Ivica Zubac, with a limited window of opportunity, picked his NBA workouts judiciously. The Pistons got one on Monday. There will be only three others.
“My agent called me when we were talking before I came to the States. He told me we are going to select only three or four teams who are most interested, who are calling the most, asking for you, who are watching me the most in Europe and scouting me. So Pistons were one of them,” the 7-foot-1 teen said Monday after being the headliner of another six-player workout group the Pistons hosted.
Zubac worked out last week for Memphis and Boston and he’ll go to Toronto for his final stop on Tuesday. All three of those teams pick ahead of the Pistons. Boston has three first-round picks and might be looking to draft a European player it can keep overseas, while Toronto seems resigned to losing backup center Bismack Biyombo to free agency. Utah sophomore Jacob Poetl has been widely projected to be Toronto’s choice with the ninth pick, though bringing in Zubac makes it appear the Raptors are weighing Poetl against other possibilities.
Memphis picks immediately ahead of the Pistons at 17. The Grizzlies have Marc Gasol – the NBA player to whom Zubac says he is most often compared – under contract for four more seasons and also have backup center Brandan Wright under contract for two more years.
Because Zubac only turned 19 in March and given the rosters of the teams looking hardest at him, is it conceivable he’ll spend next season – at least – playing in Europe?
“A couple of (teams) told me if they draft me, maybe they will stash me in Europe for one or two seasons,” Zubac said. “I think I want to come straight to the NBA, but if the team who drafts me, they want me to stay in Europe and develop my game, I will stay.”
The Pistons almost certainly will sign Andre Drummond to a long-term contract next month, but they might only have backup Aron Baynes around for one more season. Baynes, who established himself as one of the league’s top backup centers last season, has a player option for the 2017-18 season and given the salary escalation as the NBA’s TV revenues soar it would be an upset if he didn’t decide to hit the market next summer.
The Pistons, should they take Zubac at 18, could either bring him to the NBA and groom him as their No. 3 center next season with liberal doses of D-League playing time – or keep him in Europe and save $1.4 million in cap space and a roster spot.
Zubac’s strength is scoring around the rim, though he thinks the way he was used in Europe masks the diversity of his offensive game.
“I have good mid-range shot and I can shoot threes, but in Europe coaches didn’t want me to shoot outside because I was tall and big,” he said. “They wanted me to stay in the paint and do what I do best and set good screens and rebound the ball.”
Zubac’s goal to play in the NBA was established as soon as he started playing at age 11 in his native Bosnia. He idolized his cousin, Nets 2003 No. 1 pick Zoran Planinic, who played three years in the NBA before returning to Europe. But he might not have decided to enter the 2016 draft if not for a coaching shakeup with his team, Cibona. Cibona’s new coach went with veterans, eventually influencing Zubac to leave the team and putting him in limbo for much of the winter.
“I think this is my time. I didn’t have really good season in Europe because I changed three teams and I want to go from Europe because I didn’t like the style of play,” he said. “I think this is my time and if I wait another year, maybe I can do better, maybe I can do worse. But I know I came at the best time.”
Zubac missed some time last season with a knee meniscus injury and also had a foot problem in 2014, so the teams that were able to get him in for workouts will pore over his medical tests, as well. But it’s apparent, based on his range of workouts, that Zubac’s draft stock is on a major uptick. DraftExpress.com’s revised ratings now have Zubac as the No. 16 prospect.
He hinted at that potential last summer while playing in international competitions with the Croatian national team, averaging 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds for the silver medalists at the U-19 FIBA world championship. In the championship loss, Zubac had 12 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots against a United States team whose frontcourt included Purdue freshman Caleb Swanigan, incoming Duke recruit and possible 2017 No. 1 overall pick Harry Giles and Louisville big man Chinanu Onuaku.
That experience and Zubac’s belief that the NBA game will favor his strengths more than European basketball hastened his timeline for wanting to enter the draft as much as the sour taste left in his mouth by the Cibona coaching situation.
“It’s really different. Here you get to play one on one more, individual basketball. I think that fits me better than in Europe,” he said. “You have harder, different double teams and everybody helps, but in the NBA they let you play one on one, so I think that will fit me better.”
None of the five other prospects in Monday’s workout is certain to hear his name called in Thursday’s draft. Kansas senior shooting guard Brannen Greene is the highest ranked according to DraftExpress at 66th overall, followed by Oregon swingman Elgin Cook (74th), Gonzaga stretch four Kyle Wiltjer (75th), Hawaii power forward Stefan Jankovic (91st) and USC center Nikola Jovanovic (unranked).
