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MJST
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 Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 2:16 am Post subject: |
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| adkindo wrote: | was unaware that Zubac was playing on the Croatian national team this summer. Appears they had an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier today getting ready for World Cup qualifier's and Zubac put up 28 points/ 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists on 11 of 13 from the field.
Using Google translator it is a little difficult to read, but it looks like Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić are also on the team.
LINK |
Good to see Zubac's hard work this summer is continuing to pay off too.
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MJST
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 2:17 am Post subject: |
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| Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out.
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Joe Pesci
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out. |
I agree, but once again, as I stated in the draft thread, it’s not about who’s the better player. It’s about which player fits best and makes the team a better, cohesive unit.
To me, uncategorically, that’s Bryant.
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Annihilator
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 4:13 am Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | was unaware that Zubac was playing on the Croatian national team this summer. Appears they had an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier today getting ready for World Cup qualifier's and Zubac put up 28 points/ 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists on 11 of 13 from the field.
Using Google translator it is a little difficult to read, but it looks like Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić are also on the team.
LINK |
Good to see Zubac's hard work this summer is continuing to pay off too. |
 Personally, I am going to take this as a sign of Zubac maturing into his role--it takes a while for centers to actually become NBA ready. ESPN RPM had Zubac as the 24th best defensive center and the 62 best offensive center. Getting 28 points on 9 for 11 shooting shows growth in an area in which he was underperforming.
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numero-ocho
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 4:21 am Post subject: |
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Zubac's problem is he doesn't have one skill that really stands out. He only checks one or two of the boxes of the type of player the Lakers say they want to build their team around.
| Quote: | | “When you build a team you have to have pillars that you build on, and for us, we’re sticking to those core principals, which are guys that are high IQ basketball players that play the game the right way, that can shoot, that have length, that have versatility, that play with toughness.. |
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MJST
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:04 am Post subject: |
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| Annihilator wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | was unaware that Zubac was playing on the Croatian national team this summer. Appears they had an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier today getting ready for World Cup qualifier's and Zubac put up 28 points/ 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists on 11 of 13 from the field.
Using Google translator it is a little difficult to read, but it looks like Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić are also on the team.
LINK |
Good to see Zubac's hard work this summer is continuing to pay off too. |
Personally, I am going to take this as a sign of Zubac maturing into his role--it takes a while for centers to actually become NBA ready. ESPN RPM had Zubac as the 24th best defensive center and the 62 best offensive center. Getting 28 points on 9 for 11 shooting shows growth in an area in which he was underperforming. |
People forget that Zubac is still just 21 years old. He has success against actual NBA competition, and for as much as people claim he's a "slow plodding back to the basket only center", it means they never really watched him cause he's actually one of our better options out of the pick and roll when we utilized him in it, just as he was his rookie season because of his touch around the basket off the roll.
I'd say that this would be the year where Zubac should come into training camp and cement himself or try to make a statement that he should be getting center minutes going forward. He definitely has the skillset to do so, especially for 21 he was very ahead of the curve as a rookie, and when he got the opportunities in his 2nd year showed he can still be very effective when given the chance.
People compared him to Marc Gasol as a rookie, I will strongly say that Ivica is ahead of where Marc Gasol was at 21.
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HOF Rookie
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:23 am Post subject: |
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I like Zu, seems like a good guy and wants to get better. His second season was not impressive and he essentially made no improvements.
This is his make or break year. I don’t care if he’s putting up 30 against Bosnia, I need to see it in the regular season. I don’t care if he puts up 25 in the g league, we need to see that growth when it matters.
His problem is that he doesn’t stretch the floor, can’t defend switches, and was not strong with the ball.
I don’t know if there’s room for him on this squad. |
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MJST
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:27 am Post subject: |
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| HOF Rookie wrote: | I like Zu, seems like a good guy and wants to get better. His second season was not impressive and he essentially made no improvements.
This is his make or break year. I don’t care if he’s putting up 30 against Bosnia, I need to see it in the regular season. I don’t care if he puts up 25 in the g league, we need to see that growth when it matters.
His problem is that he doesn’t stretch the floor, can’t defend switches, and was not strong with the ball.
I don’t know if there’s room for him on this squad. |
Zubac's already had a 19/11 game against Minnesota last season in 20 minutes and where for some reason Luke refused to play him in overtime and the 4th. So yeah...
