Draftees 2016 – Brown, Yabusele, Žižić, Jackson, Nader

[Turgon]

Man, Blatt is such a great coach. In just a couple of months Zizic has improved immensely. Looks much more aggressive and focused.

He will need at least one year to learn the defensive schemes and adapt to the NBA but he's going to be a player!

Blatt is a great job. But Zizic didn't improve under Blatt over the last few months. Zizic is a good player. This is not the first time Blatt has coached Zizic. Blatt coached Zizic when Ante was 16 years old.

I'm referring to Zizic's improvement in specific areas like switching on defense, boxing out and generally looking less tentative on court. He was even calling opponent's plays. The Spanish commentator was impressed.

Didn't know Blatt coached him previously. It makes sense, I suppose, considering he will only have him for six months. Knowing the player helps.

[return2glory]

Man, Blatt is such a great coach. In just a couple of months Zizic has improved immensely. Looks much more aggressive and focused.

He will need at least one year to learn the defensive schemes and adapt to the NBA but he's going to be a player!

Blatt is a great job. But Zizic didn't improve under Blatt over the last few months. Zizic is a good player. This is not the first time Blatt has coached Zizic. Blatt coached Zizic when Ante was 16 years old.

I'm referring to Zizic's improvement in specific areas like switching on defense, boxing out and generally looking less tentative on court. He was even calling opponent's plays. The Spanish commentator was impressed.

Didn't know Blatt coached him previously. It makes sense, I suppose, considering he will only have him for six months. Knowing the player helps.

This was a great interview with David Blatt. He talks about Ante. Someone posted this here a few months ago. It's worth listening to what he says about Zizic.

Watch on YouTube

[Murta]

Would you rather have Brown or Maker? As things stand, I think I'd go with Maker. His skillset for a center is unique, he seems to match-up well against different types of players, which is incredibly important and his floor seems to be higher, which is valuable since neither of them seems to be on a path to superstardom.
I guess we owe an apology to that guy who loved Maker and got banned for promoting him.

Not saying anything remotely close to "Ainge should have drafted Maker", that'd have been insane back then, just trying to have a discussion.

[DakoBarr]

Would you rather have Brown or Maker? As things stand, I think I'd go with Maker. His skillset for a center is unique, he seems to match-up well against different types of players, which is incredibly important and his floor seems to be higher, which is valuable since neither of them seems to be on a path to superstardom.
I guess we owe an apology to that guy who loved Maker and got banned for promoting him.

Not saying anything remotely close to "Ainge should have drafted Maker", that'd have been insane back then, just trying to have a discussion.

I disagree and I think you're underrating Brown's potential. In terms of floor, Maker is a twig who may be 24 years old, so it's plausible that he will not put much more weight on. Brown is a 20 year old freak who can guard positions 1-4, nasty first step with a functional handle, some ability in the post, and a pretty believable jumper. I think he very much has superstar potential. Granted, I'm way high on JB and am genuinely optimistic he'll end up the best player from the draft. Being massive and fast with a jack of all trades skillset seems good historically. Also, he's a fresh 20. To me, many posters analyze as if he's already peaked, when I see a player who's developed noticeably since college.

I'm excited about both Zizic and Yabu, but I can't help being mostly partial to the dancing bear. He's freaking huge and quick on his feet. Pretty great first step for his size, a nice stroke, and good handles/passing. Zizic certainly looks the part of a useful, workhorse big, but Yabu just seems to have that rare versatility so many good teams are wont to have, from my perspective. To animate that some, I'm almost okay if we strike out in the offseason so I can see this guy get some burn. Perhaps it's not entirely silly to presume one of Yabu/Zizic could provide some solid minutes next season, and give us some of what this team craves.

Still wait and see for these fellas and I could very well be wrong. But I am very optimistic.

[peachbucket]

Would you rather have Brown or Maker? As things stand, I think I'd go with Maker. His skillset for a center is unique, he seems to match-up well against different types of players, which is incredibly important and his floor seems to be higher, which is valuable since neither of them seems to be on a path to superstardom.
I guess we owe an apology to that guy who loved Maker and got banned for promoting him.

Not saying anything remotely close to "Ainge should have drafted Maker", that'd have been insane back then, just trying to have a discussion.

I disagree and I think you're underrating Brown's potential. In terms of floor, Maker is a twig who may be 24 years old, so it's plausible that he will not put much more weight on. Brown is a 20 year old freak who can guard positions 1-4, nasty first step with a functional handle, some ability in the post, and a pretty believable jumper. I think he very much has superstar potential. Granted, I'm way high on JB and am genuinely optimistic he'll end up the best player from the draft. Being massive and fast with a jack of all trades skillset seems good historically. Also, he's a fresh 20. To me, many posters analyze as if he's already peaked, when I see a player who's developed noticeably since college.

