Can Ivica Zubac become the starting center for the Los Angeles Lakers?
The Los Angeles Lakers have several young players, but few intrigue as much as Ivica Zubac. What does the future hold for the young big man?
The Los Angeles Lakers have several young players on the roster, but few create intrigue like Ivica Zubac.
Selected in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft, Zubac was expected to be someone who would come over in a few seasons. After some roster moves in the offseason, Zubac joined the team this season and got valuable experience. He shuttled back and forth between the Lakers and D-Fenders throughout the season.
Through several games as a member of the D-Fenders and Lakers, you saw the upside of Zubac that could make him a potential starting center option for the Lakers.
Averaging 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds as a rookie, Zubac didn't see as much playing time but shined in limited time. Even at 19 years old, Zubac showed good awareness on both ends of the ball and good size, even at a young age. In limited minutes, he never felt like he was out of place and that is the biggest positive.
Offensively, Zubac finished with a true shooting percentage of 54, but the most intriguing aspect of his game is his long range shooting. As a rookie, Zubac shot 45 percent on shots from 10-16 feet on 22 attempts and 57 percent on shots from 16-24 feet on 21 attempts — good numbers for a center.
If he can provide that over a larger sample size, that's huge for Los Angeles' offensive spacing.
There's also hope for him to improve as a better roll man. Los Angeles doesn't run much for the roll man, but Zubac finished with 1.02 points per possession as a roll man, via NBA.com's play type data. Among all Lakers, Zubac finished second in score percentage. The combination of shooting and above-average roll man ability could make for a destructive offensive force.
Defensively, Zubac has room to grow on that end. Like most rookies, he was bad on defense. His defensive archetype is a backline center – not good enough to truly chase and switch on the perimeter, and not great enough to be a rim protector.
As a rim protector, though, Zubac projects to be more of a Cody Zeller type rather than a Rudy Gobert type. Much like the other center options for the Los Angeles Lakers, Zubac's success as a defender would increase if he could be surrounded with good defenders around him.
In ESPN's real plus-minus statistic, Zubac ranked 60th among 70 centers in defensive real plus-minus and NBA.com has the Lakers as only two points better with Zubac on the bench. For a young guy, that's good that his defensive numbers aren't lopsided. It suggests that he has the ability to be a good defender, or at least, one that doesn't take too much away on that end.
The Los Angeles Lakers have several young players on the roster with various level of upside. Adding the second and 26th overall picks to this group will only create more intrigue among the young core. The guy that might possess the most intrigue is Ivica Zubac, who has good size and just 19 years old.
Offensively, Zubac showed the ability to space the floor out to the midrange, providing some spacing for his fellow big man and other slashing and cutting guards. On the defensive end, he wasn't great, but he wasn't awful compared to other big men. He'll need time to improve on that end.
At the very least, Zubac is going to be entering his age-20 season as a potential starting center option for Los Angeles. Even if he doesn't earn the job right away, Zubac should be in the rotation and garner a ton of minutes as he continues to develop into a fine center option.
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