Zubac was hittin the glass today. It was refreshing to have a rebounding c5 out there. Ready for Zub to fill in big for all LNJ's minutes. With that soft shooting touch, he should be able to hit a few threes as well.
Well this performance should help Luke understand he needs to play Zubac MORE and Lopez LESS....! _________________ “Always remember... Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.”
Joined: 17 Sep 2008 Posts: 21084 Location: In a white room, with black curtains near the station
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:40 pm Post subject:
Had to drop by to make myself feel better after the loss.
Zubac - dammit he needs floor time with the Lakers, not the G League. One bright spot in a frustrating loss.
I'm getting sick of our version of small ball at all costs, when opposing bigs are killing us inside.
Problem with this is, I'm getting sick of seeing the 2 rebound zero inside scoring attempt version of Brook posing as a large center on his off nights.
19/11 and 100% shooting. In just under 20 minutes. And a NASTY 2 man game alongside Isaiah Thomas. Against the Wolves and the mighty KAT in Minnesota.
I'm gonna pretend for the next 8 days that when Laker games resume we're gonna see Zubac out there on a nightly basis.
We forget how good Zu was last year. Tonight he showed signs but he still doesnt have his rhythm. Sad to see Nance go but hopefully it opens up a spot for Zu in the rotation.
If for nothing else, build that trade value.
Just a reminder of how good Zu was last year
Zuuuuuu _________________ "He's a Zen master, so he can speak to you, and he doesn't need a microphone; you can hear him in your head, 'Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot.' Whatever, pow, three. I love the Zen, though."
We forget how good Zu was last year. Tonight he showed signs but he still doesnt have his rhythm. Sad to see Nance go but hopefully it opens up a spot for Zu in the rotation.
Oh now ya'll remember why you were excited about Zu last season?
For the record, Zu's been killing it in practice and outplaying some of the bigs in drills, as well as dominating in the G-League.
He also dedicated himself this off-season, though there was a thousand different things occupying his mind in Summer League which attributed to his 'disengaged' performance, he didn't use it as an excuse. Canceled his vacations and dedicated the entire rest of the summer to working on his body and his game.
He went out there tonight and showed what we've been missing out on.
hard to show it, when he got no consistent minutes, nor a chance from Walton at all.
Zubac should have been our starting center this year in a season where we continued to focus primarily on our young talent. But alas, too late for that now.
Maybe he can finally get some consistent minutes, but it is Luke we're talking about. if he finds something that works, he goes away from it till we go on a 9 game losing streak and then decides to try out "that thing that was effective" finally. _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
We forget how good Zu was last year. Tonight he showed signs but he still doesnt have his rhythm. Sad to see Nance go but hopefully it opens up a spot for Zu in the rotation.
If for nothing else, build that trade value.
Just a reminder of how good Zu was last year
Zuuuuuu
How good was his defense last year?
One of best in the league for most of year defending the rim. Horrible in space. _________________ "He's a Zen master, so he can speak to you, and he doesn't need a microphone; you can hear him in your head, 'Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot.' Whatever, pow, three. I love the Zen, though."
Summer League he just seemed to be drained by Magic’s body fat % mandate. Not to fault Magic. He wanted to run this team up and down. Zu has had to acclimate. He’s in a real nice place.
His help defense, his tip boards to his teammates, blocking out, and his quickness getting up and down, him diving on the floor for loose balls. I’m lovin it. Very much LNJ - whatever it takes to get my team the win scrappiness.
He needs to work on the p/r timing. It’s off a lil. Set that pick, space his roll... if his man bodies up, spin for the lob, if he backs off, show off the mid range touch, in rhythm.
By now he can use his instincts and start to play with real confidence.
Joined: 25 Apr 2015 Posts: 31969 Location: Anaheim, CA
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:04 pm Post subject:
MJST wrote:
Oh now ya'll remember why you were excited about Zu last season?
For the record, Zu's been killing it in practice and outplaying some of the bigs in drills, as well as dominating in the G-League.
