Scouting Notes: Brisbane vs New Zealand

Rocco Zikarsky vs. Karim Lopez headlines in this NBL season opener matchup

Welcome to the 2025 NBA Draft Cycle! These are my scouting notes from the NBL opener with my top two prospects long-term in the NBL: Karim Lopez (a ~6’8 creator eligible for the 2026 Draft and still 17) and Rocco Zikarsky (a long, smart rim protector). Both players played small minutes; Zikarsky played six minutes and Lopez, 10 with some heavy first-quarter overlap that accounted for almost half of Lopez’s minutes.

• Early in the game, Zikarsky makes a smart play in drop coverage to defend a two-on-one pick-and-roll that results in a miss, then a putback that was not his fault. His drop coverage instincts continue to impress me.

• On the ensuing possession, Rocco gets called for a clearly illegal pick where he pushed the defender. This is a common mistake among young players and I noticed this wasn’t uncommon last year too.

• A couple of possessions later, Rocco gave up another putback. He struggled to ever truly defend the ball-handler with no real contest on the ball-handler, and being too late to contest the putback. This isn’t entirely of fault for Zikarsky, as he boxes out the big first and doesn’t leave his man, but I have noticed from last year a lot how he can be late to putbacks. He doesn’t have quite the athleticism to extend to the range of the ideal 7’1 player because of this. If he is struggling against the NBL in that regard, what will happen in the NBA against quicker, better, and more athletic players?

• Karim Lopez consistently crashes the boards, which is an easy way to get the ball as the youngest player on the floor when his usage is extremely low. I’ve been impressed with the motor in the past, as well as in game one. In this game, after a rebound, Lopez had a brutal turnover of being sped up by prematurely picking the ball up after the DHO was taken away, then throwing a duck to the defense.

• Zikarsky desperately needs to fill out his frame and add strength. When he gets boxed out, it is extremely rare he overcomes it and comes back and wins the box out. He can win through length over small players, but he doesn’t win his positioning back against even the smallest of guards.

• Lopez’s only shot came on a transition lefty layup in the final minute of the first quarter over the length of Zikarsky. It was a forced and rush shot, and was the biggest moment of Lopez’s youth showing in this game. I don’t think there’s a clearly defined role for him yet, which creates plays like this for him to go out and try and create something out of nothing.

• There’s just something off about Zikarsky’s self-scoring package. Even in moves off of one dribble, his touch is noticeably off and he doesn’t have great footwork in the post. Take this play at the end of the 1st quarter when he hits his defender with the shoulder and turnaround hook shot that rims out. He doesn’t have his feet fully set before going up, and like mentioned previously, he struggles to win the rebound over a smaller defender, partially because he didn’t jump over his defender. Also, notice Karim Lopez coming over to help win the rebound; his ability to crash the boards will earn him trust from the coaching staff in the NBL.

• Rocco’s pick-and-roll rolling has always stood out to me. He doesn’t pop because he doesn’t have the jump shooting to do so, and he doesn’t just set a screen and end his part of the play. His constant rolling and crashing the offensive glass are some of his most consistent traits and best examples of his strong motor, and that motor is a trait every big needs. Take this play, for example, out of the pass to the cut into an immediate roll out of a de facto screen, which leads to an easy putback dunk.

Overall thoughts:

• Rocco Zikarsky: Zikarsky’s consistent ability to play within himself on both ends of the floor, from knowing his shot diet on offense to not overplaying shots and winning on singles and doubles instead of risking everything for home runs, Rocco profiles well as a low usage big. However, so many woes regarding how he stays on an NBA floor are too eye-popping at this stage: his lack of strength, lack of scoring ability away from cleaning up the glass + finishing easy dunks, and being such a low-minute player. Zikarsky is very smart, especially for his age, but he will have to prove he can use his intelligence for longer periods of time without showing new exploitable holes in his game. Zikarsky’s last game of even 15+ minutes came over a year ago, so NBA teams will likely want to see him in more high-stakes minutes more often. Zikarsky’s stock will likely depend on what his usage and minutes look like in the NBL this season.

• Karim Lopez: His teammates won’t trust him as a teenager on a team full of grown men, so he knows he has to create trust for his teammates. His motor to crash the glass was the best trait in this game for him since he rarely touched the ball and didn’t make any detrimental defensive plays. It’s hard to make sweeping long-term judgments on him not only from this one game, but in general this early in the season as the youngest player in the NBL getting regular minutes. He needs to get better at fully seeing both man and ball at the tempo of the NBL, which is to be expected for his age as he adjusts to the speed of the game. Lopez will have a lot of mental tests for him this season as games like this will be common, where he didn’t touch the ball unless it was off of his rebounds, with the exception of the possession of his only shot where he got the ball as the open transition runner. The upside is still fascinating, but comparing his role from now to the end of the season will be telling of what to expect in the 2025-26 season, which is his first draft-eligible year.