All Ball! Podcast sitting down with Ivica Zubac (L.A. Clippers)

Rob: We are very excited to welcome the starting center of the LA Clippers. Ivica Zubac! Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us. We are extremely happy to have you. Me especially because I'm a die hard Lakers fan.

Ivica: I was too. (laughs)

Rob: Well, we'll come to that later. (laughs) First off, how are you doing? How is the off-season treating you?

Ivica: I'm good. It's been going well so far. I got some rest. Feeling good. Just started two weeks ago. Started working out again, lifting weights, you know, doing some individual workouts. It's been good so far.

Rob: The first question we always ask our guests is, how did you get started with basketball? What was your basketball journey like?

Ivica: It was kind of natural. I was a little taller than the other kids, but my cousin used to play in the NBA. (Zoran Planinic, Drafted 2003) He got drafted when I was six, so that was kind of like a little push to get me into basketball. You know, I've seen he can do it. The guy that lived next door, he can do it. I can do it, too. And that's what kind of got me into basketball. And, you know, I just took off ever since.

Rob: We saw you talking earlier to the young players at the camp. Was your own basketball experience starting out like that, showcasing your skills at a camp and having veterans talk to you?

Ivica: Uh, no, no, that's why I wanted to talk to the kids. Because I didn't have that experience and I wish I had it. And it ended up working, working out well for me. But, you know, just when you're young and you're trying to make it, you don't know what's next. You don't know what you can expect. And having someone that has been through all that stuff, I think it can be helpful for you. That first hand experience. I think it can be helpful for the young guys. So I wish I had it, but right now, I want to pay it forward.

Rob: From your point of view, what's the most important skill a young big man should have?

Ivica: It's hard to name one, but I would say rim protection. I think that's, you know, even though bigs changed their game, more shooting and spreading the floor, I think rim protection is the one thing that is going to stay in the NBA forever. And I think it's one of the most important aspects of the game. And being big, knowing how to defend the rim, having that timing and feeling at that end of the floor. I would say if you're trying to make it in the NBA, I think that's a skill that’s really important to have.

Phil: I think that's also one of the things that has the most impact because it really impacts the whole game. It's a game changer. And at the end of the day, this is the one thing that decides on winning or losing, especially when you look at the playoffs. You almost stand no chance if you have no rim protection.

Ivica: You don't even have to block the shots, you just have to change the shots. Sometimes just being big in the paint is making a guard think twice about going to the rim. So they might be like, okay, he's in the paint, I'm not going. So they kick it out. So I think just clogging up the paint, protecting the rim and being able to finish the defensive possession with a rebound. I think that's one of the biggest skills.

Rob: It's so interesting because like when I ask you to name one skill, it's immediately a defensive mindset and not an offensive thing. Not like ‘you need a little hook shot or you need a up and under or something’. It was immediately defense, not offense.

Ivica: It was when I was younger. I was thinking offense offense offense. And before the NBA, when they did all those draft breakdowns of weaknesses and strengths, defense was always a weakness for me. But when I got to the league, you know, you got to find your role. You got to be really good at something. And that was my role. I kind of focused on defense and it's been going well for me.

Rob: Speaking of coming into the league, I mentioned I'm a huge Laker fan and as a Lakers fan, you appeared on my radar when you were drafted as a 19 year old in the second round, 2016. And I was really rooting for you because 2nd round picks don't always make the roster. I hoped you as a Balkan player could be the second coming of Vlade Divac who was also drafted by the Lakers. I mean, Vlade, he was one of the first European big men that showed the NBA that European big men have like a different skill set and they can really play. I love Nikola Jokic but before Nikola there was Vlade and there was Arvydas Sabonis so let's not forget that.

Ivica: So those are the guys that first came in. They showed the way for the Europeans, they showed that we can belong at the highest stage. So those were big inspirations.

Rob: Yes. So my first chance to see you play was in the Summer League 2016, and I immediately, immediately said, This kid is playing the game the right way because you worked so hard and you had fun playing, you could really see it.

Ivica: It was so much fun! Summer league.

Rob: I was like, okay, give this kid a contract. What do you remember about the summer league experience?