Zubac has shown when he gets the opportunity he can produce against NBA competition, and that is more currently than any other primary center on our roster.
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defense
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:26 am Post subject: |
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Centers will die here because Luke doesn't play them
Even brook only played like 20 minutes a game
A guy like Zubac would thrive with a good coach like stevens or the jazz coach or even Pop |
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lakerfanaticPT
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:36 am Post subject: |
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| I think it is possible we keep Zu and Bryant even though we drafted Mo and just let Brook walk. We could use the exception money on another area of need after free agency runs its course. |
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blackmamba08
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:44 am Post subject: |
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| PlantedTanks wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | was unaware that Zubac was playing on the Croatian national team this summer. Appears they had an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier today getting ready for World Cup qualifier's and Zubac put up 28 points/ 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists on 11 of 13 from the field.
Using Google translator it is a little difficult to read, but it looks like Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić are also on the team.
LINK |
Thanks for the info. He is someone I truly believe is an NBA player and belongs on the Lakers. He gets bashed here a lot but the talent is there. |
For me it is a little bit easier to translate.  They are saying he truly dominated the game and he was unstoppable under the basket but nothing too detailed. They have the game tonight also with Bosnia, I will try to find some article again and post it here.
Bojan and Dario are playing but Hezonja and Bender are out. Hezonja is looking for new contract. Bender I am not really sure what is happening there. |
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Ziggy
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| When Zu is locked in he's easily our best rim protector. Bryant might get there. I just want to see the return of ZuBlocka. He was horrendous this season and took a step back. I don't care about his offense. He can have a role on this team if he just protects the rim. |
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LakerLanny
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:57 am Post subject: |
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Don't really see Zu as getting much playing time with where we are going.
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HOF Rookie
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | HOF Rookie wrote: | I like Zu, seems like a good guy and wants to get better. His second season was not impressive and he essentially made no improvements.
This is his make or break year. I don’t care if he’s putting up 30 against Bosnia, I need to see it in the regular season. I don’t care if he puts up 25 in the g league, we need to see that growth when it matters.
His problem is that he doesn’t stretch the floor, can’t defend switches, and was not strong with the ball.
I don’t know if there’s room for him on this squad. |
Zubac's already had a 19/11 game against Minnesota last season in 20 minutes and where for some reason Luke refused to play him in overtime and the 4th. So yeah...
Zubac has shown when he gets the opportunity he can produce against NBA competition, and that is more currently than any other primary center on our roster. |
1 game means nothing. If Luke thought he could help the team by playing his 20 minutes a game, he would be getting those minutes.
Just because he has shown more than Bryant or Wagner who have combined probably for 25 nba minutes means nothing.
If he plays the way he did last year, he’s not a guy you can play 25 minutes a game for 82. |
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GOODRICH25
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 8:48 am Post subject: |
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| blackmamba08 wrote: | | PlantedTanks wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | was unaware that Zubac was playing on the Croatian national team this summer. Appears they had an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier today getting ready for World Cup qualifier's and Zubac put up 28 points/ 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists on 11 of 13 from the field.
Using Google translator it is a little difficult to read, but it looks like Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić are also on the team.
LINK |
Thanks for the info. He is someone I truly believe is an NBA player and belongs on the Lakers. He gets bashed here a lot but the talent is there. |
For me it is a little bit easier to translate. They are saying he truly dominated the game and he was unstoppable under the basket but nothing too detailed. They have the game tonight also with Bosnia, I will try to find some article again and post it here.
Bojan and Dario are playing but Hezonja and Bender are out. Hezonja is looking for new contract. Bender I am not really sure what is happening there. |
Edin Atić 21 poen, Adin Vrabac 2, Amar Gegić 6, Aleksandar Lazić 12, Robert Rikić 6, Markus Lončar 8, Amar Alibegović 2, Darko Talić, Nedžad Muratović 4, Ibrahim Durmo 6, Almir Hasandić 3, Kenan Kamenjaš, Refik Bašić i Marko Rikalo 5
thats the team Bosnia played with and the points everyone scored, centers are in bold. looks like he did his job defensively against those guys as well, holding them to a combined 14pts, even though all 3 are players from Bosnian league, so not very good players.
this was a friendly and a garbage team they faced, while they themselves had 3 NBA players (cant find rest of the croatian team for this game), which is why i wouldnt read much into it. still, nice to see Zubac doing his part well
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kawhileonard
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:58 am Post subject: |
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Zubac is very good imo.
