Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.

by **bobheckler** Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:35 am

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/12/ante_zizic_boston_celtics.html

Boston Celtics draft pick Ante Zizic has switched teams mid-season and will now compete for Darussafaka, a Turkish club coached by David Blatt, according to multiple reports.

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David Pick @IAmDPick
Ante Zizic, Celtics stash & FIBA's elite center, signed six-month deal to play Euroleague for Boston-born David Blatt, his brother told me.
12:44 PM - 26 Dec 2016
29 29 Retweets 62 62 likes

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David Pick @IAmDPick
Cibona will retain rights for Ante Zizic in offseason, has manageable NBA out, wants to be in Boston ASAP. Darussafaka is huge for him.
12:51 PM - 26 Dec 2016
8 8 Retweets 14 14 likes

The Zizic situation created some drama with his former team, Croatia's KK Cibona, which loaned Zizic for financial considerations. The club's executive vice president, Aco Petrovic, resigned over the decision to move the team's best player.

After starring for KK Cibona, Zizic, the 23rd pick in June's draft, will now have more competition for minutes and touches. Darussafaka features a number of guys with NBA experience in James Anderson and Furkan Aldemir, plus former Celtics big men Luke Harangody and Semih Erden. Of course, the talent tradeoff goes both ways: playing in the Euroleague, the second-best league behind the NBA, Zizic will be able to test himself nightly against top competition.

The 19-year-old has already shown himself capable of pummeling lesser players. Through 13 games in the Adriatic League, Zizic dominated with averages of 20.0 points and 9.2 rebounds on ridiculous 69.5-percent shooting -- numbers that compare favorably to those of other NBA talents who have gone through that league. It will be interesting to see how Zizic performs against more competitive opponents the rest of the season, but his new coach seems to appreciate his style of play:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">David Blatt on how then 16-year-old Ante Zizic, Celtics stash he acquired, reminded him of Muhammad Ali. <a href="https://t.co/78gOVKeVwB">pic.twitter.com/78gOVKeVwB</a></p>— David Pick (@IAmDPick) <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmDPick/status/813519915839868929">December 26, 2016</a></blockquote>
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David Pick @IAmDPick
David Blatt on how then 16-year-old Ante Zizic, Celtics stash he acquired, reminded him of Muhammad Ali.
3:00 PM - 26 Dec 2016
12 12 Retweets 52 52 likes

bob

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by **wideclyde** Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:03 pm

This move to a better team should only help this kid to further improve even if he loses a little bit of playing time each game. And, of course, his ability to improve even more before he gets a legit tryout next summer can only help the Cs.

Regarding his minutes in a better league, you would think that his current team did not pay money enough to get him away from his old team to just sit him deep on their bench. Could be great for the kid and for the Cs, and will be interesting to see how it all works out by the end of the Euro season.

by **bobheckler** Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:27 pm

Chris Forsberg

ESPN Staff Writer

Boston Celtics stash Ante Zizic, the 23rd pick in the 2016 NBA draft, is leaving his Croatian team to play for David Blatt's Euroleague squad in Turkey. Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he texted with Blatt on Tuesday and thinks the coach can help mold the 19-year-old 7-footer. "We've been following [Zizic] really close. He's had a great year up to this point," said Stevens. "He's got a high motor, he's a tough guy. We're excited about him being a part of our future."

bob

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by **arambone** Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:19 pm

It's ridiculous that he's not in Boston right now, in place of Jordan Mickey.

by **bobheckler** Tue Dec 27, 2016 11:13 pm

arambone wrote:It's ridiculous that he's not in Boston right now, in place of Jordan Mickey.

Arambone,

It's ridiculous he's not in Boston right now, in place of Tyler Zeller. I haven't seen enough of Mickey to want him gone first.

Zeller is just as bad a man-to-man defender as Kelly (maybe worse), an inferior position defender, definitely a worse help defender, worse reboynder, less of a scoring threat sbd not even close in passing. Anybody who doesn't luke Kelly should loathe Zeller.

bob

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by **kdp59** Wed Dec 28, 2016 8:20 am

look at Danny's youngin' growing up now.

let's see how he does with the big boys in euro ball. Sounds like he wants to be in the NBA next season.

and yes, he should be an upgrade over Mickey ( how many years do we keep a 6-8 shot blocker?) and maybe an upgrade over Zeller ( THAT remains to be seen).

either way Danny moving two firsts ( and making two seconds a future first) into the future in last years draft, was a great move.

with Young and Mickey both likely gone next year, even with no trades Danny has roster space for Zizic and the Nets pick next season.

Zizic and Josh Jackson would be two nice addition next season.....maybe a higher level PF ( like Ibaka, perhaps) as a UFA with the cap space and Amir's contract gone?

by **mulcogiseng** Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:29 pm

Great opportunity for Ante Zizic! We all question what kind of competition there is on the other side of the ponds now Zizic will be playing against the best players. Yabusele upgraded from France to China and is playing for Yao Ming. (does anyone know for sure that he can come to Boston once Chinese league ends in Feb?) I think both players could have earned spots on the bench if they had the opportunity to compete in training camp. But they are playing more and improving more where they are so its all good because they will make the team next year, especially with Amir's expiring contract.
This was a great draft by Danny! I'd like to see Brown get some playing time and if Brad won't play him here let him get some time with Jackson in Portland. Danny should have five or six players knocking hard at that playing time door next year just from this and next years draft. Not often a team can get younger and better.

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Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.

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Re: Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.

Re: Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.

Re: Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.

Re: Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.

Re: Zizic Traded To David Blatt's Team in Euroleague. Upgrade in League Competitiveness.