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100% Ante Maccabi: The winding journey of the new star of Maccabi Tel Aviv

The training where he ended up abusing him and David Blatt fell in love. Marking Othello Hunter as a mentor and mentor. The bad luck in Cleveland. The diet that reduced him to 9% fat. And of course, the war of attrition with Real Madrid. Ante Žižić returns to Europe, but continues to dream of the NBA. profile

• Ante Žižić
• Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball

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The summer of 2019 was supposed to be the most important point in Ante Žižić's career. After a season in which he got more chances in Cleveland, standing at 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in the NBA, the Cavaliers had to decide whether to exercise the option on him for a fourth season. And the Croatian chin arrived ready: he gained almost 9 kg of muscle, and dropped to 9% body fat as part of a diet in which he parted ways with two things he particularly loves - cakes and soft drinks.

In July he trained with the Cubs ahead of the summer league in Las Vegas, where he excelled. A year earlier, and he was in great personal shape. Chris Fedor of Cleveland Dot Com said general manager Kobe Altman sat down with him and assured him that although quite a few inside players would be ahead of him, he would be able to play. "His attitude is amazing," said coach C. Van Beilin, "he climbs mountains to get in shape. The fitness coaches tell me he is in the best shape of his career. "

But things did not work out the way Zizic wanted. It started with a leg spur that sidelined him for a month, and continued with an announcement in late October that the option on him would not be exercised. He had already had the opportunity, only to receive a punch from Mason Palmali that upset his body balance for a while, and he finished the season with 22 games out of Cleveland's 63 in disappointing numbers: 4.4 points and 3 rebounds in just 10 minutes. Maccabi Tel Aviv waited, spoke And also convinced the player who only a year ago was defined in Cleveland as someone who "can make the leap," and now will have to prove that the impression he left in the NBA will not follow him to Europe either.

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"At the age of 19 he became one of the best chins in Europe." Zizic in Tel Aviv in 2017 (Photo: Berni Ardov)

Žižić (23, 2.08) was selected in the 2016 draft by Boston, but never played in it. He first moved to Drushpaka, and had an excellent rookie season in the Euroleague, and a year later was sent to Cleveland, as part of the trade he transferred to the Celtics to Kyrie Irving. The team built him slowly, and until the last unlucky season he seems to be on the right track to take his place as a legitimate player in the rotation.

Injuries, along with the fact that his team had a busy front line in the form of Tristan Thompson, John Hanson, Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr., put him at a problematic point ahead of the NBA trade deadline, with Andre Drummond of Detroit joining the equation. "There is no way Cleveland is bringing back Žižić," wrote Dan Gilinski of Pansied in April, even before the saga of Real Madrid and Maccabi Tel Aviv began, "It seems that they would prefer to take a young player who can give more things on offense, or alternatively save better." .

The key trait that was credited to Žižić in the US was his ability around the ring, mainly due to the way he "locked" players in color, with the hook shot being his most effective tool. In the rookie season, when he played little, he hit 73 percent from the field In his second season he threw a lot more, almost five times, and the percentage dropped to 55.

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"Climbing mountains to get in shape." Ante Zizic in Cleveland uniform (Photo: GettyImages)

And what is he having trouble with? At the end of his first season in the NBA, Zizic said he would start developing his shooting from the outside. It ends with three years without one to three shots, and when it poses no threat at all out of color. And that's not all. "He's a mediocre rebounder, not in the area of ​​Nikola Jokic and Joseph Norkic," Cameron Fields wrote of the Cleveland dot com, "he only lives in the color area."

The bulk of the issue pointed out in the NBA concerns the defensive side. In the last year, the Croatian center has recorded a defensive rating of 112.9, in the lower part of the Cubs, a team that does not specialize so much in defense anyway. The defensive problem recurred in every analysis of the player. According to U.S. reports, one of the main reasons Cleveland was not enthusiastic about improving its numbers in 2019 was the fact that in defensive metrics it did not advance. For example, instead of averaging 2.2 blocks per 36 minutes in its first season, it dropped to 0.7 blocks on average in its second season. When

Cleveland reached the decisive point in Zizic's future, it saw a player who had not yet managed to make a mark, whose improvement was not too significant, and which would cost her almost $ 3.9 million next season, with teammates including Liron Fanan in charge The development of the players in the development team Canton Charge, talked to the player during the season - even after the series of injuries, they advised him to try his luck in another team, perhaps with a minimum contract, and not give up on the NBA dream, but he decided otherwise.

