By Vedran Modric
Ante Zizic is still 17 years old but a kid he is not. Talking to him at the moments had a feeling im talking to somebody a lot older and very experienced. Considering he is playing two leagues (ABA League and Croatian A-1 League) at the same time and that his brother is former Euroleague star Andrija Zizic is not that odd that the kid sounds a lot more experienced than his age. In Croatian A-1 League he plays for KK Gorica and the numbers he is posting are very good for a 17-year old player. Averages more than 26 minutes,14.6 points,8.2 rebounds,1.7 blocks per game while shooting 70.7 % from the field. In ABA League where he plays for his club Cibona he averages 7.7 minutes, 3.8 points,1.9 rebounds per game. Eurohopes talked to him.
Lets talk first about this off season where i know you had a bunch of offers from many clubs (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Cedevita..etc) to start your pro career. What was the main reason to pick Cibona? Well i think Cibona was the the best option for me. This is a place where i can develop my game and also go step by step. Last year i played for KK Kastela in Croatian A-2 League and this year im playing A-1 and ABA League so its natural transition. When i was in Tel Aviv i had a chance to play for Maccabi in a friendly game vs.club from Israeli second division and the level of basketball is mostly the same as in Croatian A-1 League.
Did you have any offers from US colleges? Yes i had, but i was never interested in playing on college because i feel this is the best thing for me.
What is the main difference between A-1 and ABA League? ABA League is more physical, players are bigger and stronger than in A-1. But there are also many good players in A-1 who im playing against so this is a great experience for me.
Does your brother gives you any advice since he played against most of the players in ABA and A-1? Of course. We talk every day about basketball and he helps me a lot.
I noticed couple of things in your game that i really like. You never back down from contact and never talk to officials. Is that something that comes natural to you? Yeah i like to play through contact and i like to outwork everyone else on the court. My brother always told me to fight on the court and never give up.
What element of the basketball game do you feel you got to improve the most? I need to work on everything but considering i will play on a center position i work a lot on my back to the basket game. Also improving my mid range shot is very important.
Photo: Eurohopes
Twitter of the author: @vedranmo
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