LA CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2022

Marcus Morris

Ivica Zubac

Press Conference

Q. Just want to know how the off-season went for you and what you can take into the season.

MARCUS MORRIS: Probably one of the longest off-seasons I've had in my career honestly. I think it really, really helped me. I feel like I had some time to think and got my body a rest. I feel good.

IVICA ZUBAC: I mean, I don't feel like I stopped since last season. Played a lot of games this summer. I think it's good for me, good for me to prepare myself to get into good shape for training camp.

EuroBasket was a great experience, a different kind of game, and looking forward to the season. That's it.

Q. I just want to ask you guys, what's something that you guys are going to focus on this season as a team?

MARCUS MORRIS: Winning a championship. I guess there's not really too much to say. We've all been in the NBA for a while. We all are familiar with each other. Our new additions is going to help us. I think that's about it.

IVICA ZUBAC: Yeah, whatever Marcus said. I think we know each other quite well now, what we are good at, what we are missing, and we've got some new guys, and hopefully we just stay healthy. I think that's the biggest thing.

Q. Marcus, entering year 12, what do you work on this off-season?

MARCUS MORRIS: I was chasing my sons around, tried to get out of town, worked on my flexibility, stayed in shape, worked on my knee a lot. This is the best I've felt in a long time. I'm just excited. I'm going to be the best three-point shooter in the league this year, one of the best leaders, and just excited to help the team.

Q. Chasing kids is the agility part of that?

MARCUS MORRIS: Yeah, I've got a four-year old and a two year old. They're active, very active, so I was up early. That's how I started my workout every morning, so that was pretty cool for me.

Q. How are you feeling after you maybe tweaked something, and do you anticipate being ready for opening night?

IVICA ZUBAC: Yeah, I feel good. I feel like I'm in good shape. I rolled my ankle a little bit, but everything feels good now. I'll for sure be ready for opening night. I should be ready for tomorrow.

I think there's not going to be any problems for me.

Q. For Zub, your experience at EuroBasket, how do you feel that that experience can help you as you get ready into this season because I believe it was the first time you played EuroBasket if I'm not mistaken. How do you feel like that experience will help translate over to this year?

IVICA ZUBAC: I mean, it's just like playing with the guys and playing for the coach that see the game a little differently than over here. The game is completely different. It's a lot harder to play like where there's no spacing, everyone packs the paint.

I don't know, there's not much in game that I can take from there because it's such a different game, but I think just kind of being one of the main guys on the team, I think that helped me a little bit with my confidence and going into this season.

Q. Kawhi is coming back this year; how excited are you to play with him again? What are you expecting that to be like? Reggie was saying he's become more of a vocal leader. Is that something you guys have witnessed, as well?

MARCUS MORRIS: K coming back is going to be special for the Clippers, and also PG. We haven't talked enough about what P has done in the summer. He dealt with a lot of injuries last year, and I'm excited to have them both back. I think it's going to be a special year for us. I know they're excited. I know K is ready to go and P is ready to go, and adding John.

The Reggie thing, I'm going to let Zub answer that.

IVICA ZUBAC: Did Reggie say that about himself or Kawhi? I didn't understand that.

Q. About Kawhi.

IVICA ZUBAC: Yeah, I haven't been here a lot this summer. I was overseas, so I don't know what they had going on over here, but we'll see. Ask me in a week or two.

Q. Any thoughts on Kansas football?

MARCUS MORRIS: Hey, hey, 4-0, man. We're going. They're doing a great job over there. I think it started with us just winning a championship in basketball, and it just carried over. You know how that goes. It's that winning effect.

Q. Kawhi mentioned earlier that he's excited to be done with rehab for the most part, be back on the court. I'm curious you guys having been around him since that first year together, what you've seen the last 15 months, during that rehab process, watching him go through that. Anything stand out to you about what he was like going through that?

MARCUS MORRIS: I think the first part is just you could tell how bad he wanted to get back out there and wanted to play and just be around the fellas and just getting that feeling back. I think going from an injury like that and having took so much time off, like you said, 15 months, I think as a player that's tough.

