I think Upshaw wanted to sign that contract when he heard the Laker crowd cheer for him the first time he entered the game, it was insane. Then he went and got 4 blocks to make sure of it.
Last year's Centers (big to small): Rob Sacre 7-0, 263 Tarik Black 6-11, 250 Jordan Hill 6-10, 235 Ed Davis 6-10, 225 This year's Centers: Roy Hibbert 7-2, 278 Rob Sacre 7-0, 263 Robert Upshaw 7-0, 258 Tarik Black 6-11, 250 Running of the bulls - those are some big dudes.
And after all the Chicken Little's said Mitch sacrificed the future by trading away so many picks & we're doomed. The Mitch that keeps on Mitching.
For what it's worth, we strongly discourage the use of phrases like "Chicken Littles" to refer to groups, as it might offend. Bring the strong argument and leave the rhetoric out of it.
Man I had forgotten all about "Chicken Littles". Both the group of fans we eventually tried to stop using it to describe, and the delicious KFC sandwich from the 80's. Man I miss those heavenly, simple little sandwiches. You shouldn't be able to get that much flavor from just a bun, party and mayo or whatever that sauce was.
Yeah I mean we were incredibly fortunate and it's not just Mitch's doing either it's the entire scouting staff (Ryan West and Jesse Buss had a lot to do with it). There's every chance Clarkson doesn't work out as a 2nd rounder. There's every chance Randle STILL doesn't work out as we've seen some holes in his game already. We had the lottery balls bounce our way for Russell. Houston lets go of Black to go get Josh Smith Mitch, Jim, and West did a tremendous job of capitalizing on all of their opportunities, but let's not just skate over the fact that we WERE in big trouble when they traded away all of those picks. In fact we've still got a few years of traded picks I believe. Now back to the signing: AWESOME news! I think Mitch's comments yesterday about him maybe not playing and about how he's out of shape and all that was just a way of nudging him to do something great. Upshaw showed flashes of that fantastic defense for us and his contract is a good one. It's the one we all wanted: short term, cheap, and keep him honest. For all that Upshaw showed yesterday, he also showed he's WAY behind. He needs time to marinate. I think he'll end up in the D-League for a while. All you guys trashing Sacre are cold! Dude is a 3rd string Center and a good one! It's not his fault the team had to play him so many minutes the last few years. He's a good dude and a good practice body. I like Sacre. That being said, if you can replace him with a more talented player you do it. If there's a taker (and there definitely should be) for Sacre and Kelly I dump them to create space for the rest of our team.
I don't dislike Sacre at all, he works hard, he does his job, he never complains, he's happy to even be in the league. But like you say, if you can get somebody better... Sacre appears to have reached his ceiling, he's not getting any faster, he hasn't developed some great post game, become a reliable shooter, or become a rim protector. He does a lot of little things just ok, and nothing great. I've said the same thing many times since sometime last season and I'll say it again, I'm ready to give someone else with potential and a higher ceiling that spot, to take a chance on a different guy, because we've seen the best of Sacre we're gonna. If Upshaw does only one thing great, and that is block shots, he's already more useful than Sacre.
Chicken Littles were 49 cents, I think, when I was a kid. My great grandfather would take us to Wendy's - we had to drive like 30 minutes because I live in a small town. Those were awesome memories.
I agree. I just don't get who so many people are kickin' him out the door so mean like! He worked hard for us, he's just not very good. We got some haters out here!
This block was just nasty! Towns' pump-faked Upshaw into the air, but he still smashed it in his face, all ball, on the way down. "Rob-McSwats" anyone?
Finally finished the re-watch. He looks good, but he desperately needs to strengthen his legs. Towns isn't a super strong guy and Upshaw was leaning on him a LOT. Get him in the gym working on muscular endurance right away. He needs a pretty good amount of work. Put him in the D-League where he can dominate and now that he's signed, we've got no fear of a prospect snatcher.
Yes, he needs playing time and experience and coaching. But he's light years ahead of Bynum when we got him.
I agree. He's better now than Rookie Bynum was, especially defensively. He's got tremendous defensive instincts. Offensively he's very raw, but I've seen some encouraging things. He's got basic footwork down in the post, but when he uses it he looks like he's still going at practice speed; it's like he's thinking his way through it instead of just doing it. I see the potential there for sure though. Better shape, stronger legs, and we're looking at a defensive beast. He didn't get a chance to showcase his little jumper, but that'll come. We've got him on our minimum deal, now it's all about patience and growth. And staying clean!
