Bradley Zimmer and the Spectre Cast On Prospects
March 21, 2018Joe Gilbert and Jake Burns’ 2018 NFL Draft Big Boards 1.0: 10-1
March 21, 2018Don’t get me wrong, injuries suck. Injuries suck even worse when they happen on a championship-or-bust NBA team. Throughout this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have dealt with a number of injuries, with the most (at one time) occurring over the last couple weeks. The one good thing (if there is a such thing?) about injuries is that they allow players to get playing time who may not even get to play in non-garbage time minutes if all the players on the team were healthy. That can either turn into a player proving that he should in fact not receive significant playing time or showing that he can compete with the big boys and should get playing time even when the injured players return to the court. That exact situation has happened with Cavs center Ante Zizic since the calendar flipped to March, and he has made the most of his opportunity.
With Larry Nance, Tristan Thompson, and Kevin Love1 all missing significant time due to injuries, Zizic has been counted on much more than he has been throughout his first season in Cleveland. Many expected that he would just play a few minutes a game, maybe 10-15 minutes at the most, and prove that he still needs plenty more experience before he cracks any rotation, especially on the Cavs. But instead, he has created more questions moving forward, once the entire roster is 100 percent. It’s a good problem to have, and Zizic deserves all the credit for making the decisions on playing time once the team is at full strength tougher than they were expected to be.
Prior to the injuries, the 21-year-old saw action in just 16 games this season. Since being called on to play more significant time, he has played in eight straight games since March 5, five of which he logged double-digit minutes. In those eight games, Zizic has averaged 8.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and one block in 13.8 minutes per game while shooting 79 percent from the floor and 73 percent from the free-throw line. He has scored at least 11 points and grabbed at least six rebounds in four of the last five games. Being able to get those kinds of stats in just under 14 minutes a night can’t go unnoticed, and luckily it hasn’t. The Cavs are a perfect 4-0 when Zizic has logged at least 14 minutes a game over the last eight games.
The big man has a 110.5 offensive rating and 109.8 defensive rating (plus-0.7 net rating) in those eight games. Comparatively speaking, if you were to compare his eight-game sample to the other Cavs throughout the entire season, Zizic would have the ninth-best offensive rating,2 10th-best defensive rating,3 and 12th-best net rating4 among Cavs who have logged at least 10 minutes per game so far this season.
Larry Drew—the acting head coach while Tyronn Lue has taken a leave of absence—has taken notice of Zizic’s play and admitted that he and the coaching staff have plenty of decisions to make once Thompson and Nance are healthy again, specifically dealing with what they will do with Zizic. Drew discussed it following Monday night’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks, according to cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
“Well certainly what Z has done in the last couple of weeks that he’s been playing, he has shown that he deserves to be out on the floor,” Drew said. “Getting Tristan back, right now not really knowing how we’re going to juggle this thing, but I will say it’s a nice problem to have. We haven’t had that luxury.
“But the things that Z does on the floor, first of all he’s big and he’s real active around the glass. He gets his hands on a lot of balls and he’s a good finisher around the basket. But that’s a nice problem to have because he has certainly shown over the last couple of weeks that he deserves to play. That’s something we as a staff, we’re going to have to make some decisions.”
He seemed to be just a throw-in in the trade that sent Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics, but Zizic could potentially prove to be more than that if he continues to improve and work his craft with more experience under his belt. It’s not to say that he should receive more playing time than Nance or Thompson,5 but the big man has proven that he should at least crack the rotation just to give those guys a breather at times.
It’s a small sample size, so he still needs some time to prove what he can do at the NBA level, but Zizic has done basically everything asked of him and a little more. With more games under his belt, he will either prove that he is just at two-way player that travels up and down I-77 to go between the Cavs and their G-League affiliate Canton Charge, or prove that he can be a legitimate role player and big man in the NBA. Although his numbers don’t fly off the stat sheet and he doesn’t have any “WOW!” plays in his highlight reel, Zizic has done quite a nice job filling in while the rest of the big men on the team get back to full strength.
“What he’s done, he’s really taken advantage of an opportunity,” Drew said. “We tell our guys all the time, especially guys who don’t play a lot of minutes, you have to be ready at all times because you just never know when your number is going to get called. We’ve been unfortunate, kind of riddled with the injury bug and he’s had to play. And he’s responded extremely well.”
With Thompson expected to return at some point this week, it will be interesting to see if Zizic completely falls out of the rotations again, just like he was prior to the injuries, or if he did enough to secure some minutes going forward. If anything, the 6-foot-11, 250-pound center is a body the Cavs can put down low to rough of the opposing big men, even if it’s only for a few minutes a game. With six fouls to use, Zizic could make life miserable for the opposing center, foul them hard a couple times, and be a big man in the middle for a handful of minutes per game.
At the end of February, WFNY’s Corey Barnes reminded us to not forget about Zizic, who had been playing well with the Charge. His time in the G League seems invaluable. Due to him not receiving much playing time in Cleveland, going back and forth to Canton has allowed him to see significant and consistent playing time. Even if it’s against non-NBA competition, it gives Zizic an opportunity to improve outside of just Cavs practices. So far, it seems as though that extra playing time has done him quite well.
It seems as though the center has made the most of his opportunity and has capitalized on the increase in minutes that he has received since the start of March. It’s a good problem to have, but now the coaching staff must figure out how to maximize their frontcourt while keeping players fresh down the stretch. Zizic’s increased role was a something that only had an opportunity to come to the forefront due to the number of injuries on the wine and gold, but now he may see an increased role even when Nance and Thompson return to the lineup.
Part of his improvement has been due to the fact that he spends extra time perfecting his craft before and after practice and works his butt off. It hasn’t gone unnoticed in the organization, either.
“He busts his ass,” one member of the front office said. “It’s nonstop.”
“I think he can really help us,” Love said of Zizic. “He’s 21 years old, wants to learn, has played extended minutes and has been able to be productive in those minutes. Super efficient. We love what he does. He’s a big man and right now missing T-Top and Larry is tough for us so having him out there is nice.”
Injuries are never a good thing, but in situations like this, it has allowed the Cavs to realize that they have more depth in the frontcourt than they knew they had previously. Zizic has not only proven that he can be an efficient scorer and rebounder, but also be a big man that can be a body in the paint on both sides of the floor. Now, how much will he play when the Cavs are at full strength? No one knows, but it’s a good problem to have.
- Love returned Monday night, his first game back since breaking his hand January 30. [↩]
- This includes Channing Frye. [↩]
- Includes Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and Derrick Rose. [↩]
- Includes Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert, and Dwyane Wade. [↩]
- I’m sure some will speculate that Thompson shouldn’t play a single minute, but that’s for another day. [↩]