Just a bad fit with the current lakers setup and the team really doesn't do a good job playing to his strengths.
If he does leave, Zubac should consider going to NY Knicks and pairing up with KP. |
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Fortysixn2
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:51 am Post subject: |
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Zu seems like a really good guy. Problem is that he’s not a good defender, not a great rebounder, doesn’t have a mean streak in him and is not a great shooter. He’s a C+/B- at a few things offensively around the rim, otherwise he doesn’t have much to offer beyond his height.
When Magic and Rob, last offseason, told the guys to get in better shape...he should have taken that as an ulimatum for him in particular. In addition to all the things he can’t do above, he also can’t keep up with the pace of the game we are trying to run.
Bryant is less skilled, but more athletic and has something of an outside shot. Us passing on big men who can’t shoot in the draft should tell you all you need to know about the direction we are heading, Zu is probably gone. |
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Luminous8
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out. |
But his upside is probably higher than Zu's. And his shooting could become elite. They're all three still relatively young so I see no reason to just give up on Zu entirely. |
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MJST
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 1:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Luminous8 wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out. |
But his upside is probably higher than Zu's. And his shooting could become elite. They're all three still relatively young so I see no reason to just give up on Zu entirely. |
Upside is one thing. Zu is only a year older than him. He's 21, Bryant is 20. It ain't like Zu isn't gonna get better from here, and he gets even more experience playing with his National team, on top of the fact he also came into the league a more complete player than Bryant, and so is Mo.
Zubac may have gotten crossed up last year by CP3, but Thomas Bryant got crossed up by Tarik Black. That's not a good sign.
So why does Bryant have the higher upside? He's not faster, he's not more league ready, he's not exactly more athletic (when you actually watch the two of them play). So when it comes down to it, I think Thomas Bryant essentially had a lot of good will because he showed energy in Summer League and Zubac whom was dealing with a bunch of personal stuff didn't seem as engaged so people latched onto Thomas Bryant's upside and really liked his personality.
But if you watch these two play, Zubac is far and away a better player than Bryant, and it's a bigger distance in a way that unless Bryant makes a super tremendous leap in his game, I don't see him catching Zubac if they both are working hard during the summer and progressing. And since Zubac is also getting some international play in, I'd still say he and Mo are ahead of Bryant.
Of course you don't give up on either of these three, and I think Bryant has a future carved out for himself if he decides to try to be a Channing Frye type.
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epak
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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Good numbers Zu.
Hopefully we can get a 2nd rounder for you. |
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PlantedTanks
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | Luminous8 wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out. |
But his upside is probably higher than Zu's. And his shooting could become elite. They're all three still relatively young so I see no reason to just give up on Zu entirely. |
Upside is one thing. Zu is only a year older than him. He's 21, Bryant is 20. It ain't like Zu isn't gonna get better from here, and he gets even more experience playing with his National team, on top of the fact he also came into the league a more complete player than Bryant, and so is Mo.
Zubac may have gotten crossed up last year by CP3, but Thomas Bryant got crossed up by Tarik Black. That's not a good sign.
So why does Bryant have the higher upside? He's not faster, he's not more league ready, he's not exactly more athletic (when you actually watch the two of them play). So when it comes down to it, I think Thomas Bryant essentially had a lot of good will because he showed energy in Summer League and Zubac whom was dealing with a bunch of personal stuff didn't seem as engaged so people latched onto Thomas Bryant's upside and really liked his personality.
But if you watch these two play, Zubac is far and away a better player than Bryant, and it's a bigger distance in a way that unless Bryant makes a super tremendous leap in his game, I don't see him catching Zubac if they both are working hard during the summer and progressing. And since Zubac is also getting some international play in, I'd still say he and Mo are ahead of Bryant.
Of course you don't give up on either of these three, and I think Bryant has a future carved out for himself if he decides to try to be a Channing Frye type. |
I posted my thoughts on Zu in previous pages so I won't rehash my opinion of his game.
What I want to add is when Zu first entered the league he had that fun personality that endeared him to the fan base. He had immediate success in the SL and did well during the regular season leading to a false sense of success.
He obviously did not put in the work during that off season and it showed in his 2nd SL. I believe he grew up from that experience and during his G-league games and 2nd half of last season he was in better condition and imo played well and gained Walton's trust.
