No. 2 LA Clippers player with most potential to grow next season: Ivica Zubac
Think back to how well Ivica Zubac was playing for our LA Clippers in the Western Conference Finals before he got hurt.
He literally had 44 rebounds in the four games he played during that series.
The Clippers were in the bottom half of the NBA when it comes to rebounds per game, and Zubac stepped up to the challenge when he was needed most.
Zubac had struggled on defense at times in the playoffs, like for instance with defending the pick-and-roll in the Mavericks series. Once Ty Lue figured out what was and wasn’t working with Zubac, he found more situations where he can succeed on defense.
Now that Lue has a full year of coaching Zubac under his belt, he’s going to be in many favorable situations. He’ll be better on defense, and people also forget how well Zubac was coming along offensively. He averaged 14 points per game in Games 2 through 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
He showed so many flashes of being a productive player at times in the playoffs, and we missed him in our Game 6 loss. He’ll be in position to take a big step next year.