When most people scoured through the NBA Draft Combine testing measurements, the number that immediately jumped off the page was 7'3".
That's how tall Rocco Zikarsky measured without shoes, making him the tallest prospect in the 2025 draft. The general rule is that you add just over an inch -- factoring in shoes -- to determine a player's official listed height, so that bumps that number up to 7'4". He's huge, even for an NBA centre.
There was a more illuminating number, though. It's one that came as quite a shock, and what NBA teams would put much more stock into. Zikarsky weighed in at 257 lbs (117 kg). For reference, the rising Australian big-man was listed at 227 lbs (103 kg) going into this past NBL season with the Brisbane Bullets, so that's a 30 lbs (13.6 kg) increase.
"I think I've proven a point," Zikarsky told ESPN.
"There's more to go. I don't think I'm done yet, but a whole lot of eating and being really strict, and working hard, for sure."
Zikarsky's slight frame had always been a concern for evaluators. The height was there, and so was the co-ordination for someone his size, but he would often get pushed off his spot on the offensive end, and couldn't guard consistently against bigger, stronger bodies. You could, of course, forgive Zikarsky for not being a complete package as a 17-year-old - now 18 - playing in a professional league for the first time, but he still had an awareness that improving his body was an area that needed work.
So, he endeavoured to remedy it. He used a nutritionist to guide his meals, and his mother Kylie executed them, so he was able to put on a heap of 'good' weight over the Australian autumn.
He was able to get up to the heaviest weight he's ever been, while still recording around the median in the shuttle run at the Combine, and looking the part over the bulk of the athletic testing.
"We didn't just wanna put on bad weight," Zikarsky said.
"I wanted it to be lots of muscle, and not lose the athleticism that I have. For me, I was listed at 7'2", 227 [lbs] for most of the year... I've been really diligent with the work, and I trust the people around me that my body is functioning the way it should be, and I'm performing at a high level.
"Every scout wanted to see me... be heavier, and play bigger. I guess that's the next step to it. I don't wanna go into the NBA at 220 [lbs]. I want to be a little bigger. I want to be able to bump with the big guys. I'm just trying to do what I need to do."
Zikarsky has been preparing for the draft in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is slightly unorthodox. Draft prospects primarily base themselves on one of the coasts -- generally around Southern California -- or Miami, Florida, but Zikarsky's agent is based in the cold, northern state so that's where he's set up shop.
"I get to be hidden away from the glitz and glamour of a pre-draft process, and we can just focus on the work," Zikarsky said of basing himself in Minnesota. "It's train, go home, train, go home, train, go home, everyday. You don't get caught up in what you what get caught up in in LA, and you don't have any distractions here."
A typical day for ZIkarsky includes a 7am wakeup, a gym session, and multiple on-court workouts with his trainer Jadee Jones, with recovery weaved in throughout.
There are a heap of areas of growth that the Queensland-native is focusing on, determined through his experience in the NBL over the past two seasons. On top of continuing to add size to his frame, Zikarsky pointed to increasing his core and lower body strength, which he hopes can improve his ability to step out and defend in space.
"I'm an interior defensive player, it's what I've been doing my whole life, but I want to be able to defend those switches, and be able to guard those more skilled big men, which there are a lot more of in the NBA," he said. "That's definitely the next wrinkle on defence."
Then, there's the jump-shot, which hasn't been tapped into in any meaningful way as a professional. Watch Zikarsky shoot the ball in practice or warmups, and there are no real fundamental issues with the mechanics, or even his capacity, but we've yet to see that translate to the big-man stretching the floor in games.
Zikarsky turning into a Porzingis-like volume shooter isn't likely to be in his near future, but his skillset has shown the bones of a functional floor spacer, so he's taking steps toward the three-ball becoming a legitimate part of his game.
"There's never really been a whole bunch of work put into developing my jump-shot, and it's coming along nicely," Zikarsky said.
"Definitely perfecting the form, and getting a lot of reps I missed throughout the season. That's been a big focus. For me, it's finding my spots. I'm a lob threat who, majority of coaches would want me to pick and roll, get on the rim, and create that black hole and bring in the defence and open up our shooters. We have been practicing the pick and roll, but [also] a lot of trail threes, even stepping out from the short corner out to the three. The sort of things you can find a little wrinkle in the game.
"It all depends on what the team wants from me at the time. Definitely finding game-like situations where, if they want me to go out and shoot it, I'm definitely capable of doing that."
With the NBA Playoffs in full swing, Zikarsky has been keeping his eye on the action; and, not just the players, but how bigs are being used in the league today.
Zikarsky pointed to the Cleveland Cavaliers' Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen as two big-men he enjoys watching, as well as the Indiana Pacers' Myles Turner, who's a defensive-minded, three-point shooting centre. Of course, there's also Rudy Gobert, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year who has a similar frame to Zikarsky, and is someone the teenager has seen in person multiple times in Minnesota as the Timberwolves have progressed through the postseason.
"I see [them] and I think to myself, 'can I play against those guys?'," Zikarsky says. "I think the answer is yes. I can play and I can compete against those sorts of guys, and those are the guys I'm starting to model my game after."
The aforementioned big-men all have traits Zikarsky would look to incorporate into his game, but perhaps what's more encouraging is how those players are being utilised. The NBA has been in its fast-paced, three-point shooting, small ball era for the past decade - and, to be fair, that philosophy is still holding strong - but more and more teams are now finding different wrinkles to keep multiple big-men on the floor.
During the 2025 playoffs, we've consistently seen teams lean into lineups with two big-men on the floor; Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in Oklahoma City, Allen and Mobley in Cleveland, Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams in Houston, to name just a few combos. Generally there's a floor spacer involved, or one of the bigs has the mobility to reasonably defend on the perimeter, but the strategy has largely worked as a way to add extra rim protection and two-way rebounding in moments where possessions become more valuable.
"I really like it," Zikarsky said of more teams using double-big lineups.
"I sort of see myself with that Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein [role]. Hartenstein with a lot of pick and short rolls, a lot of pick and rolls; he's getting to that floater... I can definitely see myself filling that role.
"The re-emergence of the double big lineup has definitely been an exciting thing to see unfold, especially going into my draft year. I would love to play that sort of system, and feel it out a little bit. I think it's going to be a big mainstay going forward."
There's an awareness from Zikarsky that how he develops over the American summer will go a long way toward setting up this next phase of his professional career. He averaged 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for the Bullets over the 2024-25 NBL season - in just under 12 minutes a contest - and, while that production doesn't jump off the page, he still came in at No. 46 on ESPN's most recent 2025 mock draft, thanks to how NBA teams view his potential.
Zikarsky knows he's not close to being a finished product, and believes his time in the NBL has prepared him to reach that ceiling, and ultimately make that NBA leap.
"In my first year, I went up against Aron Baynes and Tyrell [Harrison], and in my second year, I went up against Tyrell every day," Zikarsky said.
"For me, it's two of the biggest bodies in the NBL. Those guys would be considered big bodies in the NBA. It does prepare you; not only physically, but mentally.
"My role was different from when I was in juniors. I'd play 35 minutes a game in juniors, and then I come down and it's the NBL and you've got to earn minutes, and fight for minutes, and you've got to adjust to your role. I've adjusted to my role, and my role's going to be different in the NBA than it was in the NBL.
"That mental strength of going from a star player on a roster to now earning my minutes, and fighting in practice in every day trying to prove I can be on the floor, the mental toughness has come a long way, for sure."
Get the best out of the best time in sport. View markets at TAB, We're On