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Theoretically Ante Zizic

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Lue said he didn't "reveal his hand". I think he put Zizic in a really tough spot. I saw both good and bad with the matchup, but it was the game I thought Zizic struggled the most.

Drummond did seem to keep Zizic from getting good post position. It will be good to see in a real game. TT didn't have a good game against him either.

That's good if he wasn't flustered by Drummonds strength. I think he has probably never played against a guy as big or athletic as Drummond though and it was clear he was trying to sort it out.

It really isn't a big criticism. Rookie/sophomore big men have a lot to learn about the league. Every big man has a different set of skills and it seems like you have to be a starter for 2 years to learn everyone and how to play them.

Re-watch the game again Cavatt. Zizic didn't even try to establish post position against Drummond.
 
Re-watch the game again Cavatt. Zizic didn't even try to establish post position against Drummond.

I saw him get pushed to the baseline multiple times and Drummond kept him covered on the roll repeatedly. I will watch it again.
 
I saw him get pushed to the baseline multiple times and Drummond kept him covered on the roll repeatedly. I will watch it again.

Maybe i'll have to re-watch as well. I thought he did an excellent job in the first 5 minutes before he got subbed out, and then when he came back it all fell apart when he shared the floor with Frye and was matched up against Griffin.

On the offensive end I only remember Zizic only hanging down low(The team and him didn't try to post him up or run any sets to get a switch for him either) and then being called up to set screens or getting the ball at the top of the key to run our hand-off set.
 
Larry with a black and Blue ankle is ready to go? WTF
 
I saw him get pushed to the baseline multiple times and Drummond kept him covered on the roll repeatedly. I will watch it again.

When I watched the last pre-season game, I thought Drummond looked but significantly stronger and more mobile than Zizic. This was not surprising because Drummond is one of the strongest and most mobile centers in the NBA. It's why Drummond keeps getting on all star teams, even though he's working with a low wattage bulb upstairs. Also, to make things tougher, Drummond plays with a relatively low center of gravity while Zizic tends to stay vertical. Playing tall is great for the put backs and the lay-ins once you get position, but it makes it harder to get the leverage needed for a deep position unless you have superior strength or foot work.

One last thing about the Detroit game. Zizic bit on Blake Griffin's pump fake so hard that it was almost embarrassing. Pretty much showed exactly where Zizic is defensively. I'm glad that Z got to play against Detroit's starters. I hope the film room session afterwards showed him what he needs to do to become a rotation player.

And that's how I feel about his minutes. He's not the guy you put on the floor for major minutes right now if you are trying to win games. He's better than second tier talent, has physical ability, but he's still missing parts to his game that he needs if he wants to become a rotation player. He doesn't have the foot work or the outside shot needed to compete against the biggest guys. He doesn't have the mobility or the understanding to defend space against the smaller guys. I can see why Coach put him behind Love, Nance, and Tristan on the depth chart.

So complain all you want about Tristan's frightful shooting touch, but the guy has a low center of gravity, can move most guys under the basket with his legs when he needs to, and isn't a liability on defense in open space. Those things are as much a part of playing Center these days as rebounding or finishing with a nice touch at the basket.
 
When I watched the last pre-season game, I thought Drummond looked but significantly stronger and more mobile than Zizic. This was not surprising because Drummond is one of the strongest and most mobile centers in the NBA. It's why Drummond keeps getting on all star teams, even though he's working with a low wattage bulb upstairs. Also, to make things tougher, Drummond plays with a relatively low center of gravity while Zizic tends to stay vertical. Playing tall is great for the put backs and the lay-ins once you get position, but it makes it harder to get the leverage needed for a deep position unless you have superior strength or foot work.

One last thing about the Detroit game. Zizic bit on Blake Griffin's pump fake so hard that it was almost embarrassing. Pretty much showed exactly where Zizic is defensively. I'm glad that Z got to play against Detroit's starters. I hope the film room session afterwards showed him what he needs to do to become a rotation player.

And that's how I feel about his minutes. He's not the guy you put on the floor for major minutes right now if you are trying to win games. He's better than second tier talent, has physical ability, but he's still missing parts to his game that he needs if he wants to become a rotation player. He doesn't have the foot work or the outside shot needed to compete against the biggest guys. He doesn't have the mobility or the understanding to defend space against the smaller guys. I can see why Coach put him behind Love, Nance, and Tristan on the depth chart.

So complain all you want about Tristan's frightful shooting touch, but the guy has a low center of gravity, can move most guys under the basket with his legs when he needs to, and isn't a liability on defense in open space. Those things are as much a part of playing Center these days as rebounding or finishing with a nice touch at the basket.