Ivica: It was a lot of fun for me. That was my first NBA experience. You know, I'd never been to the States before. I have never seen an NBA game or anything. So being drafted and like, I don't know, two weeks after that, going and playing summer league, it was crazy. And, you know, just a month before that, I played with Mega Leks in Serbia. So it's totally different. But it was fun, a lot of learning, a lot of adjusting to the game because the game was moving so fast for me and guys were way more athletic over there. So it was a big change for me. A lot of learning experience. You know, I didn't really have time to take it all in, that I'm okay, I'm here. Everything was happening so quickly.

Rob: By the way, I still remember your first interviews in the summer league hallways. And as I said, you were so young and so excited. And I remember your English was quite good, but nothing compared to what it is now. It’s crazy.

Ivica: I mean, seven years in LA and being around the guys, being around Americans every single day for hours and hours, you learn a lot of new stuff because in schools over here we learn different kinds of English like, you know, British almost like. Over there it's a lot of slang and stuff and different accents.

Rob: Was the language barrier an issue for you early in your career?

Ivica: Yeah, because a lot of coverages had different names but they all knew them. All the young guys coming from the States, they knew all that terminology and I didn't. And it took me a while to understand all that. And then when you understand it, when you get on the court, everything happens so quick. You got to be able to communicate something real quick when you see it. And that was a little issue for me in the beginning. But with time, with experience, you know, the game slows down for you, so it gets easier and easier.

Rob: Please tell us about the Lakers rookie experience. Was there a lot of rookie hazing going on like, “Yo Rook, carry this bag! Yo Rook, bring me 12 cheeseburgers!”

Ivica: They asked me to carry their bags around, to buy some snacks on the road for them when they wanted to. But it was not too crazy because after I went to the Clippers, you know, I was with Lou Williams and Pat Beverley and they were making rookies do a lot of stuff. And I was like, I had it easy. I was thinking I had it easy with the Lakers because it was a young team, so there were not a lot of veterans on that team. And I think I had a pretty easy me and Brandon Ingram.

Phil: But what was a prime example for the hard stuff that the Clippers rookies then had to do? I'm just curious.

Ivica: The hard stuff was when we were in the bubble. You know we could order food from outside of the bubble but it would come to one spot and the guys had to walk for like 20 minutes to go get the food and bring it back. And then there was one situation. Terance Mann brought the food. I think it was to Joakim Noah and he brought the food upstairs. He finally came back after walking 20 minutes in one direction, 20 in the other and Joakim's like, this is cold. He was like, what do you want me to do about it? He was like, go heat it up, find a microwave. So this dude had to find a microwave and heat it up for him. 

And they have a snack bag, which you bring on the road to snack at the beginning of the season. You got to ask every team member what they want in their snack bag, like which snacks, candy, whatever. And it’s always on the road. It’s got to be full of those candies and on the road there's cards inside, iPhone chargers, stuff like that, stuff that you might need on the road. And in the middle of the night, someone calls you 3 a.m., 4 a.m. you got to go and do it. And if you don't have it, you got to go find a store and buy it. So it can be a lot. You gotta do it. There's no choice.

Rob: Your Lakers career came to an end when you were traded in 2019 to the Clippers for Mike Muscala. An absolute travesty in my book. Like, I absolutely hate that trade. And I was so mad. How was it for you? I mean, you didn't have to move, I guess. So that's good.

Ivica: It was. It was pretty easy. We were in Boston and it was a game day. We went through a walkthrough in the morning and I was supposed to start. That was the trade deadline day. And the deadline was I think 2:00 pm or something like that. We went through a shootaround. I didn't know anything. We came back to the hotel and normally in the NBA on around that trade deadline day, everyone's so stressed out, you never know if you might get traded. Guys are always talking about stuff. But you know, I didn't really know anything was going to happen. And just before I took my pre-game nap, my phone rang. It was Rob Pelinka and you know I already knew I was getting traded. It was like 20 minutes before the trade deadline and they called me. They were like, you know, thank you for everything. We're trading you. I say, Where? And they said Clippers. And they said, you know, you're going to start there. You're going to get a lot of minutes. And that was it. And after that, the Clippers called me. It was first Doc Rivers, Lawrence Frank, Steve Ballmer, Jerry West. They were all excited. They were all happy. And, you know, I looked up a schedule and they were coming to Boston the next day. So I actually stayed in Boston. And in two days I played my first game with the Clippers. We went back home, I stayed in the same house. It was pretty easy. And like situation wise, it was much better fit for me. You know, where I got to start from day one, and I was getting a lot more minutes, so it worked out well for me.