I think guys was able to keep him in and keep him feeling like he was a part of it, and he came back, and he's looking great. His body is looking great. I'm excited to see what he does.

Q. Last season Luke was the No. 3 three-point shooter. You mentioned you wanted to do it this season, Marcus. Is there a little bit of competition between you guys?

MARCUS MORRIS: There's no competition. Luke is a great shooter, though. He's a tremendous shooter. He can be No. 2. I'll take No. 1. Or we can make sure we're even up and we both can be No. 1. I'm not worried about that.

IVICA ZUBAC: Ty Lue is right over there, so you have a chance to ask him. It's out of my hands.

Q. Zu, how do you feel about the wall connection, the John Wall connection with you and the pick-and-roll. Do you think that's going to give you and the team a different dynamic with his speed and his burst and be able to get you some open shots?

IVICA ZUBAC: Yeah, I think he's been doing that with big guys for his whole career, and he's really great at it. I'm looking forward to the training camp at the beginning of the season to just -- with him just to have someone that I can play --

MARCUS MORRIS: I'll speak for him. Hell yeah it's going to be a great connection. I know both players. John is amazing. He's a great passer. Zub is one of the best big finishers we've got in the NBA, so I think it's a match made in heaven.

Q. Zub, can you talk to us about your off-season? What match-ups are you looking forward to the most in this upcoming season?

IVICA ZUBAC: After the season I took a little time off and I was back with the national team -- had a camp, had some qualifying games for the World Cup, and then after that I came back to -- I went to PG's wedding and then went back to LA for about two weeks to work out and do a little mini camp with the guys and went back to Europe, joined the national team for a weekend and did a EuroBasket, got a few days of rest after that and came back over here. That's pretty much it.

MARCUS MORRIS: I didn't do that much. I stayed in Florida for a while. Like I said, I chased my kids around and just worked out. That was about it.

Q. For both of you guys, with you being the only big men on the roster, how important is it for you to stay out of foul trouble? And Marcus, when he does get in foul trouble, how comfortable are you sliding into the 5 to go against some of these bigs? You know there's some bigs in the west.

IVICA ZUBAC: I think Marcus can do it for sure, but I'm excited. Whatever it takes, I'll do it. You know, it's just -- I have to stay out of foul trouble, but I think after six or seven years in the league, I'm experienced now, I know what the refs are looking at, and I've got to know my match-ups well, what they like to do.

I think it's going to be big for me to stay on the floor, but in case I'm not, I'm comfortable with both Nico and RoCo getting some minutes at the 5.

MARCUS MORRIS: I think we're just going to be a tough team to defend, tough team to figure out, sliding me and Nico or RoCo to the 5. It's just unorthodox. I'm excited.

Offensively I don't see how you match up with that, but it's going to be exciting to see.

Q. Marcus, you said you dropped some weight. What weight are you at right now, and how do you feel like that's going to impact your play on the court?

MARCUS MORRIS: Just trying to be a little quicker. I'm getting a little older. I dropped about 10 pounds before training camp. I actually didn't do the last two years of training camp because I had knee issues and I wanted to just try something different, so just cut down on my weight, and my knee just started feeling better, so trying to stay with it, and like I said, I want to get some dunks this year. I don't think I had any last year. That's one of my goals, to get some dunks.

Q. Reggie spoke about Ty Lue's calm demeanor. Obviously you guys have multiple rosters multiple nights last year. What is it about Ty Lue's demeanor and the way he coaches that allows him to get the best out of everyone on the team?

MARCUS MORRIS: I think it's more just his confidence. He's been around for a while and guys respect him. He commands respect from the room. He demands you listen to what he's saying. There's really no pressure with him. He puts the plays up there and he gives us the understanding of how he is as a coach, as a man, and we've all built good relationships with him outside of basketball. I think that's major, just having a relationship with your players and things like that.

Ty Lue is Ty Lue, man, swag, confidence and calm. It makes it easy for the players to understand him and play for him.