Lakers Sign Robert Upshaw

[Spens1]

Love this move

Sacre is in trouble though, no way he has a hope of getting into the lineup with Black and Upshaw in front

hopefully Upshaw keeps clean and he plays up to his potential, if he does, Hibbert had better look out

[dipstick]

Wouldn't thay be a breach of contract doc? Say if Upshaw does go that route and play for the DFenders and Clippers wanted a back up C, they can just go ahead and grab him if he agrees?

nah, wouldn't be breach of contract because he'd have already been cut by the lakers so there is no contract to breach.

the idea behind these small guarantee contracts is that even when you cut a player, they still get paid more than they would the entire year as a d-league player. That way, when you cut them, they'll be up for joining your d-league team as an affiliate player rather than entering the d-league draft and available to any d-league team.

As a d-league affiliate player though, you're free to sign with an nba team at any time because you're a free agent with no nba contract.

So basically right now, we're just holding on to his loyalty if ever he's cut and sent to the DFenders. I think he'll repay the FOs patience and trust and wait for them. I've actually read about teams doing this unguaranteed deals then sending players to affiliate teams to cut costs and hope those players will just wait for the call up.

I think he will have a chance to make the team. We've nurtured him since summer league and I don't think we did that just to let someone else snap him up. But he will have to beat out Sacre. Even if he makes the 15 man roster, he will probably see some time with the DFenders.

Now if he shows that he's not ready, he will probably be signed with the Dfenders and anyone can sign him even if he is our affiliate player. (Have no idea what the point of naming some as an affiliate player is.) Hopefully, if that time comes that someone else makes an offer, hopefully he will allow the Lakers the decision to match. But that's as much loyalty I would expect from this situation.

[EArl]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/EricPincus/status/643487018354352128[/tweet]

That sounds great. If he can keep that up, he has a bright future ahead of him.

[PICKnPOP]

My gut says upshaw, Holmes, and brown make the final roster.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Mirjalovic]

Yes !!!!

[DEEP3CL]

I think he is likely to get cut,

Clarkson-Huertas
Williams-Russell-JBrown-Frazier
Bryant-Young-ABrown
Bass-Randle-Kelly-Nance-Holmes
Hibbert-Black-Sacre-Upshaw

Holmes, Frazier and Upshaw will get cut and offered a dleague deal, if they want it, with the D-fenders
The other 15 are either more guaranteed or totally guaranteed, unless there is a trade, I dont see how Upshaw makes it.

Dude Kelly is on the hot seat and so is Sacre....even if they're deals are guaranteed, that means nothing in today's NBA. Some of these signings are to get these guys on the DL roster, so you sign 15 and allocate 3 to assign to DL which is the max you can allocate anyway.

[dockingsched]

I think he will have a chance to make the team. We've nurtured him since summer league and I don't think we did that just to let someone else snap him up. But he will have to beat out Sacre. Even if he makes the 15 man roster, he will probably see some time with the DFenders.

Now if he shows that he's not ready, he will probably be signed with the Dfenders and anyone can sign him even if he is our affiliate player. (Have no idea what the point of naming some as an affiliate player is.) Hopefully, if that time comes that someone else makes an offer, hopefully he will allow the Lakers the decision to match. But that's as much loyalty I would expect from this situation.

Here's the point of an "affiliate player".


When a player joins the d-league, and I'm not talking about current NBA players that get sent down for assignment, he signs a contract with the entire d-league, not with an individual team. To get assigned to a d-league team once he signs a contract with the d-league, the player enters the d-league draft. There's a "loophole" to the d-league draft though, and one of them is by having a player become an "affiliate player". When an NBA team names a player an "affiliate player", once he signs a contract with the d-league he can bypass the draft and go straight to your affiliate team. In order to be able to designate a player an "affiliate player", that player had to have been on your NBA training camp roster.

So for all these guys that are under contract with the Lakers for training camp but will ultimately get cut and not make the 15 man roster, they'll be eligible to become an "affiliate player" and go straight to the d-fenders, bypassing the d-league draft. First the player has to agree to sign with the d-league and then agree to accept your affiliate assignment. All that is probably verbally agreed to at the time the partial guarantee nba contract was signed.

The thing that a lot of people confuse though is that just cause you've designated a player as an "affiliate player" and assigned him to your d-league team, you have absolutely no rights over him in regards to NBA contracts. He's a free agent. If another NBA team down the road happens to be of need and interested in your affiliate player, unless you're prepared to offer a competing NBA contract, he's going to be lost. The assumption for now is that there really isn't a competing NBA team out there ready to offer these guys contracts or else they would've already.

