I agree, you can see he's not getting the same quantity of looks out there, but we know well already that he can score. He's done it all year long. He'll still get shots, but I was thinking the same thing last night - time to work on the other aspects of your game and play a little more team first ball. It should be about refining his all around game from here until the end of the season. We're in development mode now.
Yeah, he should start focusing on rebounding like he did for a couple games. Playing a little bit more aggressive on defense, and do a little bit more pick and roll action.
Kuzma has taken a nose-dive in production and efficiency. October 14.0 pts 5.0 reb 1.7 ast 53.3 fg% 35.7 3p% November 18.2 pts 6.7 reb 1.5 ast 49.2 fg% 39.0 3p% December 19.5 pts 7.6 reb 2.0 ast 43.9 fg% 40.0 3p% January 12.5 pts 3.9 reb 2.1 ast 41.3 fg% 32.1 3p% February 11.7 pts 5.4 reb 1.0 ast 38.7 fg% 30.0 3p% Thank god we still have Randle. Kuzma still needs time to develop. He's not ready to be a starter.
Rookie wall plus that stretch where he logged so many minutes with Ingram out... Kuzma has the potential to be another excellent two way player for this crew.
he hit the rookie wall a while back. i think the troubling part is that the three point percentage has inched back down to what might have been expected at draft time. we'll see next year which guy he really is. he needs to be that 37% from three guy to be the impact player lakers fans were hoping for, imo. without it, he might be the undersized 4 that lots of teams passed on. still, though, good hoop iq, his d has improved some, and he's shown he can play with the big boys. good rookie year, even if it ends up more like the last two months than the first two.
He’s a rookie and there is nothing wrong with his performance. His body is already well along and this summer he will get in great shape strength wise. And if he is a true alpha like he says he is then he will be practicing his jump shot all summer. I look forward to a great year from him next year, as I do from Lonzo for the same reason. And BI should be knocking on The All Star door.
May also have something to do with the changing rotations with sub to starter and back to sub again and more lately changes in personnel that happened along with getting used to that. He's not in one of Phil Jackson's etched in stone rotations since the first game of the season. Then again he wouldn't likely have gotten anywhere near this amount of playing time under Jackson. I may have to bump back my premise though for his induction into the Hall while still playing .... to maybe year 10 instead of 8.
I'm not too worried about Kuzma. The things that made me love him are not things that have gone away. Her versatility, his huge array of shots and footwork, they're all things he still possesses. He hit the rookie wall. Almost every rookie does. Also, do not underestimate Ball's influence on his game. Kuzma started to hit that wall when Ball went down.
What expectations? The mans already shattered all of them. He’s had a few bad games, but he’s still our most efficient ISO scoring playing.
He's actually had a few bad months, not games. As for expectations, a lot of folks were expecting him to compete for ROY, which isn't the case anymore. Just an objective observation.
If he had been able to stay in the starting lineup or be in the starting lineup from the get go he could very well have been in the conversation IMO.
With Nance gone, he's hardly a threat, honestly. Julius brings more to the table at this point in their careers, especially defensively. Maybe next year, if Julius is still here
Yes. Kuzma was our best PF early in the season. It seemed like he couldn't miss. But since late December his wheels have fallen off a little bit. He just doesn't have the bursts he used to and his shot has not been falling consistently even in a 3 game span. I think he is coming back to earth a little bit because he was definitely playing a little above his head. It might also have to do with teams scouting him more and figuring him out. If he wants to be great, he needs to use the summer to add counter moves and learn to adjust. If he can do it, he has a really bright future and the work ethic seems to be there. I also think Luke messed up with his rhythem a little by trying to make him a playmaker and taking away his "gun slinger mentality".
