LA Clippers big man Ivica Zubac may finally be unleashed now that Doc Rivers has departed the organization.
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00:00There's no greater source of untapped potential in the Lakers roster than seven-foot big man
00:04Igbizy Zubac. In the first four years of his NBA career, the 23-year-old big man has dramatically
00:09improved his game and become a strong finisher in one of the league's better end protectors.
00:13Despite that, Zubac was severely underutilized this past year, averaging nearly 18.4 minutes
00:19per game during the early season and 24.6 in the postseason. That's something to contribute to
00:24former head coach Doc Rivers. For the athletics you have on Buha, Rivers' insistence on playing
00:28Montrezl Harrell over Zubac in the playoffs was, quote, a point of contention between Rivers and
00:33the organization. LA's former coach was reportedly much higher on Harrell than Zubac and thought he
00:38was the better option against the Denver Nuggets. That's just about all the evidence we had
00:42suggested the opposite of that. Now, it seems to have played some role in his departure that
00:46isn't clear if it was, you know, the main one. What we do know is that the organization thinks
00:50highly of Zubac and that can only mean great things for his future with the team. This was
00:55supposed to be the year that Zubac broke out in LA and when given the chance, he and the Clippers
01:00excelled. LA went 21-7 this past season when Zubac played at least 20 minutes and 28-16 when he came
01:08in under that mark. To clarify, that's 28 games when he played over 20 and 44 under 20. Unfortunately,
01:14as you can see from that tally, Zubac wasn't on the floor as often as he should have been this
01:18year and while that hurt the Clippers in the regular season, it didn't hurt them anywhere
01:22as much as it did in the postseason. With Rivers out of the picture now, LA has the opportunity to
01:26hire a replacement that will get the most out of this roster. That should involve Zou seeing his
01:32minutes increase next season and finally get a chance to break free of the short leash he's
01:36been on since he was traded to the Clippers in 2018. Zubac never would have reached his full
01:42potential with Clippers with Rivers coaching the team. The future would look a lot like this past
01:47season did and in its search for a new head coach, expect the organization to hire a candidate that
01:52can elevate Zou's ceiling rather than view him as a liability.