I don't think he should start, but he should be the 2nd scoring option off the bench. I think he is prob the 3rd best scoring option on the team. His efficiency speaks for itself.

I think all your criticisms are valid, and they are pretty much true for any 2nd year big man who has only played limited minutes in the league.

His upside is too good not to get him minutes IMO
 
I don't think he should start, but he should be the 2nd scoring option off the bench. I think he is prob the 3rd best scoring option on the team. His efficiency speaks for itself.

I think all your criticisms are valid, and they are pretty much true for any 2nd year big man who has only played limited minutes in the league.

His upside is too good not to get him minutes IMO

His efficiency is based on a cumulative 214 NBA minutes. Does he deserve to eventually prove himself more over time? Certainly, and I hope that he does. Does it show he has good touch and a natural knack for scoring? Yes and the eye test backs that up as well.

But to extrapolate his advanced numbers from 214 NBA minutes(many of which were end of game garbage time) and suggest that he could/should be the second scoring option off the bench and possibly even the third best scoring option on the team seems off to me.
 
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His efficiency is based on a cumulative 214 NBA minutes. Does he deserve to eventually prove himself more over time? Certainly, and I hope that he does. Does it show he has good touch and a natural knack for scoring. Yes and the eye test backs that up as well.

But to extrapolate his advanced numbers from 214 NBA minutes(many of which were end of game garbage time) and suggest that he could/should be the second scoring option off the bench and possibly even the third best scoring option on the team seems off to me.

That's not going to happen though. It's clear Lue has no interest in modifying his offense or defensive strategies , for a traditional back to the basket center. To add to that for some reason we're still in win now mode, which mean Lue is going to be focused on playing his veterans , meaning Zzizic will be lucky to get slightly more playing time than he got last year. Honestly if the organization has a s little interest in Zizic as it seems they should just trade him .

Prediction time Zizic gets more g-legaue minutes than NBA minutes this year.
 
His efficiency is based on a cumulative 214 NBA minutes. Does he deserve to eventually prove himself more over time? Certainly, and I hope that he does. Does it show he has good touch and a natural knack for scoring? Yes and the eye test backs that up as well.

But to extrapolate his advanced numbers from 214 NBA minutes(many of which were end of game garbage time) and suggest that he could/should be the second scoring option off the bench and possibly even the third best scoring option on the team seems off to me.

Just from fg% alone he has been scoring in the upper 60's for years in professional leagues. No one has scored with the efficiencies he has. Yeah you can't extrapolate that to starting or against the best, but he made 100% of his FGA against drummond and the pistons.

There's more reason to believe he can than he can't at this point. He doesn't seem to take bad shots or force anything.
 
That's not going to happen though. It's clear Lue has no interest in modifying his offense or defensive strategies , for a traditional back to the basket center. To add to that for some reason we're still in win now mode, which mean Lue is going to be focused on playing his veterans , meaning Zzizic will be lucky to get slightly more playing time than he got last year. Honestly if the organization has a s little interest in Zizic as it seems they should just trade him .

Prediction time Zizic gets more g-legaue minutes than NBA minutes this year.

No they shouldn’t trade him.
When they are able to trade TT this summer, they have two seasons of Zizic on his rookie deal before they then have to make a long term decision.

No rookie is “owed anything”. Whether fair or right or not, Ante will not be the first young player to play sporadically his first two years before being given a larger role.
 
No they shouldn’t trade him.
When they are able to trade TT this summer, they have two seasons of Zizic on his rookie deal before they then have to make a long term decision.

No rookie is “owed anything”. Whether fair or right or not, Ante will not be the first young player to play sporadically his first two years before being given a larger role.

Adding to that, Big men do need traditionally more time to develop than Guards. So trading Zizic wouldn't make any sense right now. His potential is bigger than Nance.
 
Even as a Zizic fan, I'm not entirely opposed to trading him. He's not a great fit here, at least at the moment, but he would be a good fit on many other rebuilding teams. In Memphis, for instance, he could learn from one of the great modern centers in Marc Gasol, and long-term he would appear to be an excellent fit next to their other young big Jaren Jackson. If a team like that is interested in trading for him, we should be all ears.
 
Even as a Zizic fan, I'm not entirely opposed to trading him. He's not a great fit here, at least at the moment, but he would be a good fit on many other rebuilding teams. In Memphis, for instance, he could learn from one of the great modern centers in Marc Gasol, and long-term he would appear to be an excellent fit next to their other young big Jaren Jackson. If a team like that is interested in trading for him, we should be all ears.

What do you think about Jackson's rebounding?
 

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