot of poor technique.

Neither player is good at all on closing out on 3 point shooters yet.

Both have a long ways to go but are also incredibly young with a ton of room for improvement and incredibly high ceilings.
I like where Rocco is at offensively a lot more than Joan at this point, he has some stuff in his bag already that a player his size will need to have, just needs to add more strength to stabilize his jump shot and finishing, his shooting mechanics are already very good reminds me of a much bigger Joe Ingles which is why I like to call him Jingles Prime.

[winforlose]

If Rocco can turn into Walker Kessler at minimum, that's a major win for pick 46. Essentially a fringe starter at the center position as Gobert transitions to the golden years. We only need to hit on him or Beringer, both would be insane. Especially if Joan is ever able to play the 4.

Walker Kessler is gonna get the Jakob Poetl contract soon and Utah is asking for 2 firsts and a young player in trade talks.
He put up 11/12/2.4 BLK in 30 MPG last year and was maybe the best rebounder in the league.
If Rocco turns into Walker Kessler he will be the steal of this draft and the 2nd or 3rd best draft pick TC has ever made.

That being said, watching some of the full video I can see why Rocco slid in the draft.
Some very shaky defense and poor reaction time and short area quickness making defensive adjustments on players driving to the basket and making offensive counters.

Beringer had a lot of the same mistakes but his reaction time in recovering is much much better and masks a lot of poor technique.

Neither player is good at all on closing out on 3 point shooters yet.

Both have a long ways to go but are also incredibly young with a ton of room for improvement and incredibly high ceilings.
I like where Rocco is at offensively a lot more than Joan at this point, he has some stuff in his bag already that a player his size will need to have, just needs to add more strength to stabilize his jump shot and finishing, his shooting mechanics are already very good reminds me of a much bigger Joe Ingles which is why I like to call him Jingles Prime.

I like the idea of Rocco playing a ton of minutes in the G, and maybe trying to play some 4 beside JEdwards, to see if he can defend the PF. I still think that JB could play backup 5 for us and not be that bad. I do recognize there will be growing pains, but there are some legit bad backup Cs in this league, and I don’t think JB will start off as the worst. Given time and patience maybe he turns into something resembling the 45th-50th best center out of 60.

[KGdaBom]

If Rocco can turn into Walker Kessler at minimum, that's a major win for pick 46. Essentially a fringe starter at the center position as Gobert transitions to the golden years. We only need to hit on him or Beringer, both would be insane. Especially if Joan is ever able to play the 4.

Walker Kessler is gonna get the Jakob Poetl contract soon and Utah is asking for 2 firsts and a young player in trade talks.
He put up 11/12/2.4 BLK in 30 MPG last year and was maybe the best rebounder in the league.
If Rocco turns into Walker Kessler he will be the steal of this draft and the 2nd or 3rd best draft pick TC has ever made.

That being said, watching some of the full video I can see why Rocco slid in the draft.
Some very shaky defense and poor reaction time and short area quickness making defensive adjustments on players driving to the basket and making offensive counters.

Beringer had a lot of the same mistakes but his reaction time in recovering is much much better and masks a lot of poor technique.

Neither player is good at all on closing out on 3 point shooters yet.

Both have a long ways to go but are also incredibly young with a ton of room for improvement and incredibly high ceilings.
I like where Rocco is at offensively a lot more than Joan at this point, he has some stuff in his bag already that a player his size will need to have, just needs to add more strength to stabilize his jump shot and finishing, his shooting mechanics are already very good reminds me of a much bigger Joe Ingles which is why I like to call him Jingles Prime.

I like the idea of Rocco playing a ton of minutes in the G, and maybe trying to play some 4 beside JEdwards, to see if he can defend the PF. I still think that JB could play backup 5 for us and not be that bad. I do recognize there will be growing pains, but there are some legit bad backup Cs in this league, and I don’t think JB will start off as the worst. Given time and patience maybe he turns into something resembling the 45th-50th best center out of 60.

Given time and patience JB could grow into a top 10 center easy. If you mean just this year yeah 45th best is reasonable.

