Cleveland Cavaliers reserve big Ante Zizic made his 2019-20 season debut on Sunday after coming back from reported plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Factoring in that, fans should expect him to take a few games to get in back in the swing of things.
Going into his third season, Cleveland Cavaliers big Ante Zizic was seemingly set to be a nice reserve piece.
Zizic, though reported injuries to key bigs Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson had a bunch to do with it, put up solid numbers when he was in for Cleveland in 2018-19.
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Zizic had 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 18.3 minutes in 59 appearances for Cleveland last season, and had a solid PER of 16.2, as noted by Basketball Reference.
Again, coming into the 2019-20 season, Zizic seemed poised to be a solid piece for head coach John Beilein, but unfortunately, he reportedly had plantar fasciitis in his left foot, so he hasn’t been able to make an impact.
That injury seemed to have a role in Zizic’s fourth-year option reportedly not being picked up by the Cavs, too.
He missed seemingly all of training camp, the preseason and just made his season debut on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers, in what was an ugly loss 114-95.
It was good to see Zizic get some run for Cleveland, though, but against Philly and talented bigs such as Joel Embiid and Al Horford, in particular, Zizic and the Cavaliers had a tough time.
Anyhow, Zizic played 17 minutes, and didn’t seem to have much of a presence defensively and/or on the glass, but it’s understandable, and fans should expect Zizic to take a few games to get back into a rhythm.
Though big Larry Nance Jr., who did not play against Philly due to him reportedly re-injuring his thumb, is likely to play more than Zizic still in most games, Zizic could still be a nice true center option to back up Tristan Thompson for Beilein.
Again, however, the Cavs and their fans need to give Zizic a few games to get into a rhythm, and get into playing shape.
Cleveland Cavaliers legend Brad Daugherty, who participated in Cleveland’s play-by-play on Sunday, was on-point in hitting on that in regards to playing shape with Zizic.
Zizic did have six points on three-of-six shooting, but he only had two rebounds, and did not provide much of a presence defensively near the rim. He did have one block, but the presence was not there much against a big Philly team, and Ante had a minus-13 plus-minus, according to ESPN.
While Zizic is not much of a shot blocker, he did show good stretches of altering shots last season, and with more experience, the 6-foot-10 center with a 7-foot-3 wingspan should provide more of that for Cleveland off the bench.
Along with that, I’d expect Zizic to be a good screen-setter when he’s on the floor both on and off the ball. Plus, after he gets his legs more under him after a few games, I’d expect Zizic to have more of an impact on the low block and on the glass on both ends for Beilein and company, too.
Moreover, with reserve shot blocker John Henson still reportedly out due to a hamstring strain, the Cavs should utilize the length and strength of Zizic a fair amount to take pressure off Thompson/Love some inside and on the glass.
It again, should be expected that Zizic will take a few games to get back into the swing of things and really into game shape for the Cavs, though. I’m sure Beilein and company are aware of that, and fans should see that, too.