the" big kid" Zizic that is coming

[kozlodoev]

Rollie actually used a capital letter for the first time!
He must be super excited about Zizic !!   

APC-tommy point

Doubling down on CAPS - nice. I see what you did there 

Someone used to throw together his highlight packages. Hope to see em soon..

Also, is the Turk league THAT much stronger than the ABA? How do we know this? What are we basing that on?

I think the Turkish league is a little better, not sure.
BUT with his new team he get to play in the Euroleague which is the toughest competition in Europe.

Also if you have Twitter its worth following this guy: @Timi_093
He has all the updates from Yabu and Zizic including highlights.

If this was five years ago I would said maybe no, but as of now, quality of ABA basketball is not on the same level as in Turkish league. In ABA you have one very good team in Crvena Zvezda Belgrade (signed Isaiah Austin recently!), solid teams in Cedevita Zagreb (with very bad coach, lots of money for our circuimstances and a bad management), Partizan Belgrade (president Nikola Peković!) and Budućnost POdgorica. The rest of the teams are not good...
Of course, the main reason for the quality difference is the money. The more money you have the qualitiy players you get. KK Cibona had to loan him to Darussafaka just to pay the bills and give something to the players...     

Zadar, Cibona and Split used to be pretty good too, but I guess that ship has sailed?

[greece66]

Cibona is indeed going through a financial crisis, but this is not necessarily bad for them developing young players.

For one thing, it still is one of the biggest clubs in Croatia and attracts local talent.

And second, good foreign players are expensive. Many European teams in crisis have turned to young local players because their salaries are a bargain by comparison. And also because if a bigger club gets interested they can ask money in exchange for the player.

[Boris Badenov]

Excellent, Rollie--thanks!

It is so confusing finding results when they play in overlapping leagues or whatever it is they do over there.

Can you tell us, did he come off the bench again? How many minutes did he play? Do you have a link!

I rely on this:

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Ante-Zizic/GameLogs/49134

Note that he started that game, for the first time, over Erden.

[CelticGuardian]

Excellent, Rollie--thanks!

It is so confusing finding results when they play in overlapping leagues or whatever it is they do over there.

Can you tell us, did he come off the bench again? How many minutes did he play? Do you have a link!

I rely on this:

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Ante-Zizic/GameLogs/49134

Note that he started that game, for the first time, over Erden.

Looks like he just worked his way into their starting lineup or was their an injury? Either way, it's obvious he has been performing at a high level so far which is a good sign.

[greece66]

Excellent, Rollie--thanks!

It is so confusing finding results when they play in overlapping leagues or whatever it is they do over there.

Can you tell us, did he come off the bench again? How many minutes did he play? Do you have a link!

I rely on this:

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Ante-Zizic/GameLogs/49134

Note that he started that game, for the first time, over Erden.

Looks like he just worked his way into their starting lineup or was their an injury? Either way, it's obvious he has been performing at a high level so far which is a good sign.

I don't follow the Turkish league, but if we are talking about the game with Buyukcekmece, it looks like Blatt rested Erden (he still played five mins, so I dont think this was an injury). Buyukcekmece is not a very strong team, they currently are 10th in the standings.

[csfansince60s]

...also....

Can't wait to hear Tommy:

the "big kid" AND "the little guy"!!!!

great pic tommy and gorman-arn't we blessed to have the celtics orginization and fraternitity
hope we can develope a new crew to hoist some more banners

We are blessed.....long great history. Great announcers.

Especially hearing "he fiddles, he diddles" listening to Cs games on the radio in the 60s.

[csfansince60s]

So are his teams winning the games?  Less impressive if his team is getting punked.

I think that this mentality is TOTALLY unfair as he simply canNOT control the talent around him.

Smitty77

TP, I agree.

If we were to adhere to that philosophy, Markelle Fultz would not be rated as highly as he is.

[mmmmm]

So are his teams winning the games?  Less impressive if his team is getting punked.

I think that this mentality is TOTALLY unfair as he simply canNOT control the talent around him.

Smitty77

I was following the one Euroleague game he had so far vs Maccabi. His team was down by about 20, ended up losing by 1 point. Zizic was in when they made a comeback and made some nice plays down the stretch.

Overall, Darussafaka is 2-2 since Zizic joined the team. 

