My main joy in life right now is using Stathead (basketball-reference’s new paid analytical tool) to look up cool NBA stats and then fill my video descriptions with summaries of those stats. By looking up stats that the average NBA fan no longer has any access to, and then rubbing those stats in the collective face of those NBA fans, I cement my position of power over them. I didn’t used to think I was a power-hungry tyrant, but it turns out that I always was, I just never was in a position to have any power, so those tendencies never manifested. I’m telling you right now, my power-hungry tendencies are getting manifested to HECK right now. It feels great.
The stat I looked up this time around was for every player who started at least 60 games this season. That gives me a rough list of players who were full-time starters, although it’s a bit noisy since the non-Bubb teams played significantly fewer games than the Bubb teams. Anyway, Ivica “Zuber Spreader” Zubac started 70 games, but had the second-lowest minutes per game of any player on that list, at 18.4. His analogue on the Lakers, JaVale McGee, was the only one lower at 16.6 MPG. Zubac and McGee were the only two who were below 20 MPG.
This would be a good time to tie that stat into some kind of deeper narrative which explores Zubac’s role on the Clippers, but that’s not where I derive my sense of power from. My power comes from paying real American dollars for an advanced NBA stats service, not from making intelligent commentary based on those stats. So my urge for ever-larger amounts of power is sated whether or not I juxtapose Zubac’s playing style with the more dynamic and energetic, but in some ways just as limited from a “scoring versatility” perspective, Montrezl Harrell.
Remember, I pay for Stathead, so that makes me better than you. That’s the main takeaway here.