LA Clippers: How Ivica Zubac fit in

Strengths

Ivica Zubac stacked the stat sheet on a per-minute basis in 2019-20. Here are his per-36 minute numbers in 59 games for both the Lakers and Clippers:

Points: 18.2
Rebounds per game: 12.5
Blocks per game: 1.8

Zubac was ultra efficient, posting a 60.4 true-shooting percentage (TS%). His TS% was buoyed both by effective finishing inside and a fairly high free-throw rate for a big who can actually shoot freebies (4.4 attempts per-36 minutes, 80.2 percent).

The free throw shooting is another reason for optimism with Zubac’s potential as a 3-point shooter, which I’ll get to later. Free-throw efficiency is often a solid predictor for 3-point efficiency, especially off the catch.

Zubac wasn’t an empty calorie stat-stuffer, though. His impact showed up in a number of subtle ways.

One of the most underrated skills in the NBA is the ability to set good screens. More importantly, the willingness to set screens at all.

Among players with at least 1,000 minutes played last season, Zubac ranked 12th in screen assists per-36 minutes (a screen that lead directly to a bucket). A large portion of his assists came off dribble-handoff actions:

The Clippers have three high-frequency pick-and-roll players in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Lou Williams, so look for Zubac’s screen-assist numbers to rise even further.

Rebounding

There is often a disconnect between a player fans think is a great rebounder, because of gaudy board totals, and players who actually improve their team’s rebounding overall. Take JaVale McGee and Brook Lopez, for example.

McGee has always put up good per-minute rebounding numbers, but doesn’t actually help his team’s rebounding percentage because he is so often out of position.

Conversely, a player like Lopez is often maligned for his measly board totals, but has always made a significant, positive difference to his team’s rebounding.

Zubac is a mixture of both. The Clippers hauled in 78 percent of their defensive rebounds with Zubac on the floor, and just 70.2 percent when he sat.

Zubac’s on court percentage compares favorably to a lot of the best rebounders in the league, such as Andre Drummond (74 percent), Joel Embiid (74.4 percent), Clint Capela (71.4 percent) and Rudy Gobert (77.2 percent).

All of those All-Star level players played more minutes and the decline in the Clippers’ rebounding sans Zubac was as much to do with the limitations of their big man rotation, but it’s a very encouraging figure nonetheless.

Zubac is also a very solid rim-protector:

With Zubac off the floor, the Clippers’ defensive-rating was an unsightly 111.7 per-100 possessions, a number only slightly better than some of the worst defenses in the league. With the big man on court, however, that number jumped to 106.1, a top-four rating overall.

Not to say Zubac is an all-NBA defender, but he gave the Clippers exactly what they were missing over the first half of the season; a player who could bang down low, protect the rim and hit the defensive glass.