BOSTON -- Ante Zizic has proven himself to be one of the best players in the Adriatic League, a league that has produced some of the NBA’s brightest up-and-coming big men.
It appears the 19-year-old is taking one more step towards proving himself worthy of making the leap to the NBA next season now that he’s signed on with Darüşşafaka of the Turkish Super League and the EuroLeague, which is coached by Framingham (Mass.) native and former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt.
The contract is reportedly a six-month deal, with Zizic’s rights still being retained by KK Cibona Zagreb of Croatia.
Moving on to a new team at this time makes a lot of sense for Zizic, who is eager to play in the NBA next season.
And while the Celtics have certainly been pleased with how he has performed with KK Cibona, getting a chance to see him play against better competition can only make the decision on whether to bring him over for the 2017-2018 season an easier call to make for the Celtics.
Appearing for KK Cibona, Zizic has averaged 20 points, 9.2 rebounds while shooting 69.5 percent from the field in 13 ABA League games.
And while playing for Darüşşafaka will certainly be a jump in terms of Zizic facing more NBA-ready competition than he has seen thus far, the move will also unite him with a coach who has found success both internationally as well as in the NBA.
It doesn’t hurt that Blatt has been a big fan of Zizic for years, even going so far as to speak about the Croatian big man’s work ethic during the Euroleague Adidas camp prior to last June’s NBA draft when the Celtics picked Zizic with the 23rd overall pick.
One of the most decorated coaches in the world, Blatt has been named Israeli League coach of the year four times (1996,2002, 2011 and 2014), Euroleague coach of the Year (2014) as well as Russian Superleague coach of the Year (2005).
And in his season-plus as the Cavaliers head coach, Blatt led them to the NBA Finals as a rookie coach and finished with a .675 winning percentage before fired in the middle of the 2015-2016 season with a 30-11 record at the time which was tops in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs, under ex-Celtics assistant Tyronn Lue, would go on to win the franchise’s first NBA title last June.