Ivica Zubac: huge miss by the Celtics

[Donoghus]

Let's not put him in Springfield quite yet...

[Yoki_IsTheName]

We took Ante Zizic, which could have the same trajectory career wise as Zubac.

Not as tall, for sure, but he's long. He's active all around like Zubac is, very mobile for their position.

I think we drafted someone who's as close potentially, so I would not sweat it. Sure, the extra 3 inches is enticing, but I'm not calling it a huge miss just yet.

[gift]

I liked Zizic over Zubac before so I can't really reverse my opinion without having seen Zizic in the same environment.

[max215]

Part of the reason we drafted Zizic is because he could be stashed. The same was not true of Zubac. I'd much rather have control of Zizic starting next year or the year after than have control of Zubac starting now.

This.

[IDreamCeltics]

Are we really calling draft misses based on summer league?  Not to mention that Zizic didn't play, and could very well have done better than Zubac if he had.  It's one thing to say that you really like Zubac and think he'll be a good player, or that you wished we had taken him, but saying that we screwed up by taking Zizic over him makes no sense

I feel totally comfortable pointing out that Zubac is a better player than both Jared Sullenger and Tyler Zeller right now based on his summer league performance as well as his professional career in Europe.  He could step in and play 18 minutes a night as a center for the Celtics immediately.  This is not even a "risky prediction" since we're going to see him do exactly that for the Lakers this year - they currently believe in him so much that they have no plan B at center.

I'm not saying we screwed up by taking Zizic - I'm saying we screwed up by NOT taking Zubac.  Try to wrap your head around the idea that we had eight draft picks and had the opportunity to draft multiple impact players THIS YEAR.  Since the Celtics made repeated claims of exhaustively scouting the Euro prospects I find it hard to believe that they whiffed that badly on a guy who was one of four Euro centers available and lasted into the second round.   

If he was some raw prospect who wasn't going to be ready to play a role in the NBA for several years (think Young, Hunter, Mickey, Yabu, Zizic, Bentel, Jackson) I could understand passing on him to avoid having to keep him on the roster, but this a 7'2 260 lbs shot-blocker with a post-game...  He's NBA ready right now and has a skillset that people on this board have been clamoring for for ages. 

There's not really an excuse available that justifies the Celtics trading their two top second round picks away and missing on a player who would A. Make an NBA impact this year, B. Is 19 and has as much potential to improve as any other 19 year old player. C.  Has more trade value today than he did when he was drafted. 

Furthermore, many people on this board are creaming themselves over the possibility of trading first round picks and prospects for Jahil Okafor who had a similar impact in summer league to Zubac last year.

[kraidstar]

Did you post that it was a "big miss" on draft night? Just wondering, as I don't recall hearing much about Zubac on this blog until now.


Regardless, Zubac did look good in summer league. Reminds me of Steven Adams a little bit, but not quite as quick.

I like his timing on blocks, but i wonder if that will translate against true NBA talent. He isn't as long and big as he sounds when you watch him live, and his athleticism/quickness isn't great. The instincts are there, though, so he could very well be a good defender.

His toughness is solid.

His offense is limited, mostly putbacks and layups.

Overall he looks like an NBA player, which is a good thing for a 2nd round pick.

[kraidstar]

Are we really calling draft misses based on summer league?  Not to mention that Zizic didn't play, and could very well have done better than Zubac if he had.  It's one thing to say that you really like Zubac and think he'll be a good player, or that you wished we had taken him, but saying that we screwed up by taking Zizic over him makes no sense

I feel totally comfortable pointing out that Zubac is a better player than both Jared Sullenger and Tyler Zeller right now based on his summer league performance as well as his professional career in Europe.  He could step in and play 18 minutes a night as a center for the Celtics immediately.  This is not even a "risky prediction" since we're going to see him do exactly that for the Lakers this year - they currently believe in him so much that they have no plan B at center.

I'm not saying we screwed up by taking Zizic - I'm saying we screwed up by NOT taking Zubac.  Try to wrap your head around the idea that we had eight draft picks and had the opportunity to draft multiple impact players THIS YEAR.  Since the Celtics made repeated claims of exhaustively scouting the Euro prospects I find it hard to believe that they whiffed that badly on a guy who was one of four Euro centers available and lasted into the second round.   

If he was some raw prospect who wasn't going to be ready to play a role in the NBA for several years (think Young, Hunter, Mickey, Yabu, Zizic, Bentel, Jackson) I could understand passing on him to avoid having to keep him on the roster, but this a 7'2 260 lbs shot-blocker with a post-game...  He's NBA ready right now and has a skillset that people on this board have been clamoring for for ages. 

There's not really an excuse available that justifies the Celtics trading their two top second round picks away and missing on a player who would A. Make an NBA impact this year, B. Is 19 and has as much potential to improve as any other 19 year old player. C.  Has more trade value today than he did when he was drafted. 

