We are witnessing Ante Zizic taking the next step in expanding his game: jumpers. Jumpers are well known as the 8th step to being a good NBA player (the first seven being, in order: breathing, running without falling over, clapping on the bench, crossovers, dribbling, grabbing the ball with both hands, and high-fives), and Zizic has been working on them. He’s hit jumpers in the past, sure, but as he ever hit as many as he did tonight? Three is a lot of jumpers for a guy like him.
Jonas Valanciunas simply didn’t want to guard him in the midrange, even though he himself has experience with his jumper not being respected and making people pay. Here’s the deal: if you just let an NBA player shoot a wide open midrange jimbo, and their name is not Joel Anthony, it has a decent shot of going in. You can’t just let them do it.
People at the park need to learn that too. They’re too busy going D’Antoni-style with threes and layups that they don’t even seem to realize that you’re allowed to just run to the elbows and shoot jumpers. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’ve impacted my fair share of pickup games with my deft midrange touch. And if it can work on the blacktop, it can work in the NBA.