He also dedicated himself this off-season, though there was a thousand different things occupying his mind in Summer League which attributed to his 'disengaged' performance, he didn't use it as an excuse. Canceled his vacations and dedicated the entire rest of the summer to working on his body and his game.
He went out there tonight and showed what we've been missing out on.
hard to show it, when he got no consistent minutes, nor a chance from Walton at all.
Zubac should have been our starting center this year in a season where we continued to focus primarily on our young talent. But alas, too late for that now.
Maybe he can finally get some consistent minutes, but it is Luke we're talking about. if he finds something that works, he goes away from it till we go on a 9 game losing streak and then decides to try out "that thing that was effective" finally.
He looked like a legitimate stiff in Summer League. I have no idea what was going on. He looked like a night-and-day difference from his Summer League as a rookie. He was fumbling everything and just looked incredibly lethargic, and I am well aware that he's never going to be considered a nimble mover.
But maybe he's put that behind him and he's getting back to what we saw last season. I don't think he's ever going to confuse anyone for a mobile big, but perhaps I wrote him off too quickly, especially because I really was high on him as a rookie. I don't want to overreact to one great game, but he does deserve an opportunity after the All-Star break. Let's hope he can keep this up.
It's just really hard to watch Lopez and his Houdini act on rebounds.
Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 3732 Location: The other side
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:10 pm Post subject:
I always believed in Zubac. If there is a big who can consistently hit a hook shot and play solid D....
Zubac was the odd man out with Lopez, Randle, Kuzma and Nance 'penciled in' as Luke put it. How he came to the summer league out of shape did not help his case.
Now that Nance's spot opened up he will get his chance. I actually think it all worked out very well. He received a message that you are not given anything. If you come in unprepared for the season, consider the consequences. But he has a chance. Good game today. Now, keep it up and go earn yourself a name. _________________ .
Lakers depth chart
PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan
Joined: 25 Apr 2015 Posts: 31969 Location: Anaheim, CA
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:11 pm Post subject:
hydrohead wrote:
Its the most Zu has been utilized by the Lakers since D'Angelo was here making those same pick n role plays like Isaiah.
Yeah, I agree. I thought he could be effective in the pick-and-roll when he was a rookie, and we did see that tonight with IT. Perhaps we'll see it with Lonzo once he returns.
Joined: 10 Jul 2016 Posts: 133 Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:40 pm Post subject:
Shaber wrote:
How he came to the summer league out of shape did not help his case.
If you come in unprepared for the season, consider the consequences. But he has a chance.
he came in out of shape to his rookie summer league and surprised everyone with good play. this year, he was in middle of fitness training with Lakers fitness staff and he looked out of place because of that.
he spent all of his off season in LA training, so you can't say that he was unprepared for the season, it's just that when there was a chance for Lakers to sign Bogut , Lakers went for it and Zubac's playing time went down (while probably he learned a lot from Bogut on defense)
Oh now ya'll remember why you were excited about Zu last season?
For the record, Zu's been killing it in practice and outplaying some of the bigs in drills, as well as dominating in the G-League.
Yeah, I would have been more worried about him if I wasn't peeking at the G-League once in a while to see that Zubac was indeed dominating. That certainly puts one at ease if the Lakers ever decide to give him some consistent playing time at the next level.
Quote:
Zubac should have been our starting center this year in a season where we continued to focus primarily on our young talent. But alas, too late for that now.
Two things about that. One is that Zubac is still very young. While Ball and Ingram are about the same age, they are lottery guys, and there's more pressure for a team to commit to those guys early. Item two is this frustrating trend to turn big men into "stretch fives". The game is won in the paint, unless you have a collection of shooters like Golden State. Zubac can knock down shots from the elbow, which I think should be good enough, but he doesn't extend to the arc.
I think this trend has also hurt Lopez's game this year. Although he began knocking down 3's last season, he's also still a good post player. But he seldom gets those opportunities anymore.
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Had to drop by to make myself feel better after the loss.