I'm excited about both Zizic and Yabu, but I can't help being mostly partial to the dancing bear. He's freaking huge and quick on his feet. Pretty great first step for his size, a nice stroke, and good handles/passing. Zizic certainly looks the part of a useful, workhorse big, but Yabu just seems to have that rare versatility so many good teams are wont to have, from my perspective. To animate that some, I'm almost okay if we strike out in the offseason so I can see this guy get some burn. Perhaps it's not entirely silly to presume one of Yabu/Zizic could provide some solid minutes next season, and give us some of what this team craves.

Still wait and see for these fellas and I could very well be wrong. But I am very optimistic.

I agree with everything you said here...next year is going to be a lot of fun. If we don't make a move for a center then I expect Zizic to get rotation minutes and won't be shocked if he is in the starting lineup after the all star break. I'm expecting Yabusele to get the Jaylen Brown treatment next year but I like his long term potential even more than Zizic who I'm high on. Jaylen has shown to be a quick study and I'm expecting big strides from him next year...hopefully at least 20 mpg to start and supplanting Crowder in the starting lineup at some point in the season....I think he will become a Jimmy Butler level player.

[sam_I_am]

Would you rather have Brown or Maker? As things stand, I think I'd go with Maker. His skillset for a center is unique, he seems to match-up well against different types of players, which is incredibly important and his floor seems to be higher, which is valuable since neither of them seems to be on a path to superstardom.
I guess we owe an apology to that guy who loved Maker and got banned for promoting him.

Not saying anything remotely close to "Ainge should have drafted Maker", that'd have been insane back then, just trying to have a discussion.

I think a better question is Thon Maker vs. Yabousele. Could we have traded up to get Maker or would he have fallen to us if Bucks didn't take him?

I don't know what to think of Maker. His feet are a little slow but his length is crazy. I really like the energy he plays with. He really competes hard and mixes it up. His ceiling on offense looks pretty low to me and I worry about his longevity given the way he gets knocked around with his slight frame.

That said, the Bucks really had a good draft and Maker is already making a solid contribution.

[claycarver]

...so many good teams are wont to have...

I have nothing useful to add to this good discussion, I just wanted to thank you for turning a little used phrase like that. Reading it made me smile.

[NormanDale]

Would you rather have Brown or Maker? As things stand, I think I'd go with Maker. His skillset for a center is unique, he seems to match-up well against different types of players, which is incredibly important and his floor seems to be higher, which is valuable since neither of them seems to be on a path to superstardom.
I guess we owe an apology to that guy who loved Maker and got banned for promoting him.

Not saying anything remotely close to "Ainge should have drafted Maker", that'd have been insane back then, just trying to have a discussion.

I disagree and I think you're underrating Brown's potential. In terms of floor, Maker is a twig who may be 24 years old, so it's plausible that he will not put much more weight on. Brown is a 20 year old freak who can guard positions 1-4, nasty first step with a functional handle, some ability in the post, and a pretty believable jumper. I think he very much has superstar potential. Granted, I'm way high on JB and am genuinely optimistic he'll end up the best player from the draft. Being massive and fast with a jack of all trades skillset seems good historically. Also, he's a fresh 20. To me, many posters analyze as if he's already peaked, when I see a player who's developed noticeably since college.

I'm excited about both Zizic and Yabu, but I can't help being mostly partial to the dancing bear. He's freaking huge and quick on his feet. Pretty great first step for his size, a nice stroke, and good handles/passing. Zizic certainly looks the part of a useful, workhorse big, but Yabu just seems to have that rare versatility so many good teams are wont to have, from my perspective. To animate that some, I'm almost okay if we strike out in the offseason so I can see this guy get some burn. Perhaps it's not entirely silly to presume one of Yabu/Zizic could provide some solid minutes next season, and give us some of what this team craves.

Still wait and see for these fellas and I could very well be wrong. But I am very optimistic.

I agree with everything you said here...next year is going to be a lot of fun. If we don't make a move for a center then I expect Zizic to get rotation minutes and won't be shocked if he is in the starting lineup after the all star break. I'm expecting Yabusele to get the Jaylen Brown treatment next year but I like his long term potential even more than Zizic who I'm high on. Jaylen has shown to be a quick study and I'm expecting big strides from him next year...hopefully at least 20 mpg to start and supplanting Crowder in the starting lineup at some point in the season....I think he will become a Jimmy Butler level player.