As long as they are not mentioned in the same sentence, his condition is good. With Dragan Bender in Tel Aviv at the age of 16 (Photo: From Twitter)

The sports director of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Nikola Vujicic, has known Szczecin since he was a child in Split, and marked him when he was young. At the age of 16 and a half, he came to train with the Yellows' senior team, which lacked players in training. Sophocles Schwarzenegger abused him in the same practice, but David Blatt fell in love.

"The poor boy ran from place to place, tried to take a rebound and was thrown three yards forward, was knocked to the floor, snatched countless blows in every way possible," Blatt said in a lecture he gave. "You know what I liked about this kid? He got up again and again, did not give up, did not look down. On the contrary, he just tried even harder. At one point his end told me 'I give up, I have no more strength', and got off the field, While Ante kept running around as if nothing had happened. I immediately thought of Muhammad Ali's fight with George Foreman. Ante seemed to say at the end, 'Beat me more and more, until you get tired. I will stand still.' I remember saying to myself even then: ' This boy will be a great player. "

The strong impression did its thing, leading Blatt to land the Croatian in Drushpaka ahead of the 2016/17 Euroleague season. Zizic was then 19 years old in total, and demonstrated impressive efficiency with 9 points and 6.7 rebounds on almost 65 percent from the field. Daczka reached the quarter-finals of the playoffs, stealing Real Madrid's home advantage before being relegated.

Moment of Depression in the NBA: Flamely hits Zizic's head

On the day Cleveland announced that the option on Žižić would not be exercised, the Yellows had already decided they wanted him instead of Tariq Black for the 2020/21 season. The messages were conveyed to his agent Mishko Resentovich, his brother Andrea, and the player himself, who told Maccabi Tel Aviv about his friends' interest during the season.

The Yellows' memory of the player is not related to his less good years in the NBA, but to his good days in Turkey. "We remember him as a 19-year-old boy who became one of the best domestic players in Europe," said one of the team members this week. Žižić contributed 14 points and 9 rebounds on his visit to Yad Eliyahu, but lost by one point to Blatt, Scotty Wilbkin, Will Claiborne and Brad Wenmaker.

Maccabi is well aware of the shortcomings of the new chin; Defensively, and offensively, in which he stands for less than an assist per game throughout his career. The old Othello Hunter will be tasked with inaugurating it. "He's been coming here for at least two years," explains a source at the club. "In the first year he will play alongside Hunter, and we think Othello has a lot to offer and teach him about basketball on both sides of the court. We believe in his ability to progress and quickly become a dominant force in the Euroleague."

"Choosing Maccabi Tel Aviv does not necessarily mean that he will not return to play in the NBA," said Spanish journalist Javier Rodriguez, who covered the battle for the Croatian between Maccabi and Real. "The opposite is true: he wants to play more and get a major role, so he can get to what interests him faster, and that's the NBA."

Will meet next season as rivals. Zizic with partner Droshpaka, Will Kleibren (Photo: GettyImages)

Zizic's signing with Maccabi Tel Aviv has been accompanied in recent weeks by rumors that originate in Spain as if he is not yet closed, and uses the Yellows' offer to stress Real, in which he concluded his terms as early as the end of June. "Every time such publicity came out, since Shanta closed the team, we laughed, but at some point we also started to think that we might not know the truth," laughs one of the Maccabi men. "From the moment he concluded with us, almost two weeks ago, we had no fear that he would not come."

The victory over Real brought some Maccabi fans back to the summer of 2015, when the team lost the battle over Jeff Taylor. The Swedish forward summed up all his terms in Tel Aviv, and the breeze at the last minute to join the Spaniards, in their ranks he plays to this day. "It's half revenge for then," Elijah smiled this week.

And if we almost managed to finish an entire article on the Croatian without mentioning Dragon Bender, then it's probably time. Zizic, unlike Lavender, has proven himself at the Euroleague level, and would not want his name mentioned in the context of his friend. This can happen if it fails. The good month Bender presented at Golden State may have revived his NBA career, proving that his place in the league can also be fought for from an inferior position. Will Žižić succeed in doing so through Europe?

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