Anthony Brown and Robert Upshaw are both back in action. Brown is scoring well, is passing so-so, but he's not picking up the hustle stats. He's at a 60 wing efficiency on the season. Upshaw continues to be a poor scoring option, he's becoming a slightly more consistent hustle player (blocks are a constant), but he handed out two assists in 9 minutes last game, to double his season total. He's at 62 BIG efficiency. Neither is a good option for the Lakers at this point, unless they're going to get consistent PT - and that isn't going to happen. If LA ends up moving a wing or a big, I could see them adding the relevant player here. As it is, it's hard for Peace, Kelly, Bass, and Sacre to find any kind of PT.
Brown, Kelly, and Black all assigned to the D-fenders for tonight - I think the game starts in 15 minutes.
Do you think Bob was glossed "paint god" because they played in a weak conference? Shouldn't he be a lot better by now on both ends of the floor if he's finally in good shape? I know the term was for his defense and swats.
He's blocking shots at an absurd rate in the D-league. That's about all he can do. I recommend watching their games. All the D-fenders do is have Magette (when he plays) run down the floor and pass to a wing, or a 6'9" center. There are almost no bigs in the D-league, and it's mostly a track meet. You can't play interior defense or it's a foul. It's a weird league. Do I think Upshaw would be good in the NBA? Meh. Right now, he could play, and we wouldn't feel worse about him than we do about Sacre.
JC at the D-fenders' game. He actually interviewed Christina Kaplan, the sideline reporter. He's pretty funny. JC says Ryan is being really aggressive, Tarik rebounding and active. Wants to see "a little more out of Anthony," which is totally true.
Here's hoping Anthony Brown makes some shots in the 2nd half. He made only one that I can remember in the 1st half and it was an open dunk. Aaaand he missed a layup to start. I don't have a box score, but he can't be better than like 1-7/8. He has an NBA body IMO, he has the size and length, but he's being asked to make shots and he isn't. Tarik looked like he got a little tired that 2nd quarter as well, probably from not playing in forever, and these D-League guys are shorter and play at a crazy pace.
Kelly getting all the calls ha ha. Hey, JC and Russ are at the game, enjoying some snacks and laughing it up.
Tarik has 5 fouls in the 3rd, why is Upshaw not playing at all? Seems like he is available to me. Speaking of that, Tarik gets no respect in the D-League either, I thought 2 of his fouls were bad calls, one he jumped straight up, arms up the whole time.
Kelly keeping the team in this game on offense, again, he's actually watchable in this league. Brown finally scores again on a tip-in. Kelly alley-oop, 25 for him.
I think they deactivated him - he was in sweats, not warmups. Like I've said, this isn't a league for bigs. Kelly and Black are both Cs in this league, and I can't imagine they could find a way to play that many dudes 6'9" or taller
Yeah that makes sense, the PG's in this league are really short and the bigs are PF's in the NBA at most. Anyway we look like the Lakers now, game starting to get away from us. At least Brown finally hit a 3, he's a likable guy, he's unselfish, but he has to make open shots. Kelly has a lot of points, but is an example of stats being misleading in this league as he's probably given up just as many with poor D and rebounding, and fouls.
So Anthony Brown finished 4-15, 1-6 on threes. That's not going to get it done or get you playing time with the real team over Metta or Young. These are mostly open shots too, I'm not seeing him put his supposed skills to use in actual games. He still may become a valuable bench guy eventually, but this is a 4 year college player, not a 19 year old kid, he should be more polished than this to have earned a guaranteed deal.
Yeah if he can't even perform in the D-League then I highly doubt he's ever anything more than a bench warmer in the NBA. That SF position is a glaring need for this team. It's been one for awhile. Really since Artest's first season in L.A. we haven't had a consistent 3 & D threat there. Needs to change.