I feel all prospects enter the league not realizing the hard work they need to put in to make it in the NBA. Hopefully my memory is correct but 2-3 years ago Casey Jacobsen (1st round from Stanford) addressed the local college team. He mentioned that he thought he worked and trained hard but he realized what hard work really was after being around Kobe.
Byrant vs. Zu vs. Mo.
Zu is the best rebounder and rim protector. He also has the best post and mid-range game. He is probably the slowest of the 3 but is no worse than most other centers in the NBA. From his limited attempts in the G-league he can shoot the 3 although it has a low trajectory that may affect his efficiency.
Mo is the most versatile of the 3. He has some PF skills and agility in him. Good handle with some wiggle in his drives. The best passer but offers the least rim protection. He has the most complete offensive skills.
Bryant is raw. Very fast straight line speed but lateral movement is poor and probably the worst in regards to defensive awareness. Potentially the best 3 pt shooter. For his height and length he somehow is a weak rebounder and is not a natural shot blocker. Watched a lot of him in the G-league and he dominated running the floor and using his height and length. He is a great rim runner but if his 3 pt shot is not falling I am not sure what else he offers.
I won't touch on their defensive issues which they all have as this post is getting long.
Take this with a grain of salt as this is jmo. |
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Baron Von Humongous
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| PlantedTanks wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | Luminous8 wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out. |
But his upside is probably higher than Zu's. And his shooting could become elite. They're all three still relatively young so I see no reason to just give up on Zu entirely. |
Upside is one thing. Zu is only a year older than him. He's 21, Bryant is 20. It ain't like Zu isn't gonna get better from here, and he gets even more experience playing with his National team, on top of the fact he also came into the league a more complete player than Bryant, and so is Mo.
Zubac may have gotten crossed up last year by CP3, but Thomas Bryant got crossed up by Tarik Black. That's not a good sign.
So why does Bryant have the higher upside? He's not faster, he's not more league ready, he's not exactly more athletic (when you actually watch the two of them play). So when it comes down to it, I think Thomas Bryant essentially had a lot of good will because he showed energy in Summer League and Zubac whom was dealing with a bunch of personal stuff didn't seem as engaged so people latched onto Thomas Bryant's upside and really liked his personality.
But if you watch these two play, Zubac is far and away a better player than Bryant, and it's a bigger distance in a way that unless Bryant makes a super tremendous leap in his game, I don't see him catching Zubac if they both are working hard during the summer and progressing. And since Zubac is also getting some international play in, I'd still say he and Mo are ahead of Bryant.
Of course you don't give up on either of these three, and I think Bryant has a future carved out for himself if he decides to try to be a Channing Frye type. |
I posted my thoughts on Zu in previous pages so I won't rehash my opinion of his game.
What I want to add is when Zu first entered the league he had that fun personality that endeared him to the fan base. He had immediate success in the SL and did well during the regular season leading to a false sense of success.
He obviously did not put in the work during that off season and it showed in his 2nd SL. I believe he grew up from that experience and during his G-league games and 2nd half of last season he was in better condition and imo played well and gained Walton's trust.
I feel all prospects enter the league not realizing the hard work they need to put in to make it in the NBA. Hopefully my memory is correct but 2-3 years ago Casey Jacobsen (1st round from Stanford) addressed the local college team. He mentioned that he thought he worked and trained hard but he realized what hard work really was after being around Kobe.
Byrant vs. Zu vs. Mo.
Zu is the best rebounder and rim protector. He also has the best post and mid-range game. He is probably the slowest of the 3 but is no worse than most other centers in the NBA. From his limited attempts in the G-league he can shoot the 3 although it has a low trajectory that may affect his efficiency.
Mo is the most versatile of the 3. He has some PF skills and agility in him. Good handle with some wiggle in his drives. The best passer but offers the least rim protection. He has the most complete offensive skills.
Bryant is raw. Very fast straight line speed but lateral movement is poor and probably the worst in regards to defensive awareness. Potentially the best 3 pt shooter. For his height and length he somehow is a weak rebounder and is not a natural shot blocker. Watched a lot of him in the G-league and he dominated running the floor and using his height and length. He is a great rim runner but if his 3 pt shot is not falling I am not sure what else he offers.
I won't touch on their defensive issues which they all have as this post is getting long.
