Kupchak on Young Core and More
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 3:03 am
Q: On his view of Russell at this point:
Kupchak: It’s always been the long view. There’s never a doubt when we scouted last year him and when we drafted him and worked him out that he was going to be a very, very, very good player in this league. That’s our feeling all along. He did not have a very good Summer League, and I think that was a wake-up call for him. I think a lot of that has to do with expectations. Also, once he finished his (only) year in college, he did not play basketball for three months. At that point, you’re under the management of an agent, who really just puts you through skill work; doesn’t want you to get hurt; doesn’t want you to play; and wants you to get drafted at a certain level. So he took three months off, and we had a very difficult week of pre-Summer League camp. He wasn’t in the best of shape this summer. When he came back to (training) camp, I thought he was a different player. Confidence for a young player in this league is important, and I think since camp he’s gained more and more confidence. I think if you watched the last three or four games, he looks to be a different player, certainly than he was in Summer League. But even very different than he was in training camp.
Q: On the recent changes to the starting lineup:
Kupchak: I was aware that Byron was going to do that before he did it. It’s much too soon to even evaluate how effective it was. That’s the kind of thing that a year from now or six months from now, you look back and see how players responded. The bottom line is that in this league it’s difficult for rookies and young players to get minutes, whether it’s 10 or 15. We have guys on our team that can’t get on the court, so you have to be careful about gifting minutes to players. We know we have to develop our players, but they also know their performance will dictate how many minutes they get. That’s not only their performance individually, but their performance as a team, too. To sit here today and look back on the past week or two, I think that’s way premature. Personally, I think it’s going to end up being a good thing for everybody. But players have to continue to play hard and to compete and work on their game. If you’re getting 15-30 minutes a game, you better be pretty happy you’re getting those minutes, and you better not take them for granted. Because they’re difficult to come by, and I can make a list of 60-70 guys in the NBA right now that can’t get into an NBA game. They would die for 20 or 15 minutes a game. It’s not something to gift out, and it’s not to say we’re sending a message. I thikn what we were doing after 17 games as a team was not working. So why not change it up a little bit. And when he looked at the options to change it up, he felt that was the best way to, and I’m OK with it.
Q: On how he evaluates Randle at this point:
Kupchak: He only played 14 minutes (last year). For a young player at 19 years old, that’s devastating. He, by nature, is very, very competitive. He wants it all now, which is great. The reality is that it’s not going to all come together (now). Even if he played last year, he would have a different feel this year. But it’s still going to come together. We’ve got to figure out where he’s going to be most effectively offensively. Defensively, he’s got to continue to work on guarding the guy in front of him and, of course, team defense. He’s already a really good rebounder. He’s approaching nine rebounds a game. With his competitiveness and effort, I think he’s always going to put up rebounding numbers. But the rest of the game will take some time. Even though this is his sophomore season, last year, with the exception of training camp, he did not play. On top of that, you’ve got to come back and regain confidence that you’re healthy. That was a nasty, nasty injury last year. It’s really only been a year and a couple of months since the injury. If you think about it in a 14-month period where he was and where he is today, it’s impressive.
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/151214_mitchkupchak