[tugs]

So in a way they're like RFAs, am I right?

[dockingsched]

So in a way they're like RFAs, am I right?

not at all, only reason i mentioned the competing nba contract part was cause realistically if another team is ready to add them to their active nba roster and you aren't, you're going to lose them. even if you also had a competing offer though, the player still is free to sign with whoever he wants, i just assumed this is where the loyalty part would kick in and they'd sign with you.

these guys would be unrestricted free agents though, the lakers would have absolutely no rights as far as nba contracts are concerned.

[Marionettetc]

I think he will have a chance to make the team. We've nurtured him since summer league and I don't think we did that just to let someone else snap him up. But he will have to beat out Sacre. Even if he makes the 15 man roster, he will probably see some time with the DFenders.

Now if he shows that he's not ready, he will probably be signed with the Dfenders and anyone can sign him even if he is our affiliate player. (Have no idea what the point of naming some as an affiliate player is.) Hopefully, if that time comes that someone else makes an offer, hopefully he will allow the Lakers the decision to match. But that's as much loyalty I would expect from this situation.

Here's the point of an "affiliate player".


When a player joins the d-league, and I'm not talking about current NBA players that get sent down for assignment, he signs a contract with the entire d-league, not with an individual team. To get assigned to a d-league team once he signs a contract with the d-league, the player enters the d-league draft. There's a "loophole" to the d-league draft though, and one of them is by having a player become an "affiliate player". When an NBA team names a player an "affiliate player", once he signs a contract with the d-league he can bypass the draft and go straight to your affiliate team. In order to be able to designate a player an "affiliate player", that player had to have been on your NBA training camp roster.

So for all these guys that are under contract with the Lakers for training camp but will ultimately get cut and not make the 15 man roster, they'll be eligible to become an "affiliate player" and go straight to the d-fenders, bypassing the d-league draft. First the player has to agree to sign with the d-league and then agree to accept your affiliate assignment. All that is probably verbally agreed to at the time the partial guarantee nba contract was signed.

The thing that a lot of people confuse though is that just cause you've designated a player as an "affiliate player" and assigned him to your d-league team, you have absolutely no rights over him in regards to NBA contracts. He's a free agent. If another NBA team down the road happens to be of need and interested in your affiliate player, unless you're prepared to offer a competing NBA contract, he's going to be lost. The assumption for now is that there really isn't a competing NBA team out there ready to offer these guys contracts or else they would've already.

Dock, are you Chaz?

You have a lot of cba and draft knowledge that I suspect only the elite of the Lakers front office would have.

[john248]

I'd love to see Upshaw make the roster based on potential. I do think he'd be a total non-factor though given that bigs generally struggle the first few years in the league whether due to conditioning or foul trouble. I definitely don't think Upshaw is the type of talent to transcend that. We're talking about a player who's missed valuable experience by not being able to finish out seasons which includes games and coaching. As such, we can expect a much inconsistent player in the NBA given how inconsistent his life is off the court rather than some defensive savior people are making him out to be as a rookie no less.

Though that still wouldn't stop me from giving him the 15th roster spot and a season's worth of DNPs based on starter quality potential alone. Sacre's ceiling is very limited, and the current roster can get away with rotating Hibbert, Black, and Bass at center. It's a rebuilding year anyways, so burning a roster spot is worth looking at. By mid-season, the coaching staff and front office will have a good idea of what type of work ethic Upshaw will have and can make the decison to either cut or keep. Depth sucks, so they can get away with this.

[tugs]

So in a way they're like RFAs, am I right?

not at all, only reason i mentioned the competing nba contract part was cause realistically if another team is ready to add them to their active nba roster and you aren't, you're going to lose them. even if you also had a competing offer though, the player still is free to sign with whoever he wants, i just assumed this is where the loyalty part would kick in and they'd sign with you.

these guys would be unrestricted free agents though, the lakers would have absolutely no rights as far as nba contracts are concerned.

Thanks for clarifying DCash!

[Kilroy]

Glad we set expectations of him and he met them... That's a first step to getting his priorities straight.

But I don't think it's fair to expect him to beat out Sacre for PT at this point. Sacre is a bench player in the NBA... He's come through for us in games, and doesn't make a lot of big mistakes. He doesn't suck, he's just not an elite talent. But there's a place for him in the NBA.
All of that is infinitely more than what Upshaw is today though. I hope he succeeds, but I don't think he will if you expect him to be Wilt as a rookie.

[Chuck Everett]

Ryan Kelly has no business being on this team anymore.

[BEazy]

He lost 20 pounds. Seems to me he's more dedicated and motivated than Sacre and Kelly.