Furthermore, many people on this board are creaming themselves over the possibility of trading first round picks and prospects for Jahil Okafor who had a similar impact in summer league to Zubac last year.

we traded away #31 and #35 for a future clippers first because of the roster crunch. we have no idea of what caliber player (or trade) that pick will yield. and the jury is still out on yabs, zizic. AND zubac. so we don't know if we "whiffed" or not.

[Bobshot]

Ainge has passed up a lot of bigs lately.

I recall Stevens saying in an interview his coaching style at Butler was for smaller players because the bigger players went to the bigger schools. I wonder if there aren't any biases there because of this. That would be unfortunate because the NBA is not college ball. You have to have size up front. The Celtics have never won anything without controlling the boards.

I know nothing about coaching, and Stevens has been successful so far with the talent he has. But I would think a part of coaching is adapting to the talent you have, as well as the talent adapting to you.

[rochrist]

I feel totally comfortable pointing out that Zubac is a better player than both Jared Sullenger and Tyler Zeller right now based on his summer league performance as well as his professional career in Europe.  He could step in and play 18 minutes a night as a center for the Celtics immediately.  This is not even a "risky prediction" since we're going to see him do exactly that for the Lakers this year - they currently believe in him so much that they have no plan B at center.

I'm not sure that saying he can step in and play 18 minutes on a 17 win team is the endorsement you think it is.

[ederson]

I feel totally comfortable pointing out that Zubac is a better player than both Jared Sullenger and Tyler Zeller right now based on his summer league performance as well as his professional career in Europe.  He could step in and play 18 minutes a night as a center for the Celtics immediately.  This is not even a "risky prediction" since we're going to see him do exactly that for the Lakers this year - they currently believe in him so much that they have no plan B at center.

Hold your horses .....Which carrier in Europe ? Playing against whom?

Sallinger in the Adriatic League will look like Karl Malone

[IDreamCeltics]

we traded away #31 and #35 for a future clippers first because of the roster crunch. we have no idea of what caliber player (or trade) that pick will yield. and the jury is still out on yabs, zizic. AND zubac. so we don't know if we "whiffed" or not.

The thing is, I actually watched the games.  Obviously Zizic is an unknown because he's not coming over this year.  Yabs has a lot of potential but is a TERRIBLE defender right now.  His awareness on switches, defensive spacing, and help defense from the weak side is atrocious and his ability to get out to the perimeter is pretty marginal.  I'm not saying he won't improve but what I am saying is that Zubac switches well, and has a MUCH better grasp of timing, and spacing.  That's why he ends up in the correct position to body guys up and gets so many blocks.  If you're 7'2 with a 7'4 wingspan and weigh 260 lbs, and you know how to switch and where to put your feet you're going to be a useful NBA defender.

Here's a video analyzing some of the Celtics prospects, skip to 1:50 for Yabusele's defense
https://youtu.be/Py-P1GYABeg it paints a good picture of why the jury's actually in on Yabusele and he's not NBA ready. 

But my basic argument is that A. Zubac is ready to contribute in the NBA right now. B. He's better than players that played meaningful minutes for us last year. C.  He fills a defined NBA role of a legit interior presence with unique size. D.  The Celtics' currently have Yabs, Young, Zizic, Hunter, Mickey, Bentil and Jackson all under contract and none of them will play meaningful NBA minutes this year so it's patently ridiculous to argue that the Celtic's needed to avoid drafting a player because he will take up one NBA roster spot.  You don't avoid quality players so you can stubbornly hold onto bums that that you drafted.  E.  If you needed to trade picks to avoid a roster crunch you could have traded any or all of the four second rounders you had after Zubac was drafted.

[Csfan1984]

It was a huge miss for sure but I really hope there isn't going to be weekly threads on how C's missed on this guy. Just add him to the list of Butler, GA and the rest.

[The One]

I guarantee you that Zizic will be better!


Just kidding...how can anyone of us know this already?   

[slamtheking]

I feel totally comfortable pointing out that Zubac is a better player than both Jared Sullenger and Tyler Zeller right now based on his summer league performance as well as his professional career in Europe.  He could step in and play 18 minutes a night as a center for the Celtics immediately.  This is not even a "risky prediction" since we're going to see him do exactly that for the Lakers this year - they currently believe in him so much that they have no plan B at center.

I'm not sure that saying he can step in and play 18 minutes on a 17 win team is the endorsement you think it is.

also, the Lakers undoubtedly had a Plan A that fell through.  Zubac, at best, was Plan B if not Plan C.

only reason they'd have for starting Zubac is if they're trying to tank again to keep their pick away from Philly next year.

[Moranis]

what does Zizic being better have to do with missing on Zubac.  There is no rule that says Boston couldn't have drafted both.