{"id":301837,"date":"2023-12-08T18:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T18:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=301837"},"modified":"2023-12-08T18:39:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T18:39:02","slug":"mum-got-sick-of-us-hitting-our-heads-why-australias-tallest-nba-prospect-lives-in-a-shipping-container","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/basketball\/mum-got-sick-of-us-hitting-our-heads-why-australias-tallest-nba-prospect-lives-in-a-shipping-container\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mum got sick of us hitting our heads\u2019: Why Australia\u2019s tallest NBA prospect lives in a shipping container"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Roy Ward<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Looming large: Rocco Zikarsky.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Glenn Campbell<\/cite><\/p>\n

Save articles for later<\/h3>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n

When Australian basketballer Rocco Zikarsky says he and his three siblings outgrew the family home, he means it literally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to have a stairwell and Rocco clocked himself going down one day, he really hit it hard, and I thought it could get quite dangerous,\u201d his mother, Kylie, explains. It was the moment Kylie decided to act, buying a block of land on the Sunshine Coast and putting down shipping containers for all four children, along with one for herself and a communal kitchen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Australian basketballer Rocco Zikarsky in front of his bedroom.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Kylie Zikarsky<\/cite><\/p>\n

The Zikarsky kids are tall (all 190 centimetres or above), but Rocco in particular needed more room to move, measuring 220 centimetres (which rounds up to seven feet, three inches on the old scale) by the age of 17. That makes the Brisbane Bullets centre the tallest player in the NBL ahead of Perth Next Star Alex Sarr at 216 centimetres.<\/p>\n

Who knows, if he keeps growing, Zikarsky could eclipse French NBA phenom Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spur and No.1 draft pick, who is 224 centimetres (seven foot four inches) and the equal tallest player in the US league alongside Boban Marjanovic from the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n

Zikarsky is one of the most exciting young talents in Australian basketball, joining the Bullets on a two-year Next Star deal and eligible for the NBA draft in 2025.<\/p>\n

Every team in the NBA is keeping an eye on his development, which continues on Sunday when the Bullets play Melbourne United at John Cain Arena.<\/p>\n

Zikarsky explains that living in a shipping container is more comfortable than it sounds. The \u201cpods\u201d have eight-foot ceilings, and each has its own alfresco area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pretty much outgrew the house,\u201d Rocco says. \u201cMum got sick of us hitting our heads and that stuff. A shipping container sounds bad but it\u2019s fully furnished, it\u2019s a proper, really nice house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kylie adds: \u201cWe needed space with everything the kids wanted to do. The containers are built like pods and have a little deck. They are very basic but it\u2019s really nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not for everyone. It\u2019s not camping, it\u2019s not glamping, it\u2019s somewhere in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zikarsky comes from a family of elite swimmers. Kylie switched to open water and ironwoman events, while Rocco\u2019s father, Bjorn, competed for Germany at the Seoul and Atlanta Olympics, winning bronze in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay at the 1996 Games.<\/p>\n

Children Ruben, Lenny, Jade and Rocco were skilled athletes who gravitated to competitive swimming but played other sports, too.<\/p>\n

Rocco specialised in the 50 and 100m freestyle, winning a national junior title before taking up a scholarship with the NBA global academy at the Australian Institute of Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew he had to stop swimming. It was his last-ditch effort to get the gold, it was pretty cool,\u201d says Kylie, who served as Rocco\u2019s coach in the pool.<\/p>\n

Rocco says his pod feels like home, but he is likely to spend less and less time there as he is not your average teenager when it comes to size, mindset or talent.<\/p>\n

His 220-centimetre frame and 226-centimetre wingspan stand out on the court but what he does with those physical tools is more impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s coordination and motor skills are second to none for someone of his size,\u201d Bullets coach Justin Schueller says. \u201cAt his age, everything is a progression but the things he\u2019s got naturally are his footwork, speed and his hands. He catches everything, and he\u2019s really able to change shots at the defensive end.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Victor Wembanyama flies in front of Golden State\u2019s Steph Curry.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the things he has got – now it\u2019s like what else can we add in and keep growing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

With millions of dollars on the line for every NBA draft pick, teams spend years tracking potential selections. Schueller\u2019s phone lit up with NBA scouts after last year\u2019s junior world championships and, he says, \u201cit\u2019s been pretty constant since then\u201d.<\/p>\n

The NBA is full of enormous humans. Wembenyama is the latest force of nature and his emergence has teams desperate for their own young, big man, especially someone as competitive as Zikarsky.<\/p>\n

Rocco credits his siblings for his competitive drive. \u201cWhen I took up basketball, my big brother thought he was better than me, so we were playing in the backyard every day,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d foul me. Hit me and even if I won, I would never really win, so I grew up in that house where everything is competitive. Life can get boring sometimes and I feel like that competitive edge that I have from my family is what keeps life exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zikarsky knows he is no guarantee to be selected in 2025 but he wants to develop his game to the point where he can step into the NBA and make an impact against the millionaires of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask if there is pressure from that, but I don\u2019t think it influences me in that way. If anything, it\u2019s just forcing me to get better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This is why he chose to follow current NBA stars LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey in playing in the NBL instead of heading to the US college system.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mindset going in is that if I make the NBA, I don\u2019t want to have a catch-up year. I want to be ready to go from the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zikarsky is also an outside chance of snaring a Paris 2024 berth given Australia\u2019s lack of true centres. His height will get him a look-in, although Boomers coach Brian Goorjian is cautious about throwing him into the sport\u2019s highest level too soon.<\/p>\n

Still, Zikarsky is thrown into the grinder each day at Bullets training, and he\u2019s on a tough grading curve battling Aron Baynes\u2019 big frame and fellow centre Tyrell Harrison.<\/p>\n

Baynes, the Boomers and NBA veteran, has almost 20 years and a sizeable weight and muscle advantage on the teenager.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hit him hard, but they also put their arms around him once training is done,\u201d Schueller said.<\/p>\n

Zikarsky is soaking up the lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really fun. I don\u2019t think you would find two stronger centres to train against anywhere in the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really translates to games. It becomes second nature to bang bodies, and you learn you have to hit someone a lot harder than you think – you really have to fight for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can almost hear Baynes\u2019 voice in Zikarsky\u2019s stance on getting dunked on at NBL and, hopefully, NBA level.<\/p>\n

Baynes was famous for throwing himself at the NBA\u2019s high-flyers despite the chance of being \u201cposterised\u201d or embarrassed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talked to him about the NBA \u2013 he got dunked on a lot,\u201d Zikarsky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he was telling me that you may get dunked on five times but if you get [block] someone once, that\u2019s going to deter them from trying again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I want to be. When someone rocks into the paint and sees me, I want them to not want to jump with me because they don\u2019t want to get their stuff blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone thinking of scaling \u201cMount Rocco\u201d should be warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are going to jump, they\u2019re going to have to make it over me. If they are down to try that, then go ahead. I\u2019m going to meet them there.\u201d<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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