[KGdaBom]

The new Rik Smits. The Donk of Dunk. Go Rocco.

[winforlose]

Walker Kessler is gonna get the Jakob Poetl contract soon and Utah is asking for 2 firsts and a young player in trade talks.
He put up 11/12/2.4 BLK in 30 MPG last year and was maybe the best rebounder in the league.
If Rocco turns into Walker Kessler he will be the steal of this draft and the 2nd or 3rd best draft pick TC has ever made.

That being said, watching some of the full video I can see why Rocco slid in the draft.
Some very shaky defense and poor reaction time and short area quickness making defensive adjustments on players driving to the basket and making offensive counters.

Beringer had a lot of the same mistakes but his reaction time in recovering is much much better and masks a lot of poor technique.

Neither player is good at all on closing out on 3 point shooters yet.

Both have a long ways to go but are also incredibly young with a ton of room for improvement and incredibly high ceilings.
I like where Rocco is at offensively a lot more than Joan at this point, he has some stuff in his bag already that a player his size will need to have, just needs to add more strength to stabilize his jump shot and finishing, his shooting mechanics are already very good reminds me of a much bigger Joe Ingles which is why I like to call him Jingles Prime.

I like the idea of Rocco playing a ton of minutes in the G, and maybe trying to play some 4 beside JEdwards, to see if he can defend the PF. I still think that JB could play backup 5 for us and not be that bad. I do recognize there will be growing pains, but there are some legit bad backup Cs in this league, and I don’t think JB will start off as the worst. Given time and patience maybe he turns into something resembling the 45th-50th best center out of 60.

Given time and patience JB could grow into a top 10 center easy. If you mean just this year yeah 45th best is reasonable.

Correct, this year. I am saying I don’t think he starts 60th out of 60, and I am hopeful he might end between 45th and 50th by playoff time. I think that a solid goal for him, but I will know more after I see him in summer league and pre season.

[minimus]

Both have a long ways to go but are also incredibly young with a ton of room for improvement and incredibly high ceilings.
I like where Rocco is at offensively a lot more than Joan at this point, he has some stuff in his bag already that a player his size will need to have, just needs to add more strength to stabilize his jump shot and finishing, his shooting mechanics are already very good reminds me of a much bigger Joe Ingles which is why I like to call him Jingles Prime.

From what I see Rocco needs to cleanup his footwork in order to build a consistent shot. Honestly he does not even need to add much of jumping before shooting, as he is tall enough to shoot over almost any defenders.

I dont expect both to become shooters, but adding short push shot and floater should be a feasible goal. But the most important thing for both (other than conditioning, strength and athletic development) is understanding angles, timing and positioning. Joan mentioned it in his interview, said that he is working on it with coaching staff.

[minimus]

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Adjust your expectation level, guys. It is two years development project.

[KGdaBom]

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Adjust your expectation level, guys. It is two years development project.

I have no expectations. I'm just hoping we have a Rik Smits, Zydrunas Ilgauskas type when he's fully developed.

[Klomp]

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[KGdaBom]

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She must prefer sitting up high because there are innumerable empty seats real close to the court.

[darbstar]

How come he only played 4 mins
2pt / 2 rebs

[KGdaBom]

How come he only played 4 mins
2pt / 2 rebs

The obvious answer was our coaching staff wanted to see more of other players.

[Klomp]

It's definitely going to be a long process for him, but the tools are still exciting!

[Neeva]

Playing him just 4 minutes, while Jesse Edwards played so much, when his parents came all the way from down under to see him play is diabolical.

[Klomp]

Playing him just 4 minutes, while Jesse Edwards played so much, when his parents came all the way from down under to see him play is diabolical.

I'm sure they'll be around for a while, not just one game

[younggunsmn]

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/07/timberwolves-sign-rocco-zikarsky-to-two-way-contract.html

Rocco's 2-way contract will be for 2 years.

That's good news. Will give him more time to develop and if near the end of the 2nd year he's ready for more, we can convert it to a standard contract.