I kind of agree here with you abeer3. I didn't think he was going to be a "third star" either. But I do think he could be a great bench scorer. Like you said he has been dealing with a number of injuries and his shot fell off after the ankle tweak. I think over the course of the next couple weeks he should get back to scoring smoothly again. Too much is being made of everything in my opinion. Agree with you about the fact that he's playing much better D under Vogel and he's also trying to do what the coaches ask in terms of moving the ball to find the best shot, something he's not particularly used to. He needs to find the balance between being the designated scorer and fitting into the offensive scheme. He's so young, he's going to get it. It's still early in the season.
Great Kuzma discussion about 19-20 mins into the podcast. Kuz missing out training camp was a real big hit. He's trying to find his place on this team. His past two season he was one of the scorers we'd rely on, now he has a much more limited role with Lebron and AD being the pillars on offense. Once we get Kuz integrated, this team will be golden. His defensive improvements has been surprising but probably a result of Vogel, his offensive stutters is probably a result of Vogel as well.
Do you guys think Kuzma's poor play is due to Lonzo, Hart and BI not being here? Those guys all seemed to be tight with each other, especially Lonzo and Kuz. Kuz doesn't look like the same guy, even his body language is off.
I think Kuzma needs to slow down and let the game come to him - but I also think he's still very bad defensively and that's the reason he's not getting into rhythm - Vogel will play guys that can play D - he's proven that by playing Caruso over Rondo in crunchtime.
I see this too. His body language hasn’t been good all season. To the poster above, yeah he isn’t paying attention and just way too many mistakes. Like simple mistakes that could be avoided if his head was in the game. Can easily see his confidence isn’t there and despite the buzzer 3s and blocks, he still brings nothing defensively, can’t really dribble well, can’t shoot. Missed a ton of FTs... what does he do well? I hope he turns it around but I haven’t seen much to make me believe it’ll happen soon.
He's playing with NBA proven veterans instead of kids who probably played Fortnite after the game ended. Kuzma has to learn from these vets. If he wants to be with those three losers up at the Pelicans, give us Jrue Holiday and we'll send him over ASAP. At the end of the day, Kuzma is up for a new contract soon. If he wants to get paid, Lakers are more than willing to offer him what he deserves. So far, he hasn't proven he can be our 3rd option player.
You're not wrong . However he got exposed on D against Toronto and Dallas ( on off ball actions). He will get targeted by the best teams in the playoffs .
The team seems to love him: i think he'll be fine once the nagging injuries are taken care of and he gets more reps. He had no training camp and then more minor injuries and he's trying to fit in with a team which is playing very well and is quite different then last year. Theoretically, the ideal version of him would be one who can hit 3's off the bench and fit in his with movement to give another scoring option. The Lakers have a lot of good defenders but not a lot of natural scorers so despite his struggles, I think you have to keep the faith in him if your Vogel and the Lakers. Plus he did win the lakers a few games even with his uneven performances
People need to shut up a little bit and be patient. Yes he hasn't looked good most of the times. He has played like 10 games after a 3 months layoff. He has also won us a couple of games with shots in the 4th quarter. He hasn't caused losing yet either. Kuz is a proud guy and I feel like he was the only young player we had who had "it", which to me is more important than stats or fit. I still have confidence he will figure it out. Its not like he is getting paid to be a star. He is getting paid close to the minimum. People can't really complain about him hurting us economically or on the court (yet). We are winning and its good. You can't have a winning team and every player having a career year, there are only so many shots and touches to go around.
Well I've always been quite blunt about this kid. Sorry if it bugs you, but patience isn't going to help me because I was never a fan of how he plays. I understand it's not cool to hate on Kuz but OK if it's KCP or Rondo lol. I don't like low IQ, inconsistent chuckers (ie JR Smith, Crawford) in general so it's nothing personal, really. Rather have kept any of the other kids... even Hart over Kuzma tbh. I don't mind having him around but rather we trade him for a piece that fits better with Lebron and AD.
Well, it was Kuzma who said he had worked on a lot of things such as playmaking, defense, and shooting so fans expected much more. Granted, he hasn't exactly been put in a position to do many of these things so hopefully it shows down the line. I'm still pushing for him. He's built for the Lakers regardless of what anyone says. If we can get him for a really solid deal, I have no issue with the Lakers re-signing him. I felt Kuzma built some really poor habits playing on those young Lakers teams where there was zero guidance up until LeBron came in and now he has to relearn how to play championship basketball. It will come, eventually.
Good night shooting off the catch. A couple he took he was unbalanced where he missed badly. Overall, played well.
