2015 Nba Draft Discussion: Russell, Nance Jr., Brown

Discussion in 'Lakers Discussion' started by LaVarBallsDad, Oct 14, 2014.

  1. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    He hasn't played competitive ball for like 8 months or something that's why he's out of shape.
     
  2. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    Still if the heart's OK, should have been busting it a little more than being "out of shape", you'd think, unless the heart thing took like a whole month from him just recently and only started again last week. Get your conditioning up to at least, "it's coming but not quite there yet". What do I know?
     
  3. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    Well we'll find out on Friday how out of shape he is. I think he'll look alright. I just don't think he'll be able to run the floor well in Summer League. If Byron does anything for these kids, he'll get 'em in shape.
     
  4. lakerfan2

    lakerfan2 - Lakers All Star -

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    I think we'll get maybe 15-20 minutes out of him and Tarik playing most of the minutes at Center. Which is fine because he's going to run up and down the court on Jah all day.
     
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  5. KB24

    KB24 Administrator Staff Member

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    Honestly, Upshaw has no excuse to be out of shape. He has been free since February to work out and get his arse into shape...

    after all there is a reason why this guy failed to get drafted.
     
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  6. KareemtheGreat33

    KareemtheGreat33 - Lakers MVP -

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    Because he is a druggie
     
  7. trodgers

    trodgers Administrator Staff Member

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    We also shouldn't have preseason. These guys should be in shape. Just sprint into the season at full speed and watch the injuries pile up.
     
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  8. Doc Brown

    Doc Brown - Lakers Starter -

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    Randle came into summer league last year completely out of shape. Now look at him. If he spent that time getting his life back in order and finding peace within himself, like he said he's been doing, who are we to judge?

    His problems go further than basketball shape, more power to him for handling his REAL problem.
     
  9. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    Dwight...DeAndre...Upshaw

    All defensive beasts
    All mentally weak

    Do not want.
     
  10. KareemtheGreat33

    KareemtheGreat33 - Lakers MVP -

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    Hibbert:oops:
     
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  11. Savory Griddles

    Savory Griddles Moderator Staff Member

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    I mean, you can run and do sprints and such as much as you want. game shape is COMPLETELY different. Having played soccer my entire life, I know that I could be running 6-7 miles a day for months, step out on a soccer field and be dead in 10 minutes. There is only one way to get in game shape and that's to play in full games.

    Add to this that he was probably spending a lot of time in counseling, etc. getting his life together...which is more important than basketball. Let's be honest here.
     
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  12. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I think the game shape is the right way of looking at this. Any athlete knows training and games are different beasts. You simply can't replicate a game, so being in "game shape" is almost impossible. You can be in pretty good shape. I think he probably is in pretty good shape, but if you haven't played a competitive game in over half a year, well you're going to struggle to get going.

    If I'm the coaching staff I tell him "look I know you've got a lot of offense to offer, but for right now all we want to see is you lock down Okafor and lock down Towns. For today that's your only mission. Moving forward we'll get your offense flowing too, but RIGHT NOW I don't want those two to score a single basket. Now go to work."

    Focus all his attention on that end because that's where he'll make his money as a pro. If he can do that and knock down a little jump shot, I think we're in business. He probably doesn't get the start tomorrow anyway. I'd give the start to Black. Then when Julius takes Saturday off, bring in Upshaw and start Nance or something at PF.
     
  13. CaCHooKa Man

    CaCHooKa Man Administrator: Media Staff Member

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  14. sirronstuff

    sirronstuff - Lakers Legend -

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    who is the pigment challenged dude on the right, and the two in the front? Which one is the strength coach? Kind of assuming the one front and center....
     
  15. kdctran

    kdctran - Rookie -

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  16. CaCHooKa Man

    CaCHooKa Man Administrator: Media Staff Member

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    guy on the right is the strength and conditioning coach and the guy in the middle is the video coordinator
     
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  17. wallangong

    wallangong - Lakers 6th Man -

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    Why are we comparing an undrafted rookie to 2 of the highest paid centers in the league? I hate Dwight but I'd take him for the minimum still. Apples to oranges
     
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  18. sirronstuff

    sirronstuff - Lakers Legend -

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    Anytime you can get a champion for the minimum, you jump on that.
     
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  19. FreeThePeople

    FreeThePeople - Rookie -

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    it seems like half of your posts have something to do with skin color.
     
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  20. sirronstuff

    sirronstuff - Lakers Legend -

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    The source of the original sarcasm was here:

    http://lakersball.com/threads/2015-...ussell-nance-jr-brown.181/page-179#post-36220

    Obviously it's a little played out. If you didn't know me from CL, or missed that post, you could easily take my posts the wrong way. As a white guy with limited balling skills, I find it acceptable to poke fun at the limited number of great Caucasian players in the NBA and specifically on the Lakers.

    The Lakers have historically signed more white players than most other teams besides Utah. I have openly questioned it when we sign players like Coby Karl. Seriously? We couldn't find better options? I have joked that there is no way we could trade Kelly--since he's our only white guy--unless we got another white player in return. I joked that we were going to draft white players, our that Summer League would be full of white guys.

    Obviously our staff is just going after the best players right now, and they don't happen to fit that description. So while I have half joked about our "quota" in the past, since I couldn't see how some of the white guys we had ever deserved a roster spot on ANY NBA roster, if there was a sensitivity or purpose to keeping white players on the roster for marketing purposes or just low cost roster filler, this seems to have changed for the better.

    Thanks for the comment. I'll officially give it a rest joking about that topic. I can't promise forever because some of our moves when viewed through that lens are worth poking fun at. If we do export Kelly, it WILL probably be the first all non white Laker roster ever. And that means white men can't jump. And I find that funny. :man10:

    And if we had an all non white roster because they were the best players we could put together, part of me says "It's about damn time." When you look back at that original post, it would be pretty easy to replace some of those guys with better players in the NBA those years. Just an observation I noticed and chose to poke fun at.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2015
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