Take this with a grain of salt as this is jmo. |
Good break down. I'm interested to see how Wagner defends in space in SL play.
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Luminous8
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Joined: 26 Apr 2017
Posts: 2192
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | Luminous8 wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
to be honest If we went by the best three bigs skillwise on our team between Zu, Bryant and Mo.
Bryant would be the least polished and he'd be the odd one out. |
But his upside is probably higher than Zu's. And his shooting could become elite. They're all three still relatively young so I see no reason to just give up on Zu entirely. |
Upside is one thing. Zu is only a year older than him. He's 21, Bryant is 20. It ain't like Zu isn't gonna get better from here, and he gets even more experience playing with his National team, on top of the fact he also came into the league a more complete player than Bryant, and so is Mo.
Zubac may have gotten crossed up last year by CP3, but Thomas Bryant got crossed up by Tarik Black. That's not a good sign.
So why does Bryant have the higher upside? He's not faster, he's not more league ready, he's not exactly more athletic (when you actually watch the two of them play). So when it comes down to it, I think Thomas Bryant essentially had a lot of good will because he showed energy in Summer League and Zubac whom was dealing with a bunch of personal stuff didn't seem as engaged so people latched onto Thomas Bryant's upside and really liked his personality.
But if you watch these two play, Zubac is far and away a better player than Bryant, and it's a bigger distance in a way that unless Bryant makes a super tremendous leap in his game, I don't see him catching Zubac if they both are working hard during the summer and progressing. And since Zubac is also getting some international play in, I'd still say he and Mo are ahead of Bryant.
Of course you don't give up on either of these three, and I think Bryant has a future carved out for himself if he decides to try to be a Channing Frye type. |
I strongly disagree that he's not more athletic than Zu. Much better (more engaged) full court runner, quicker, more hops (not greatly but slightly). He just seems to me watching the two to be more functionally athletic than Zu. And I'm not even calling TB a good athlete because I think overall he's average or below.
My problem is the fact that Zu regressed SO MUCH from his rookie year. Even after his poor showing in SL he still didn't seem to offer much outside of a little physicality against Steven adams. His shotblockling was nowhere near the same level. He didn't seem to have near as good of touch (except for a week or so after we got IT), and the guy flat out simply couldn't hold a ball to save his life. He exposed it way too oftenetting the ball gonlow enough to be stripped by a small. To me Zu really just didn't show a lot of the intangibles I saw from his rookie year.
At his best he's a hell of a player and definitely better than TB (nowhere near as good shooting though), but he just didn't look to be his best self last year. |
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MickMgl
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Joined: 07 Jan 2013
Posts: 1987
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Judah wrote: | | Trevacious2 wrote: | | Yeah, I wanna expect he shows up in this summer league to redeem himself and bring the excitement back. |
Guys who are going into their third year in the league don't usually play in SL. Magic ruled out Lonzo and Kuz but confirmed that Hart and T. Bryant (assuming he's still on the team by then) will play. No mention of Zu. I don't think we needed it as confirmation, but the drafting of Big Moe all but assures that Zu’s time is up. I'm hoping that another team picks him up by training camp, but there's a real possibility that he won't be in the league next year. I'm still shocked at how awful he was this year. |
How awful was he? He spent most of the season in G-league, where he dominated. And though he started the season slow, he finished as the team's best per-minute rebounder, shot 50% from the field, 77% from the line.
I mean, I agree that he did not show development to start the season, but you're overstating the "awfulness".
And he's still just 21. Even if his game is more of the interior variety, it makes more sense for the team to have a guy like that available when needed than to keep a guy like Bryant who is redundant with Wagner. The team may want five guys on the floor who can switch every matchup, but they don't necessarily want twelve of them. And sometimes you do need the rim-protector / rebounder who can score inside. |
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MickMgl
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Joined: 07 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | was unaware that Zubac was playing on the Croatian national team this summer. Appears they had an exhibition game against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier today getting ready for World Cup qualifier's and Zubac put up 28 points/ 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists on 11 of 13 from the field.
Using Google translator it is a little difficult to read, but it looks like Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić are also on the team.
LINK |
Good to see Zubac's hard work this summer is continuing to pay off too. |
A number of people have said Zubac needs to have a strong summer league this year. Although he's not participating in NBA summer league, I expect FIBA friendlies are at least as competitive. |
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