2025 NBA Draft scouting report: Rocco Zikarsky, C, Brisbane Bullets
For a two-round mock draft and a big board with full scouting reports, check out my NBA Draft Guide.
Rocco Zikarsky, C, Brisbane Bullets
Height: 7-3 • Weight: 257 • Age: 18
Summary: Zikarsky is a big Australian center who plays a traditional role as an interior finisher and rim protector. He doesn't offer much else at this stage of his career, though, and hasn't shown many signs that he will.
Advertisement
Comparisons: Jakob Poeltl
Strengths
At-rim finishing: Lob threat on dives to the basket, and he constantly looks for putback opportunities when crashing the boards.
Rim protection: Zikarsky is a solid rim protector with a long 7-foot-5 wingspan he uses to alter and block shots around the basket. He's a hard-nosed interior defender who would be at his best playing traditional drop coverage.
Rebounding: Strong presence on the boards. He'll get his body on a guy and grab the ball at the high point.
Concerns
Offense: He doesn't do much of anything other than scoring right at the rim, whether it's post-ups or jumpers.
Advertisement
Shooting: Lacks a reliable jumper and he's a sub-60% shooter from the line.
Perimeter defense: Lateral movement is a concern. He may struggle to switch, hedge pick-and-rolls, and do much else besides play drop coverage.
For a two-round mock draft and a big board with full scouting reports, check out my NBA Draft Guide.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NBA Commissioner: Dallas Mavericks winning draft lottery isn't reason for reform
The Dallas Mavericks won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, which caused some to suggest reform, pointing out that the lottery should be focusing on helping the worst teams in the league. Adam Silver was on FS1's 'Breakfast Ball' on Wednesday and explained why the lottery didn't need reform, saying it's to discourage tanking. 'We call it a 'Lottery,' and I think some people think it was a one-in-a-million chance that Dallas was going to win. Remember, the worst-performing team had a 14% chance at winning, which means there was an 86% chance they wouldn't get [the No. 1 pick]. Dallas had roughly a 2% chance, so the losingest team had a seven times better chance. Two percent is 2%; it's going to happen,' said Silver. Advertisement 'When people say, 'And therefore, the lottery is broken,' I have a different viewpoint, which the purpose of the Lottery is to disincentivize teams from tanking. Here, you had a team that was clearly trying, whatever people think of that [Luka Doncic trade], they were trying to win, then Kyrie [Irving] got injured, then Anthony Davis got injured, and so then they found themselves in the Lottery.' The Mavs will make only their second No. 1 overall selection in team history — the first was selecting Mark Aguirre in the 1981 draft — and are widely expected to pick Duke phenom Cooper Flagg. The NBA Draft will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, at Barclays Center, and will air on ESPN.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sixers draft history: Furkan Korkmaz selected No. 26 overall in 2016
With the NBA draft right around the corner, now is the time to look at some past drafts and see what the Philadelphia 76ers have done in their history. The Sixers have selected some big-time players in the past who have become an important part of the fabric of the franchise's history. This edition continues to focus on the 2016 draft as the Sixers used the final of three first-round picks. After selecting Ben Simmons first overall and then Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot at No. 24, the Sixers selected Turkey swingman Furkan Korkmaz with the No. 26 overall pick. Advertisement After spending the 2016-17 season overseas, Korkmaz made his debut in the NBA in the 2017-18 season and played in only 14 games as a rookie. He played 48 games in 2018-19--while also making the first of many trade requests--and had his breakthrough in the 2019-20 season when he averaged 9.8 points and shot 40.2% from deep while playing in 72 games with 12 starts. Overall, Korkmaz requested a trade multiple times as he was unhappy with his playing time at different moments with the Sixers. He ended up spending seven seasons in Philadelphia before finally being sent to the Indiana Pacers at the 2024 deadline in the Buddy Hield deal. He averaged 6.8 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 35.6% from deep during his time in the league. He was waived by the Pacers after the trade. This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers draft history: Furkan Korkmaz selected No. 26 overall in 2016


San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Alcaraz-Sinner was an instant classic. Here's what it means for the future of tennis
There are times when journalists reach for a theme that doesn't exist. It seems perfectly plausible at the outset, only to be obliterated by facts. Isn't it tempting, though, to attach rich historical significance to the final weekend of the French Open tennis tournament? To call it a remarkable convergence of nostalgia and awakening? Over the course of three days, Novak Djokovic made a farewell gesture and two much younger men took over the sport — not just for now, but perhaps for years to come. One era passing, another arriving in step. 'After all the talk about where tennis goes from here, it seems we're in pretty good hands with these two guys,' John McEnroe said on TNT after Carlos Alcaraz earned a 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) victory over Jannik Sinner in Sunday's final. McEnroe went so far as to suggest that either man could take down Rafael Nadal, in his prime, on clay. If that sounds blasphemous, if not downright insulting to the great Nadal, it's only because Alcaraz-Sinner left everyone overwhelmed by the spectacle. Sinner stood tall against the most talented player in the world, and Alcaraz emerged from the depths — down three match points at 3-5, 0-40 in the fourth set — to hold the trophy. 'You've got to remember,' said Andre Agassi, also part of the TNT crew, 'that Alcaraz has defensive speed like Novak, if not more. He has feel like (Roger) Federer, you can argue at times, if not more. He has RPMs and pace like Rafa, maybe even more. He just has to string it all together.' Exactly what happened that day? Merely a match of such sustained, heroic brilliance, it rose to the level of the Nadal-Federer match in the 2008 Wimbledon final among the best ever witnessed. 