OFFICIAL: Clippers Acquire Ivica Zubac & Michael Beasley for Mike Muscala

[mkwest]

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[QRich3]

lol I'm loving what we're doing in this deadline and at the same time it makes no sense

We robbed the Lakers of a decent prospect though

[mkwest]

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[MartinToVaught]

Thanks for the free gift, Magic! Laker fans must be furious about dumping Zubac for nothing just so they can sign Melo.

[TrueLAfan]

Wow. Just ... wow. Amazing deal.

I don't even know what to say. Muscala is pretty much a waste of space. He shoots threes but doesn't score very much (dude barely averages a point every three minutes). For a non defending, non rebounding frontcourt guy, you need to shoot from distance and score a lot. Muscala does one but not the other...and nothing else. Like I said, he's a waste of space.

Zubac is not only not a waste of space, he's a (very) young, promising prospect. He's still 21--he's younger than Jerome Robinson. He may never be a starter. But there will always be a place in the NBA for tall guys that can rebound and rim protect--especially if they're fluid enough to move around out there. Love Boban; Boban wasn't fluid. Zubac is. I'll say something that kind of freaks me out; if we give Gortat, Boban, and Mike Scott's time to JaMychal Green, Ivica Zubac and Johnathan Motley, I think we improve in the frontcourt.

Beasley is Beasley. He's not a smart player. But he's a somewhat effective player if used correctly and he's a SF/PF--and we need some minutes there with Tobias gone. He's a rental. [I wrote that before finding out he was waived ... not a huge loss IMO.] Beasley for Muscala alone would have been a net win for us. Adding Zubac in? Just ... wow.

[madmaxmedia]

Zubac's qualifying offer for next year is $1.9M I guess, and we cleared up $2M by trading Bradley. So there's a decent chance we keep him beyond this year if he plays well. I mean we literally got him for nothing!

What West is good at is acquiring options, not just assets. All of these moves give us more and more flexibility and choices going forward, it's not some all-in attempt to get a singular target like AD, etc.

[donemilio21]

no draft picks involved ??

[Vae Victus]

Logo just clapped Maginka's ass

"Hey Jeannie this is what you get for empowering those clowns and not hiring me on to save the Lakers"

Seriously, if the Logo was the Laker's advisor, i think theyd have AD all cinched up AND without trading the entire farm to do it.

The gulf in FO quality is just staggering.

Seriously WTF were the Lakers thinking?!? I mean MUSCALA?!? If it was for JaMychal Green, id be like... ok yea add more shooters who can do more than shoot. Muscala is just a shooter and an inconsistent one at that.

[donemilio21]

is Zubac an RFA at the end of the season?

[MartinToVaught]

Everything I've heard about Muscala reminds me of Byron Mullens: a "stretch big" in theory who couldn't actually shoot. Magic is just clueless about the modern NBA.

[Laker_Kid]

hope you guys enjoy Zubac as much as we did! West is still beasting

[illastrate]

Logo and the front office has done an amazing job hoarding assets and even saving a bit of cash from dumping Bradley. The Doc regime would've never been this innovative. Zubac could be really good.

[madmaxmedia]

is Zubac an RFA at the end of the season?

Yes. The Clippers can extend him a $1.93MM qualifying offer this summer to make him a restricted free agent.

I wonder what are the chances someone will sign him to an offer sheet, for $2M he definitely seems worth keeping around but I guess we'll see with the cap space and all.

[cpower]

highway robbery if you ask me... congrats Clipper fans, we trust in Logo and you should too!

[Dynamix]

Breaking: Jerry West has been taken into custody by the LAPD.

[Ranma]

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[madmaxmedia]

Thanks for all the tweets Ranma! Keep it up!

[madmaxmedia]

I'm not going to overstate Zubac's ability right now because he plays like a youngster and will have both really good games and really bad games. But it seems almost certain that in a few years he will be a quality NBA starting center on a night-to-night basis- he's only 21 now, imagine who he'll be during his ~26-32 prime years. I think experience and strength will help make him a better defender, and he's already pretty comfortable offensively. He also seems to play hard and enjoys playing basketball (not true of all bigs.) It might be possible for him to gradually add stretch-5 skills as he's already an excellent FT shooter.

Given that no team is going to have all-stars at 5 positions, I would love to lock him up as our starting center going forward (but heavy platooning with Montrezl for the next couple of years.) I could see the Clippers trying to secure him to a reasonable ~4 year deal, if he doesn't draw too much interest as a RFA.

[illastrate]

We've been waiting all season to have a rim protecting and productive starting center. Zubac is that guy. He's got a really cheap cap hold, so I hope it works out for the Clips this offseason.

[Vae Victus]

Every game that Zubac plays, the dumber Maginka looks.

Maginka already look like the clown jesters in the King's court, so im truly amazed at how more pathetic the entire LAL FO can look as more time goes on.