Big strides by Ante Zizic in EuroLeague

Ante Zizic made more than a geographical leap when, in midseason he left Cibona of the Adriatic League for the up-and-coming Darussafaka Dogus, an Istanbul-based team in the Turkish League and, of particular value, the EuroLeague.

His new coach was a man of not only prime EuroLeague accomplishments but also a short, lively run in the NBA with Cleveland and LeBron James David Blatt.

Blatt in turn had seen Zizic for the first time at the age of 16 in one of his camps as then-head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

“That’s why I wanted to get him this year,” Blatt said of Zizic’s growing reputation as one of the best rebounding big men in Europe.

Zizic is scheduled to make his Celtics debut tomorrow against an interesting Philadelphia team in the first game of the Salt Lake City NBA Summer League, though a truly good potential test center Joel Embiid isn’t on the roster.

But Blatt again demurs when asked if Zizic is NBA-ready.

Blatt, his travels considered, runs perhaps the most NBA-friendly system in Europe, and he believes that this, too, will help Zizic with his transition.

Those three qualities certainly helped Zizic when it was time to forget about his dominance of the Adriatic League, and throw himself into the best basketball league short of the NBA.

Coach David Blatt (right) was able to take players such as Zizic, former Celtics draftee Luke Harangody and Brad Wanamaker and lead Darussafaka Dogus to its first EuroLeague playoff appearance since the team was founded in 2000.

As he showed everywhere from the Russian national team to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Blatt can improve a team in a hurry.