The prize of the group so far has been 20-year-old center Ante Zizic, who began the season playing for Cibona Zagreb in Croatia, where he starred, but moved on to play for Darussafaka in Turkey, a step up in competition level. It was assumed that Zizic would play a limited role for his new team—headed by former Cavs coach David Blatt—but he has already made an impact, and has gotten minutes as a starter. In a game a week ago, he had 16 points and 18 rebounds.

“He has been someone who has sort of caught everyone’s eye here,” said one international scout. “He was supposed to be a long-term project, but he has come out and shown a lot of improvement since he was drafted. He has the usual things he needs to do, like (improving) his jump shot, like getting bigger, adding some muscle. But he is very athletic for his size (6-11, 255), he runs the floor so well, he is tough, he holds his own against older guys and he has good hands and footwork inside. He’s come a long way, defensively, too.”

The general manager speculated that if Zizic had not come out last season, when the Celtics got him with the 23rd pick, “he would almost certainly be a lottery pick in this draft, maybe Top 10, even though this is a deeper draft than last year. He would be better than a draft pick, really, because you can see what you’re getting.”