Best Four Teams! Can Zubac be selected as the All-Star in the new season?

Recently, the Clippers ushered in the new season media day, and then the Clippers GM Lawrence Frank's remarks were very interesting. When talking about Zubac, Frank said: "With the momentum of year by year, Zubac already has All-Star potential, and he is already at the level of the 'fourth team' of the best team."

Seeing Frank's words, my first reaction was: Good guy, the best team has come out.

But objectively speaking, Frank did not exaggerate, because judging from his performance last season, Zubac really has this ability.

Last season, Zubac ushered in his best season of his career. He played in a total of 80 regular season games for the Clippers, averaging 32.8 minutes per game, scoring 16.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 blocks, including fourth in the rebounding league, with a shooting percentage of 62.8%.

As a comparison, Zubac in the 2023-24 season: played 68 games, averaged 26.4 minutes per game, scored 11.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 blocks, and shot a 64.9% shooting percentage.

Before 2024, Zubac never averaged more than 30 minutes per game in a single season, but last season, he was not only reused, but his performance has also improved as the season deepens.

In the next 28 games of the All-Stars, he averaged 19.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 blocks, shooting percentage of 65.5%, and helped the Clippers achieve 19 wins and 9 losses.

Throughout the season, Zubac can be said to have brought surprises to fans again. This can also be intuitively felt from the data:

- In the first eight seasons of his career, Zubac only had 20+20 once, and scored 4 times last season. Zubac only had 20+10 times in a single season, and scored 27 times last season. Zubac was the third last game against the Rockets. Zubac scored 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game. It was the first triple-double in his career. Zubac is no longer just a pie machine. He can also hold the ball and use hooks to score, and can support the passing. Last season, the average assists per game increased by nearly twice compared to the previous year, and only 0.4 more mistakes.

On the defensive end, Zubac's defense is still not very good at the outside, but it is quite good at defending the inside. Single defense, assisted defense, and frame protection have good results. The data can also prove that Zubac averaged 18.3 shots per game last season, with a reserve requirement ratio of 3.2%.

The improvement of both offense and defense directly made Zubac a key link for the Clippers. Last season:

- When Zubac was on the court, the Clippers could score 116.5 points in a hundred rounds, and 9.4 points in a net victory of their opponents

- Zubac was not present, the Clippers could only score 106.7 points in a hundred rounds, and 3.4 points in a net loss of

Over the whole season, the Clippers had the highest positive and negative values ​​in the entire team, not Leonard (+296), not Harden (+344), nor Powell (+352), but Zubac (+514), and he was still in the off-level lead.

It should be noted that although the Clippers lost to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last year, Zubac's performance in seven games has improved compared to the regular season. He averaged 17.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and his shooting percentage reached 65.9%.

When facing Jokic, Zubac not only maintained efficient output, but also made three MVPs very uncomfortable on the defensive end. In his 258 rounds against Jokic, Jokic made a total of 32 of 72 shots, only 83 points - this is almost the top performance of the league's defense against Jokic.

Since this, you probably know why we say that it is no exaggeration to Frank's statement that Zubac is the "Fourth Team of the Best". If he can continue to improve in the new season, he might have a chance to make the All-Star and the Best Team.

Here, you might as well look at the Clippers' offseason operations:

- renew Harden and Batum

- traded with Powell to Corinth

- select center Niedhausen with 30 picks in the first round - signing Lopez, Bill, and Paul

So far, the Clippers have a rotation lineup that may be the top five in the league. Their starting lineups include Harden, Leonard, Zubac, Bill, and Collins, and the substitutes include Paul, Dunn, Batum, Jones, Lopez, Bogdan, and Needhausen.

In terms of center position, Zubac has two solid substitutes, a long-standing champion veteran, and a 22-year-old young center - a rookie may not be expected, but Daluo can definitely help Zubac share the pressure, hoping to see Zubac continue to improve, and the next goal is the All-Star.