D league and my hope is he'd lead that league in minutes played. Kid needs to run and play and run and rebound and run. Might need to run in practice a lot too.
If we get him in the d league until around Feb (setback free), I think he'd be ready for the real thing.
Not that I don't think Upshaw would benefit from playing himself into shape in the D-League, but I don't care what the situation is, if you tell a guy Sacre is going to get minutes and he isn't, I would expect him to start exploring other options.
We have a roster spot open for a potential defensive center but yet they want another center because apparently they think Tarik Black is a power forward, which would then give us five power forwards (Randle, Bass, Kelly, Nance, and Black I guess). Or are they considering Kelly is still a small forward, which I doubt because they can't be that dumb, right? Since only 12 players can only be active at a time, I'm guessing Kelly and Nance maybe? Why don't we just sign Upshaw and have him play in the D-League and develop there like it was meant for. What if Upshaw wants more pt and that's why he's stalling? I wish we knew what was going on.
At the end of the day the Lakers will play whoever gives them the best chance to win. IF (big IF) Upshaw can outplay everyone sans Hibbert, he will play...if not, he won't. Simple as that.
That's about 11 mpg right? It'd be nice if he got that much PT but between Black, Hibbert, Bass and Randle I just don't see it. Not because he shouldn't, but because I have a feeling we're going to be in several very close games this season. Unfortunately for both him and Randle (barring a significant improvement from Randle as the season progresses) the minutes in those situations will default to Bass and Hibbert IMO.
His screening and shot blocking are great. His position defense isn't bad. He has some post moves. I don't see why he isn't signed. And I don't understand why Mitch said Robert won't help us win games this year. Sacre will?
Agreed. He is definitely an upgrade to Sacre and having him learn under Hibbert seems like a good match. Not getting the hold up here to be honest. I have to think there is something else we just don't know about between Mitch, Upshaw and his agent.
I had him at about 15 a game for 60ish games. You've got to remember that players miss games. Black and Bass are young players whose injury status is unknown at present. Bass is an iron man. Hibbert is good for about 1900-2000 minutes a year. That leaves a ton of minutes at the C spot.
Agreed. There's obviously things going on behind the Iron Curtains of Mitch's office window. We just don't know what it is yet. For my money there's a few things to remember: 1. We've got a pretty full roster and Mitch hates having a full roster. 2. Upshaw hasn't signed here yet... but he hasn't signed elsewhere either. That tells me there's something in place, we're just working out details. 3. Keeping Sacre is probably a mistake. I'm going to guess Mitch thought he had a trade in place that didn't work out. 4. Upshaw is a LONG way from being NBA ready. The talent is there, but the conditioning is so bad that it'll take time for him to be ready to go. Even when he's signed, he's spending most of the year in the D-League getting himself up to NBA speed. I still think there's a trade we're trying to make right now. We're trying to work out a way to clear up a roster spot for Upshaw while improving our team. I'm sure of it.
I don't think Upshaw is a long way from being NBA ready. His conditioning isn't as bad as what it is being portrayed. He was routinely beating his man up and down the court in SL. If Cole Aldrich is going to be giving the Clips 10 minutes a night, Upshaw can definitely do that right now. They aren't too far from each other in skill level at this point in time.
Do we want Cole Aldrich or do we want a guy who might be a franchise Center? It's just a smarter move to put him in the D-League and let him develop his game and get his conditioning under control. His first couple of games he was gassed within five minutes. He looked great while on the floor because he really wasn't on the floor too much. He was able to go all out for like 4 minutes and then sit down and catch his breath.
Who said he looked bad? I said he was out of shape and that was pretty clear to me. He looked great when he was on the floor, which I've detailed a handful of times. He sets great screens and he plays great defense, but outside of setting screens he was a non-factor offensively. I think that worked well in Summer League with everyone else being capable of scoring, but is that what we want from his development or do we want a guy with a well-rounded game? I see no harm in signing him to a multi-year contract and letting him get his feet wet in the D-League all year. Off-the-court issues aside, it's a great way for him to develop offensively, get in NBA shape, and do it without pressure on him to succeed right away. If he makes the roster and sticks with us, great, but I see no harm in letting him work in the D-League first as long as he's under contract already.