'I would put this one in the top five,' noted tennis historian/author Steve Flink said via email, 'behind Nadal-Federer, Borg-McEnroe (1980 Wimbledon final), Ken Rosewall-Rod Laver (1972 WCT final in Dallas) and Djokovic beating Federer at the 2019 Wimbledon. We had the two best players in tennis facing each other in a major final and battling ferociously for five hours and 29 minutes, yet playing some of their most inspired tennis in the final hour. It was enthralling.' With Federer and Nadal in retirement, Djokovic is close to the finish line at 38. It's unlikely he'll be back to the French Open after his straight-set loss to Sinner in Friday's semifinal, finding him so moved by the crowd's adulation that he took a moment to blow a kiss into his right hand, then press it gently into the clay as he left the court. 'I mean, this could have been the last match I ever played here, and that's why I was a bit more emotional,' Djokovic said afterward. 'If this was the farewell of Roland Garros for me, it was a wonderful one in terms of the atmosphere.' It's stunning to consider that over a 15-year period, from Djokovic's first major title (2008 Australian) to Nadal's last (2022 French), the two of them joined Federer not just in comprehensive dominance of the tour, but in a three-sided argument as the greatest player of all time. Now behold the future: Sinner, 23, who doesn't necessarily look the part but is thoroughly Italian, hailing from a northern region of the country, South Tyrol, where the majority of inhabitants speak German. Unlike the dashing Italian artists who brought grand theater to the court — Adriano Panatta, Francesca Schiavone, Fabio Fognini, so many others — Sinner is a technician, strong-willed to the core. This is a man who drew a three-month suspension after failing a pair of drug tests in 2024, in the process enduring bitter criticism from the press and fellow players, yet returned to win the U.S. Open and resume his lofty status in the sport. And how did he do that? Learning how to 'dance in the pressure storm,' he said. Alcaraz, at 22, has long held the potential of being the most spectacularly athletic player in history. He can be wild and temperamental, but like Sinner, he is a gracious competitor — even conceding points that have gone his way. At one point during Sunday's final, as a Sinner serve was ruled out, Alcaraz walked up to examine the mark and got the call reversed. 'I feel so badly for Jannik and yet I am so unbelievably impressed with Carlos,' retired doubles master Rennae Stubbs wrote on X. 'These two are next level and two great guys. Carlos is more outward and charming, and people gravitate to his absolute joy. Jannik is kind and quiet and lovely. We are so lucky to have them in our sport.' And in another fortuitous bit of timing, the beginning of Wimbledon is just two weeks away. • Sore loser Aryna Sabalenka did her best to diminish Coco Gauff's victory in the women's singles final, but that was impossible. In winning her second major title, Gauff was composed, tough and at her best under pressure, much like the Williams sisters she idolized as a kid. Gauff is everything good about women's tennis, and in the process of losing that final, Sabalenka was everything wrong. I've spent a bit of time around Sabalenka after matches, agreeing with insiders who describe her as bright, funny and charming. She was none of that on Sunday, routinely screaming at her box, letting her body language fall apart, shrieking horribly on almost every point (how was such nonsense not swept out of the sport years ago?), then claiming that Gauff was lucky to win, 'hitting the ball from the frame (a mis-hit). Somehow, magically, the ball lands in the court. It felt like a joke.' Thank goodness Coco pulled it out. Then it would have felt like disgrace. • Interesting call by the resurgent Golden State Valkyries, signing 31-year-old Aerial Powers for the rest of the season with four of their key players taking a temporary break to compete in the EuroBasket tournament. If she's healthy and in shape, Powers will instantly become the best guard on this team, no matter who's available. At 5-11, she plays more like a forward with her fierce, aggressive nature, but she can shoot from anywhere and get physical with opponents if they abuse her teammates. Powers all but vanished in recent years due to injuries, and her temperament came into question when, after playing a key role on Washington's WNBA championship team in 2019, she moved on to Minnesota, fell out of favor with coach Cheryl Reeve (who now coaches the U.S. Olympic team) and eventually became a little-used reserve. Powers was at her best in Minnesota's single-elimination game in the '21 playoffs, leading all scorers with 24 points in an 89-76 loss to a championship-bound Chicago team featuring Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and Kahleah Copper. Overall, Powers has 21 games of playoff experience. Long Live Sly Hayward, California, summer of 1967: Word spreads among the soul-music set that a band called Sly and the Family Stone is playing all-nighters at Frenchy's nightclub, on Mission Boulevard. A couple of 16-year-old kids from Fremont, Emilio Castillo and Francis Prestia, get hip to the gig, climb a fence behind the club and sneak in for six-set marathons every weekend. These were two budding geniuses of R&B, later to be simply known as Mimi (bandleader) and Rocco (on bass) with the Oakland-based Tower of Power. All they knew in '67 was that Sly was unveiling whole new worlds of vocals, lyrics, rhythm, band structure and live performance, and the magic of those nights became their obsession. 'Everything changed after the first time I saw Sly,' Castillo said. 'I just thought to myself, 'Oh, man.' No one could match his craft and substance, and his music still inspires me today.' Forgive your 3-Dot proprietor for a moment. In a week of heavy nostalgia on the music scene, there is no slight intended toward the great Brian Wilson, who also passed during the week. It's just that Emilio's band changed my life the way Sly's changed his. And, blessedly, Tower plays on.