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Does Lakers Coach Byron Scott Dislike Robert Upshaw?

By Hannah Kulik

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Robert Upshaw’s brief journey with the Los Angeles Lakers has been anything but normal, and where it is leading is unclear. Much has been written about Upshaw’s potential, and the fans are begging for him to get a chance, but whether he makes the team is up to Coach Byron Scott whose recent comments have been less than encouraging.

By now, Laker fans are familiar with Upshaw’s resume. Dismissed from two college programs for undisclosed infractions, though still projected to be a first round selection until health issues scared teams away shortly before the draft. When he went undrafted, and the Lakers selected guard D’Angelo Russell instead of big man Jahlil Okafor, the team swooped in quickly to sign Upshaw to their Summer League team. It was considered a brilliant move.

The Summer League did not go precisely as expected for Upshaw. He showed up overweight and had not played competitive basketball in months, but he held his own in early games first against first overall pick Karl Anthony Towns and then against Okafor. After the first game it was announced the Lakers would sign Upshaw to a contract.

However, following the 76ers game, Upshaw sat on the bench the rest of the summer and rarely saw the court. When Summer League ended, the Lakers stopped talking about him and no one knew what was happening.

When Mitch Kupchak was finally asked about Upshaw’s status, he was impassive, indicating that even if the Lakers decided to sign him, Upshaw did not figure into their plans for this season.

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Then, just when it looked like his career with the Lakers was over before it started, he signed a partially guaranteed contract shortly before training camp opened. Upshaw gave an interview in which he said he lost 25 pounds and was ready to go.

Incidentally, whenever Upshaw is interviewed, he is articulate, appreciative for the opportunity to be with the team, and determined to improve and showcase his skills.

When training camp arrived, there were reports that he was moving well and blocking a lot of shots in practice. Still, Upshaw did not play at all in the first two preseason games, both of which the Lakers lost. His time finally arrived in the third contest against a formidable Toronto Raptors team.

As we saw last year with Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson, and this year with Russell, Anthony Brown, and Larry Nance Jr., every rookie is going to make mistakes and look confused at times. Upshaw was no different in the Raptors game, but he had enough good moments to excite Laker fans.

In fact, he had highlight moments within minutes of entering the game. He scored on a thunderous dunk.  He hit a very nice fade away jumper.  He had a signature block on a Raptor’s guard who otherwise killed the Lakers the entire game.

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Afterwards, Scott was interviewed as usual. While he sometimes criticizes the team when it plays poorly, he generally defends the players individually and emphasizes the positive.

Last year, for example, when Randle was out of shape and played poorly in the preseason, Scott was nothing but encouraging. This year, Russell has had his share of ups and downs, but Scott always defends him and tells everyone how good he will be.

This made his interview following the Toronto game all the more bizarre. After the obligatory questions about Kobe Bryant, and mentioning how he is happy with Randle’s progress, Scott was asked what he thought of Upshaw’s performance. His response, uttered in a dismissive tone, was:  “He was ok. He made a ton of mistakes on both sides of the floor.”

Reporters on hand were surprised. Fans watching at home no doubt stared at their screens in disbelief. Scott threw Upshaw under a bus, after his first NBA game in which he played limited minutes but still scored five points, grabbed three rebounds, and had two blocked shots. When reporters tried to follow up, Scott had nothing encouraging to say about Upshaw’s performance.

There were games last season in which Ryan Kelly played 35 minutes and had a stat line which did not equal what Upshaw achieved in his first-ever NBA contest playing far fewer minutes. Yet Scott never denigrated Kelly in public, no matter how badly he played.

Upshaw made his share of mistakes, but for his first game he showed real promise. He is a work in progress with a long way to go, but the potential is there on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor. Certainly Scott could have come up with something nicer to say after his first game than, “He made a ton of mistakes.”

Since his brief stint against Toronto, Upshaw played just a few minutes of garbage time in the fourth quarter of the following game, and did not play at all in the last contest.

Thus, through five preseason games, he has played the equivalent of less than one half of basketball.  It is hard to measure his potential while he is sitting on the bench.

Most experts have opined that the key to this Lakers’ season is not the team’s final record but how they develop their young talent. Upshaw will require patience, but it is easy to see that he can become a dominant player if he stays focused and is given time to mature. The front office showed foresight in signing him, now they need to keep him around and show the same patience they afforded Andrew Bynum when he was a young player.

Whether Upshaw gets that opportunity with the Lakers is up to Scott, who marches to his own rigid and sometimes outdated drum beat. Based on how he spoke of Upshaw after the Toronto game, and the fact he has barely played since then, Scott may decide to stick with a more experienced player like Robert Sacre, whose upside potential is zero. If he does, the Lakers’ loss will be some other team’s gain.

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