Rob: But as a Laker, you no doubt experienced that little friction between the two teams. How was it to play for the crosstown rivals, like from one day to the other?

Ivica: It was crazy coming to the Staples Center for the first time as a Clipper playing a home game. And you see, I was there for two and a half years. And with the Lakers the arena was purple, yellow, and just seeing everything in Clippers colors, it was weird for me. Just walking down the hallway, passing the Laker locker room, going into the Clippers locker room. It was just weird at first. But with time you get used to it. But it's fun playing against the Lakers. Even when I was with the Lakers, it was always fun playing against the Clippers.

Rob: The pandemic hit right after that, and all of a sudden there were no games, no practices, and the workouts were on a Zoom call.

Ivica: Yes. Yes.

Rob: So with everyone being at home with the equipment and following the instructions of the trainer? How did that work?

Ivica: Yeah. We had a decent amount of equipment sent to everyone. I don't know how the other teams did, but what we did is our staff sent us a bunch of, like, you know, weights, bands, bikes that we can use and they would put us in groups. Bigs, wings, guards. So I was in a group with JaMychal Green and every day we would get on a call with our strength coach on a zoom. They sent us a little stand for our iPad. So they have a clear view of everything and you know you're on a zoom. They're telling you what to do and you're in your backyard lifting weights, you know, doing conditioning on a bike. It was funny. But I think, you know, we had so much time. We worked out every day. The guys were in pretty good shape and were ready for the bubble.

Rob: Was it hard to stay sharp mentally during that time and fill that basketball void?

Ivica: Yeah. You know, you're in a house your whole day. Like you can't go anywhere. There's not much to do. And you just miss the game. You can't even turn on the TV to watch the game. There's nothing on TV. There's no sports or anything. So it was definitely a different experience than, you know, it was not normal.

Rob: And then everyone came back, the league resumed but there were no people in the arena. So it was like dead quiet. And you could hear probably the opponent's coach and you could hear them talking amongst each other like stuff that usually gets drowned out by the noise.

Ivica: You can hear everything. It was so crazy. Like we had cardboard cutouts of people in the stands. It was just so weird and quiet. And it was I hope it never goes back to that.

Phil: Yeah, that was one of the weirdest things when it returned and then they were trying to figure out ways to get fans involved, but they couldn't be in the gym…

Ivica: You know in the bubble they had like video screens around the arena and they would have fans on the zoom. Like you could see their faces but they were huge and it was just so weird, man. The bubble was so weird.

Rob: Some teams they had a promo like you could buy your own cardboard thing with your face and your body, and then the cardboard would “sit” in first row. They put your cardboard there but you had to pay for it. 

Ivica: Crazy things.

Rob: Yeah. When things got going again, you really established yourself as an NBA starter. And today you are one of the best young centers in the league. Yet the Clippers don't run any plays for you. Do you sometimes think, okay, I can do this right now, but I could do so much more if I had plays run for me?

Ivica: Yeah. This year, they actually ran some plays for me, but I knew how it works. I knew coming in, second round pick, fighting for my spot. I knew there was not – especially on a team with Kawhi and PG – going to be a place offensively for me. And I tried to affect the game in a different way. But I always knew what I can do and I still kept working on my game and at some point they're going to go to me, they're going to run something for me. And this year they ran plays for me. And I think it worked really well. I think I proved to them, I can do that part. I can play that role, too, and hopefully we can keep it going.

Rob: I mean, speaking of what you can do, early last season, you dropped a massive double double like 31 points and 29 rebounds. And I mean, correct me, Phil, if this is wrong, but usually, with double doubles, we begin to notice when it's 15 rebounds plus. We don't notice the 12 rebounds or 13. 29 is like a massive earthquake. I mean.

Rob: We can see you're still proud of this game, obviously.

Ivica: Yeah, but at that moment I was mad because I fouled out with 29 rebounds, I wanted to get 30.

Rob: Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask. Did you track the stat line? Did you know you had 29?

Ivica: Yeah, I think the whole arena knew it because it was so, so hyped in there. Everyone was going crazy. Our players on the bench, coaches, everyone was. And I just wanted to get that 30th. And I think the foul was not a foul. That was not a good call.

Phil: The sixth foul. Still bitter.

