Cavs’ Larry Drew is right in praising Ante Zizic for his progression

Zizic has shown potential in other areas as well

He does some mid-range shooting prowess that he’ll occasionally show when given room or when a smaller help side defender is switched onto him from the perimeter, but he’s got a long way to go before he’s a viable pick-and-pop player.

That being said, his 45.2 percent hit rate this season on shots 10-16 feet from the rim (on a 10.0 percent frequency, per Basketball Reference) is encouraging to see, as it may prevent his primary defender from dropping further next year with the primary defender trying to recover when defending Jordan Clarkson, Sexton, Matthew Dellavedova, or Osman as the ball-handler in pick-and-roll with Zizic as the roller.

Along with that potential as a higher-volume mid-range shooter for coming years, Zizic has shown he’s become more capable of anticipating double-teams and in turn, making simple passes to the perimeter to either hit possible shooters, such as Osman or Brandon Knight, and his big-to-big two-man game with Nance has improved throughout the year.

With Nance’s passing feel and vision (a career-high 4.3 assists per 36 minutes and career-high assist rate of 17.7 percent, per Basketball Reference) and Zizic’s interior finishing, there’s an added wrinkle to Cleveland’s offense in the coming years, too. Let’s not dismiss Nance’s improved three-point stroke, either (a career-high 34.1 percent), which also aids Zizic.

Zizic’s lateral quickness must improve, and he often gets exposed because of that in pick-and-roll coverage, but his post-up defense is solid and he has value as a rebounder (10.7 rebounds per 36 minutes this year) on both ends, which always matters.

Moreover, Drew is on to something with how he praised Zizic; the 22-year-old big man is on an upward trajectory for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he should stick around as a bench piece for a long time, as the aforementioned DiPaola highlighted before.