Will the Lakers Regret Trading Promising Center Ivica Zubac?

M2K · Star Player Joined: 20 Feb 2011 Posts: 2432

Like the All Star DLO trade... deal with it... trading Zubac now was stupid.

There was no emergency and... giving Zubac more playing time, as he deserved, may have driven up his value this summer.

Magic is bricking on alot of shots.
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lakerlori · Sixth Man Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 56

They should regret trading him. He was their BEST center & did have some positive skills.

r0663664 · Starting Rotation Joined: 16 Jun 2017 Posts: 224

There is a couple of issues here. I don't think it is entirely Magic's fault. Take a close look at Luke. Luke has Zubac for 3 years, how much has Zubac improve under Luke. Probably no improvement. Magic probably ask Luke on how he felt about Zubac and if he has any use of him. The answer is probably "no difference" therefore Magic traded away Zubac. I think Luke needs to be fire ASAP.

LaxT · Star Player Joined: 23 Sep 2002 Posts: 2536

The two deadline trade are made because the FO is desperate; they are desperate because their strategy last summer was flawed. For example, play-makers and no shooter. Beasley over Lopez. That's why the team struggled earlier this season when McGee was the only center, and why they need to sacrifice Zubac when they want a stretch big.

12M for KCP instead of Randle is another questionable if not indefensible signing. Would LBJ have signed elsewhere if KCP did not get overpaid? I don't think so. They already had KCP for a season and knew he is not a shooter. Now they need to trade two picks for Bullock who may play less than 30 games for the Lakers.

They did draft two shooter and yet find rookies useless when a playoff push is needed. Surprise!? So they turned to veteran rentals like Muscala and Bullock. May I say short-sighted?

This FO is showing they make mistakes just like every other FOs. They will need "homeruns" this summer to cover those mistakes. It's not controllable by the Lakers though. It's controlled by the free agents and the Pelicans.

hydrohead · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 4:46 am Post subject:

yes. zu will be that undervalued center most of his career because he doesn’t have those elite physical skils, but will find himself on on winning franchises because he does all the right things as a center with a uncanny soft touch.

foshowtime · Star Player Joined: 08 Nov 2012 Posts: 4448

PAULO BRASIL · Sixth Man Joined: 06 Feb 2019 Posts: 69

WORST TRADE , MO WAG COULD GIVE WHATEVER THEY EXPECT MUSCALA
ZUBA WAS THE BESTE LAKER BIG, CHANDLER IS BREAKING DOWN, JAVELE IS NO THE SAME OF THE BEGENNING OF THE SEASON

LakerLanny · Retired Number Joined: 24 Oct 2001 Posts: 47580

The trade makes no sense from a player to player perspective, but I am assuming (hoping) it is part of a bigger plan.
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Dr. Funkbot · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:12 am Post subject:

The team's problems were caused by the injuries that we sustained. We were doing great before Lebron go hurt. Not sure why the team went out and got a bunch of shooters, when that was not the issue. The issue was health, or a lack there of.

Reggie is fine, not a bad move cause the kid plays D.

The zu move was bad because now were are back to being thin at center- literally. Zu was our best post defender, he actually had some size. Tyson and McGee are thin stick people. And he was only 21 and showing flashes.
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hydrohead · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:16 am Post subject:

non-player zealot · Franchise Player Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 21365

Sina · Star Player Joined: 12 Jul 2015 Posts: 1801

Lakers have no room to keep all young players. They have no playing for the development of all young players either. In short, we have to make a choice between develop young players or winning now.

Before the trades, Lakers have only 6 veterans (McGee, Chandler, Beasley, Stephenson, KCP and Rando) beside LeBron. It’s quite obvious that we need more mature players. In my opinions, we could keep 2 out of Ingram, Ball and Kuzma. The other young players are all tradable. The best scenario is we add a mature scorer like PG or Irving. It may happen this summer.

I think we gave too much playing time to develop too many young players. We should only focus on a few with star potential and we want/can keep them finally. Love Zu but he isn’t that kind of player and his contract will be expired this summer.

Mr. EiGhTy-OnE · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:41 pm Post subject:

Why didnt we just cut Beas?
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kobe8One · Starting Rotation Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 633

Zu was playing very well with LBJ and we should keep him for the future. If you really want to trade him at least get some value... Muscala was a throw in.

Shaber · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:36 pm Post subject:

It is not just trading Zu at a moment when we needed his presence.
It is about not getting decent value back.
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

waterman40 · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 1:25 am Post subject:

I always liked Zu, and defended him in his subject post. What I don't understand was trading him to get rid of Beasley, when we simply could have waived Beasley like the Clippers did. If we had to do it that way, we should have traded Wagner, who wasn't ready yet to play.
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yinoma2001 · Retired Number Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 119487

I'm still puzzled with this.

I thought Zub could be a cost controlled center for our team if we expend our cap space on a max FA this summer.
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Sina · Star Player Joined: 12 Jul 2015 Posts: 1801

[quote="Shaber"]It is not just trading Zu at a moment when we needed his presence.
It is about not getting decent value back.[/quote]

Agreed we could more back like picks

Bballguru5000 · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 6:59 am Post subject:

Regret, yes. It was a confusing, questionable trade.

HAL 9000 · Sixth Man Joined: 12 Oct 2017 Posts: 53

DLO, RANDLE now Zu. The Laker scouts must be infuriated with Magic. I wouldn't blame them. The level of gutting the promising young pieces is beyond incompetent at this point. Not one of those players will ever sign back with the Lakers the way they were exiled and I wouldn't blame them. All those moves and nothing to show for it.

The Lakers are now weak at the center spot and have insured themselves of missing the playoffs, even with the aging greatest of all time.

One step forward three steps back. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Thank god the Pelicans saved Magic and the front office from themselves.

lakerfanaticPT · Star Player Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 1572

Zu assets: young and promising
cheap with some inside presence
meshed well with other youngsters and Lebron
Zu deficiencies: lost during games at times
was not always in shape

Muscala assets: fair 3 point shooter
Muscala deficiencies: not an inside presence
not a rebounder
disappears during games
gone in the summer

I would say 99.9% of the posters on this board would NOT have done this trade, so how could our FO do it. Something really stinks around here!!

laker4life · Star Player Joined: 26 Nov 2001 Posts: 7317

i am surprised by this trade.

Even Doc Rivers said that he was shocked that he was available. Doc says you put that guy in and you get a potential double double. He is an asset.

Someone needs to confront the FO on their stupid moves.

giordan0 · Star Player Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Posts: 1015

D'Lo, Randle now Zubac.

Little patience nor faith in the youth.

LakersForever123 · Star Player Joined: 07 Oct 2012 Posts: 2261

Lakers#1Team · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 4:31 pm Post subject:

According to a podcast today, Brad Turner said a small part of the reason for trading Zubac was because McGee was upset with his playing time. Turner starts talking about trading ZU around the 50 minute mark:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-fna-27253319/episode/214-fna-brad-turner-30563518/

So, Turner makes the following points:
1. The Lakers were not able to afford ZU this summer
2. They wanted Beasley gone partly because of the locker room incident (the biggest key to the trade according to Brad)
3. If they wanted salary cap space this summer they would have to let ZU go even though they really like him (basically explaining his first point)
4. McGee felt frustrated because he wasn't playing as much, and about not starting (a small part of the trading of ZU according to Brad)

I can see the logic in points 1, 2, and 3. But if the FO traded ZU based partly on listening to McGee (like he's Bron or something) then that's just nuts.