Ivina Zubac certainly seems to be a more competent and higher-upside center than a guy that most Lakers fans will remember not-too-fondly, Robert Sacre (or, as I like to call him, Robert Suckre). Sacre had the midrange jumper in his arsenal, but he didn’t have any reliable “moves” of any kind, and his status as a five-year (????) college player limited his upside.
Zubac has so much upside that he practically leaves puddles of it behind him when he runs up and down the court. He currently struggles with Sacre-itis (shooting below 45% from the field as a center), but he blocks more shots and corrals more rebounds than Sacre did, and he’s also young and foreign, which means that he’ll be ready to supplant Mozgov by the time his rookie contract expires. Don’t forget, he’s only nineteen. Nineteen-year-old Euros always suck a little bit when they get to the NBA unless their name starts with “J” and ends with “okic”. Unlike a Sacre who has been proven to be a middling college player, Zubac hasn’t proven to be a middling anything. He’s the unknown. Especially since none of us dumb Americans can figure out how to watch Euro basketball without getting our computers infected by viruses from some weird streaming site where none of the words are in English. Damn it.
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