DeepWombat
A few hours ago
ESPN Mock Draft at 13/2/25:
https://www.espn.com.au/nba/insider/story/_/id/43781826/2025-nba-mock-draft-predictions-team-intel-all-59-first-second-round-picks-players
Looking good for the Australians...
26 - Alex Condon
36 - Alex Toohey
40 - Tyrese Proctor
51 - Rocco Zikarsky
59 - Malique Lewis (international Next Star)
word14
A few hours ago
still don't really get why Rocco is projected to be drafted
RobT
A few hours ago
Has Rocco pulled out or just won't make it this time?
DeepWombat
A few hours ago
He's a mobile 7'3 big. Bigs typically take longer to develop. When he competed against his own age in the Albert Schweitzer tournament he put in a dominant tournament MVP performance. The NBL is a tough place for 18yo centres - they are still filling out but having to go up against grown 7' men. But I agree that he's a fringe draft prospect, I think he's either taken near the end of the draft or goes undrafted. If he is undrafted, I could see him working his way to a stint in the NBA eventually after some seasoning in the NBL.
Zodiac
A few hours ago
I think Rocco might be best advised to take his name out of the draft for a year and switch NBL teams. The Bullets are going nowhere but still struggle to give him consistent minutes. Perhaps to the Sixers as a back up to Humphries?
I would be thinking Rocco is total hype if not for seeing an early pre-season game in his first season with the Bullets. I think he was 17 at the time and played against California Baptist I think it was and dominated.
Going against guys a few years older than him and he had something like 20p 8r 6b in 28 min off the bench. Even though he hasn't shown much these past two seasons with the Bullets there is obviously something there.
AngusH
A couple of hours ago
Most Aussie bigs after 4 years of college tend to take a few seasons to adjust (if ever), let alone a high schooler. Not sure he'll ever be good enough, but if you take the NBA hype out of the way (which IMO everyone, especially the NBL, should do), he deserves a chance to give it a shot. Brisbane is not the place for it, but I'd prefer Sydney was rolling out Rocco tonight vs Adelaide than, say, Spurgin (who also might be rotation-quality one day, but not yet).
Cram
A couple of hours ago
Give him time.
I'll always use Dave Andersen as an example of not writing off young bigs.
People in message boards talked about him as a total bust after one season out of high school and now he's an all time great.
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