Ivica: Oh for sure. And I went up! The dude missed. I would have grabbed the 30th rebound and they called a foul and I was mad and you know I was on the bench. Everyone was going crazy, but I was still mad about it. It took me a day or two to realize, okay, 29 is not bad.

Phil: Not bad at all.

Ivica: No. 29 is still good. And you know, I can't believe I did that. I have the game ball that's engraved with stats and date and all that. Growing up watching Kevin Love getting those huge rebounding numbers and stuff like that, I always thought, how is that possible? But you know, there's a day that everything goes your way, every rebound falls your way sometimes, sometimes rebounds just go the opposite way. You can grab five. But that day everything was coming my way. And it was special.

Rob: We just talked about your defensive mindset. Who the hardest player to defend in the post?

Ivica: Jokic. He got so much stuff, so many moves, so many counters. When you defend him, you close one way, he got a counter for the other one. Even when you play perfect defense, he takes a tough shot and he still makes it. And when you guard him, they put you through different stuff. He’s going to grab a rebound, push the ball. They're going to set picks for him when he's handling the ball, which, you know, when you're guarding the other big guys, you're never in that position. So it's hard. As big men, we're not used to being in pick and roll as a ball defender. So it's a totally different experience from guarding anyone else.

Rob: You are a hard worker and you're always trying to improve your game but what are the areas you still want to improve?

Ivica: I think I can get better with ball handling. That's something, you know, they're asking bigs to do more and more passing from the elbow and the post. I think I can be better than that. With that, my free throws kind of went down last couple of years. I'm still working on that to get a percentage up my body just kind of being stronger and more athletic and mobile so I can be better guarding those switches out on the perimeter. There's a long list. You know, you're never happy with yourself, you can always be better. So there's a lot of stuff that I'm trying to improve. And, you know, I don't think I'll ever be happy with where I'm at.

Phil: But that's the right attitude, right?

Ivica: Yeah, I think so. You should never get satisfied because there's always room to improve. And this year I felt like I felt that I'm close to, you know, getting to that level even more to being at the top. I don't know how many centers there are at the top, but I felt like I could be there and there's a lot of motivation to get there.

Rob: Let's do some quick fire questions. You ready? We are in Italy. So pizza or pasta?

Ivica: Pasta.

Rob: Pineapple on a pizza? Yes or no? 

Ivica: No. 

Rob: Dunk or block.

Ivica: Block.

Rob: Kobe or LeBron. 

Ivica: Kobe. 

Rob: Superman or Batman.

Ivica: Batman.

Rob: Split or Zagreb.

Ivica: Zagreb.

Rob: Beach or pool.

Ivica: Beach.

Rob: Fruit or vegetables.

Ivica: Fruit. 

Rob: Text or call? 

Ivica: Text. 

Rob: Comedy or horror.

Ivica: Horror.

Rob: And if you had to choose: NBA championship for you or FIFA World Cup championship for Croatia.

Ivica: (laughs) I hate that question! Uh, it's hard. I feel like whatever I pick, it's. It's wrong. You know, Croatia never won a world championship, so that would be amazing. But at the same time, winning an NBA championship, you know, in the best league in the world, it's incredible. So, it's… I don't know. I'm not going to pick one.

Rob: All right. Last question. At the All Ball! Podcast, we always end with a top five, so please give us your All-Time Starting Five of just Ex-Yugoslavia players. The All-Yugo First Team.

Ivica: I'll say Luka at the 1. Drazen at the 2. Peja Stojakovic maybe at the 3. Now it gets hard. I'll say Kukoc 4. Jokic 5.

Rob: Would you bring yourself off the bench?

Ivica: I mean I would start myself (laughs) but let's be honest… you know, when I look at it as a coach I think I would start Jokic. But there's a lot of good big men from that area so if I'm forgetting someone I'm sorry, but I think from what I can think of right now, that would be my starting five, yeah.

Rob: So we have come to the end of this episode. All that's left for us is to tell you, Thank you so much. This was a lot of fun and best of luck for the upcoming season. Keep working hard and if you can, please come back to the Lakers.

Phil: And I have to say, fingers crossed for the 30/30 game because, I mean, you've been so close, that’d be something.

Ivica: I know I know! Hopefully, hopefully it'll happen one day. Thank you guys for having me!

Rob/Phil: Thank you. Thank you.