Robert Upshaw is unlikely to make the Lakers’ opening-night roster, according to Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. The signing of the center on Monday increases the Lakers’ training camp roster to 18 players, though only 12 have fully guaranteed deals. Marcelo Huertas should make the cut, since the Brazilian shooting guard did not sign with the Lakers to play in the D-League or get released, Oram continues. Huertas, who played for FC Barcelona the past four seasons, inked a one-year deal with the team earlier this month. Metta World Peace would be the 15th man on the roster if he’s signed by the club, Oram adds (All Twitter links). There’s a good chance that the veteran small forward, who has been working out at the team’s practice facility, will come to an agreement with the club before camp.
In other news regarding the Lakers:
- Upshaw received a $35K guarantee on his two-year minimum contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. His $525,093 salary this season would be fully guaranteed if he’s still on the roster January 10th. His second-year salary of $874,636 does not include any guarantees, Pincus adds. The 21-year-old Upshaw averaged 1.4 points and 2.2 rebounds with the Lakers’ summer league squad in Las Vegas.
- The additions of Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams and Brandon Bass are not conducive to the Lakers’ effort to rebuild because they’ll take minutes away from younger players, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders opines in the website’s preview of the team. After failing to sign a high-profile free agent, the Lakers added those veterans to save face and give the appearance they want to compete this year, in part to appease Kobe Bryant, Kennedy adds. In the same piece, Basketball Insiders’ Eric Saar takes a somewhat more optimistic view, concluding that the growing core of young players gives the franchise a brighter future than it’s had in recent years.
I’d say the same thing about Huertas, too, if I hadn’t see Joe Ingles get cut by the Clippers just last fall after making the same Europe-to-NBA jump on the same one-year, non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract. Fortunately for Ingles, he landed on his feet in Utah, had an opportunity for playing time he probably wouldn’t have see on the Clips, and thrived. Tough to say if Huertas will be that lucky.
I don’t see how LA can cut ties with Upshaw. The kid has upside and you would think the Lakers would want a few more players with that kind of potential on the roster.