Kupchak opširno o Zupcu:
Q: On his thoughts about 32nd pick Ivica Zubac:
Kupchak: We saw a young, big, developing player. When I was over there this year back in January or February, I watched him. He’s young and he’s big and he’s got skills. He did remind me of NBA players that, in this league, have made it. But he is a young player. So if he continues to work hard and develop, he has a chance to stick in this league and be a good player. But our knowledge of the European players is clearly not what it is to our knowledge of players in this country. We don’t see them as often and they play a different game: Fewer number of games, and in Europe the young players don’t play much. A lot of times the coaches over there will play the veteran players and the young players will hardly play at all, so you have to go to practice to scout a player who’s 19 years old. So you don’t get the same body of work to examine as you would in this country. It makes it a little more difficult, so you do rely on your international scout a little bit more than you would a domestic scout.
Q: On if Zubac will be on the Lakers’ roster next season:
Kupchak: I believe he would like to play next year and we wouldn’t be opposed to that.
Q: On the potential for Zubac to join their D-League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders:
Kupchak: Right now, the D-Fenders really aren’t in the equation in terms of this pick. It’s not something that was discussed. We hope to get him over to play in Summer League. We don’t know if that’s something we can do yet. As I mentioned, it’s not quite as easy with the European guys; logistics and contracts. I do believe he is under an existing contract, but he does have an NBA out. So can those kinds of things be addressed in the next 10 days? I’m not sure. But we would like to bring him over and get him to play in Summer League if that’s possible.
Q: On how much interest they showed Zubac:
Kupchak: We were in contact with all the representatives. There’s always an indication of who you like and who you don’t like. Certainly, his representative knew from the get-go that he’s a player that we liked. … I don’t know how that (interest) is translated to the player, but certainly going into the pick there was, from their point of view, an understanding that: “Hey, the Lakers might take you if you’re there.”
Q: On how much international scout Antonio Maceiras influenced the Lakers making this pick:
Kupchak: Antonio Maceiras is our international scout. And when I go to Europe, he arranges all the players and all the games for me to go see. As I mentioned, he arranged for me to go scout this player. We also looked at, for the last 10 days, film. There was a workout in New York last week with a bunch of international players, three or four of which were drafted in the first round today. There’s a body of ability that we try to assess. Sometimes it’s a workout that’s controlled by a representative. Sometimes it’s on film and sometimes it’s a practice and sometimes it’s a game and sometimes it’s relying on your scout. But without Antonio Maceiras, we would not have made this pick.
Q: On if he feels that the team got better with these picks:
Kupchak: I think we’ve added more talent. I do. Clearly we’re very happy with Brandon. The No. 2 pick, under most circumstances, is a player that’s gonna have an impact right away. It’s not a player that we anticipate won’t play. Clearly he’s gonna play and hopefully he’s productive and gets better quickly. Ivica, we don’t know that yet. There’s probably a bigger learning curve for him. And a lot of it has to do with Summer League and training camp and how he plays in front of our coach and how our coach wants to play and how quickly he comes along. I don’t think language skills are gonna be a problem with him. His English is pretty good. We’ve drafted players in the past where that was a hinderance: the language barrier. That’s not gonna be the case here
Q: On if he likes the team’s crop of young players:
Kupchak: We like the young Lakers core. It doesn’t mean we’re not gonna pursue some veteran leadership. When July 1 rolls around, I think we will. I think history tells you that a bunch of young guys on a team is probably not a good thing. They look around for leadership and advice from somebody who’s been through this a couple of times, and if there’s nobody to talk to then they really don’t know how to handle the situation. So I think we will look to add some veteran leadership and hopefully not only leadership, but guys who can help us win games. It’s unlikely that would come about trade, although it’s possible. But it’s more likely to come about through free agency.
Q: On how he sees the team’s approach to free agency:
Kupchak: It’s gonna depend on the free agent.
Q: On which players Zubac reminds him of:
Kupchak: I do have a couple players in mind, but I don’t want to share that with you to be honest with you. One of the guys I’m thinking about turned out to be a heck of a player, and I just don’t want to label that player.
Q: On Zubac’s style of play:
Kupchak: He started playing late, (has) a body that’s still developing. You may say he’s not as fluid or … clearly still growing into his body and becoming more comfortable on certain parts of the court. But we’ve been through drafting young players of size in the past. And I’m not comparing him to Andrew Bynum, but Andrew was 17 years old, (he was) big, long, gangly, almost clumsy at first. So that’s what you deal with when you deal with big men. I was a big player. You kind of develop late. That’s kind of what you’re dealing with when you have somebody who’s of that size, starting playing late, is still growing and developing into their body.