This last game (a win over Buyukcekmece Basketbol) was the first that Ante started.  He played 26:58, scored 16, grabbed 8 rebounds and blocked 3 shots in a 97-75 blow-out.   The opponent was not as tough as the ones on the Euro League schedule so that may be why Blatt gave Ante the start, just to see how it goes and to give Erden a rest.   Or maybe it is a sign of things to come?  Erden did play, but only 5 minutes, off the bench.

[safecracker]

The most important thing is that Zizic gets to play in the EuroLeague, which is the strongest league outside North America. There are still 14 rounds to play which is great for him, although it's unlikely his team will reach the final four.
This year, there are 4 Turkish, 3 Spanish, 2 Greek, 2 Russian and one club from each of Germany, Lithuania, Israel, Serbia and Italy.
But EuroLeague is not exactly like the soccer Champion's League where the best leagues automatically have the most representation. There is much less money in euro basketball, so playing in EuroLeague is also a matter of economics.
So while there are 4 Turkish teams in the EuroLeague, it doesn't mean that the Turkish league is the best in Europe (that's still Spain) but it's obviously reasonably good. Again, good for Zizic.

[Celtics4ever]

The opponent was not as tough as the ones on the Euro League schedule so that may be why Blatt gave Ante the start, just to see how it goes and to give Erden a rest.   Or maybe it is a sign of things to come?  Erden did play, but only 5 minutes, off the bench.

If he can't beat out Erden then that is a bad sign for us.

http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=JYB

[droopdog7]

So are his teams winning the games?  Less impressive if his team is getting punked.

I think that this mentality is TOTALLY unfair as he simply canNOT control the talent around him.

Smitty77

That's not what I mean.  Even on bad teams, someone has to score.  And there also tends to be garbage time.  The guy performing on a bad team may not even play on a good team. 

[greece66]

The opponent was not as tough as the ones on the Euro League schedule so that may be why Blatt gave Ante the start, just to see how it goes and to give Erden a rest.   Or maybe it is a sign of things to come?  Erden did play, but only 5 minutes, off the bench.

If he can't beat out Erden then that is a bad sign for us.

http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=JYB

I can't tell.

I don't watch the Turkish league and Zizic has only played two games in the Euroleague. His second game against Maccabi was p good, and although he didn't start he played more mins than Erden.But bear in mind that Darussafaka also has Aldemir.

I might be able to write something more meaningful after they play Baskonia.

[mmmmm]

The opponent was not as tough as the ones on the Euro League schedule so that may be why Blatt gave Ante the start, just to see how it goes and to give Erden a rest.   Or maybe it is a sign of things to come?  Erden did play, but only 5 minutes, off the bench.

If he can't beat out Erden then that is a bad sign for us.

http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=JYB

Erden is a very experienced, very successful veteran who is 10 years older.  If he weren't finally showing signs of physically decline, I would be shocked if a 20 year old wet-behind-the-ears kid would be able to beat him out.

If Semih is healthy I would not at all consider it "bad for us" if Zizic remained on the bench behind him.   I wouldn't at all consider that any sort of negative referendum on Zizic's ability or potential.

[OldSchoolDude]

The opponent was not as tough as the ones on the Euro League schedule so that may be why Blatt gave Ante the start, just to see how it goes and to give Erden a rest.   Or maybe it is a sign of things to come?  Erden did play, but only 5 minutes, off the bench.

If he can't beat out Erden then that is a bad sign for us.

http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=JYB

Erden is a very experienced, very successful veteran who is 10 years older.  If he weren't finally showing signs of physically decline, I would be shocked if a 20 year old wet-behind-the-ears kid would be able to beat him out.

If Semih is healthy I would not at all consider it "bad for us" if Zizic remained on the bench behind him.   I wouldn't at all consider that any sort of negative referendum on Zizic's ability or potential.

4 games and two strait starts over Erden for 16/8 and 14/9.

[Celtics4ever]

Erden is a very experienced, very successful veteran who is 10 years older.  If he weren't finally showing signs of physically decline, I would be shocked if a 20 year old wet-behind-the-ears kid would be able to beat him out.

If Semih is healthy I would not at all consider it "bad for us" if Zizic remained on the bench behind him.   I wouldn't at all consider that any sort of negative referendum on Zizic's ability or potential.

Erden was a fringe NBA player and he is he does not show he has more talent than that it means trouble for us.  We need a guy that can play in the NBA and be worth more than the 2nd round pick we got for Erden.  I could care less what helps that Euro Team.   I want Zizic to be able to help the C's!

So yes it absolutely matters that he is a better player than Erden, because we traded Erden away for nothing.