Why do you guys like Yabs more than Zizic? From what I see in the clips above, if Zizic were in the draft this year i think he'd be a top-5 pick, with the Chad Ford's of the world writing hot takes that Zizic should go above Fultz.

I think if Yabs were in this draft, based on what ive seen of him, he'd be a late lottery or mid first round pick. Nothing he's done had been as impressive as what we're seeing from Zizic.

I'm happy to have Yabs, but Zizic's current EL performance projects to a future all star, does it not? Not saying he'll for sure get there, but it seems like as good a bet as him being a "workmanlike big". This is not Darko scoring 2 ppg but looking great against the chair.

[neno]

Considering draft position it appears Ainge likes Yabs more than Zizic also

[Homerclease]

Considering draft position it appears Ainge likes Yabs more than Zizic also

They took yabu first because there were questions on whether Zizic would agree to the stash. Yabu had already said he was willing to play overseas. They were all over Zizic for a long time before the draft and had scouted him heavily in Europe.

[sam_I_am]

I think Ainge went to Croatia expecting to draft Bender and was blown away by Zizac. I think across the NBA teams were looking for high upside stashes and avoiding guys like Bender in the middle first round not ready to contribute. Zizac was projected to fall to 20s by most pundits and I think Ainge knew he could wait until second pick. Any team drafting Zizac top 15 probably knew they would have to have him on roster and didn't want to waste a year. I actually think they had Yabs rated lower but drafted him higher because he agreed to stash.

[ConstableGeneva]

Read on Twitter

[Curmudgeon]

I think Ainge went to Croatia expecting to draft Bender and was blown away by Zizac.

Except that Bender was in Tel Aviv, not Croatia.

Zizic was on everyone's radar for two years-- since the last year he played with his older brother. What I find shocking is that no team drafted Zizic ahead of #23.

Notice in the highlight above that the right-handed Zizic puts the ball on the floor with his left hand to get by the first defender. He's fundamentally sound in everything he does.

[ConstableGeneva]

Termi-Nader made the All-Rookie team and All-NBA D-League 2nd team. Congrats guy.

[Banks2Pierce]

Would you rather have Brown or Maker?

Probably Brown. Maker has the age question and my read on it is that it's more likely than not that he's older. Bigs and wings are also different worlds as far as development. No wings are good early on. We've seen the early stats comparisons, but I think there's a lot to that. Wiggins puts up counting stats, but he's still not particularly good. Booker is more in the point guard mold and his defense is still enough to say he's not even a starter on a good team level impact guy yet. Porzingis, Jokic, Towns, Davis, and some others have come into the league doing exceptionally well.

[sam_I_am]

I think Ainge went to Croatia expecting to draft Bender and was blown away by Zizac.

Except that Bender was in Tel Aviv, not Croatia.

Zizic was on everyone's radar for two years-- since the last year he played with his older brother. What I find shocking is that no team drafted Zizic ahead of #23.

Notice in the highlight above that the right-handed Zizic puts the ball on the floor with his left hand to get by the first defender. He's fundamentally sound in everything he does.

Either way, it was the same trip.

[SMTBSI]

Real Madrid leads Darussafaka 46-33 at halftime in game 3.

Zizic 9 / 4 / 2blk, on 4-4 shooting in 13:15. (Leads all scorers for Istanbul.)


I swear I had the start time right for this one. Guess not.

[SMTBSI]

Read Madrid open 2nd half on a 9-4 run over the first 4:15, extending the lead to 18. Zizic with an OReb, TO, missed FG.

TV timeout, ZIzic comes out, Istanbul immediately goes on an 8-0 run to make it 45-55. Timeout Madrid.

Don't have any more context than that, as I'm just boxscore watching. But, at least the game is back in reach.


...Aand, Madrid makes it a 16pt game again, in less than a minute.

[SMTBSI]

Madrid ran it out to 19 at one point, Istanbul reeled it back to 12 at the end of the 3rd.

Zizic with an AST and and-1 in his last couple minutes in the 3rd.

12 / 5 / 1 / 2blk on 5-6 in 20:21

[SMTBSI]

Hotly contested first 5 minutes of the fourth. Istanbul within 7 5 at 77-702, with 4:58 to play. Zizic 4 pts in that stretch (1-1 + 2fts), sitting now.

Now has 16 on 6/7 and 4/5 FT.


Edit: now a 3pt game. Can these scrappy **** pull it off, from down 19?