The team was reportedly preparing to sign the troubled center over the weekend, according to multiple outlets. The Register reported a two-year contract, with the first year partially guaranteed, had been signed. That was premature, although the structure of a deal is in place. Upshaw is scheduled to meet with Lakers executives on Thursday, at the request of General Manager Mitch Kupchak. It’s an unsurprising step in the vetting process of a player who was kicked off teams at both Fresno State and the University of Washington. Essentially, the Lakers are doing their due diligence. Upshaw led the nation in blocks through 19 games at Washington last season, averaging 4.5 per game. However, he was dismissed from the program in January for an undisclosed violation of team rules. He was previously dismissed from Fresno State in 2013. The 7-footer averaged 7.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and three blocks in 41 total games over the course of his turbulent career. By signing Upshaw to a contract, the Lakers would essentially lock him into a spot in training camp, at which time they could further evaluate whether he would be a fit on the regular season roster. The Lakers acquired former All-Star Roy Hibbert last week, and also have Robert Sacre and Tarik Black who can play center. http://www.ocregister.com/lakers/meeting-671554-request-robert.html
Yeah, the time to add muscle is past; you're coming into team offseason activities. You're doing too much work now to try to build muscle at the rate you can do in a proper offseason.
Before these summer league games Upshaw said he hadn't played organized basketball in a long time. It will take time.
I see some Timmy D I think Upshaw is going to be an NBA player. I know this is against Summer League talent but it's definitely fair to say he's better than Sacre, by far.
From the article it is mentioned that Upshaw has a "life mentor and a built in support system"...that is somewhat reassuring to read about him avoiding potential problems by alone. Hope he capitulates on this opportunity with the Lakers. On the floor, Upshaw does have a soft touch on his shot. That would keep defenders a bit honest by not totally ignoring him.
Checked in on Reddit, LG, and anywhere else articles for Upshaw showed up over the past 24 hours. Speculation that he was stashed until he signed, but we played at least one game after that Thursday meeting, and Upshaw saw only 6 minutes in that game, too. Are the Lakers stringing him along? Are they doing due diligence? I guess the big thing will be to see when we have a media day for the new signings - and whether Upshaw will be there.
We won't pull a DJ, Lakers have professionalism and class. I recall when they paid for Turiaf's heart surgery, and he wasn't officially a roster player yet if I remember right. It's a matter of when, not if.
That's quite fair. I wonder if the Lakers have another perspective on that incident. All we've heard is Horry's side, but either way, you'd like to leave things in such a way that even if parties did not agree, that they felt there was mutual respect and understanding.
