What would help more than working on ball handling is work on how you fit next to AD. I don't think he can have the role he wants as a Laker.
I'm not sure when he supposedly turned himself into a great defender. I guess if you don't believe it , no one else will.
Kuz drinking his own Kool-Aid. Could have been a great 6th man on this team. He is doing a good job talking himself off the team. Blaming the coach for his inconsistent production is a no go for me. So, he wants me to believe it was Vogel's fault that in 21 minutes per game in the Suns series he shot .29% overall and .17% on threes.
didn't see him really directly blaming the coach for his problems. but i agree with jsm that "his space" just isn't here. i do think he will look better on another team, but our two best players both want/need minutes at the 4 spot. and one of them also plays the 3 alot, so being a 3/4 here is tough sledding if you want to be featured. i won't be surprised if puts up 20ppg and threatens an allstar appearance on another team, though it would obviously surprise me more than ingram doing that. and ingram would have struggled to fit with lebron/AD, too, imo, as he needs to play the 3/4, too. hopefully, someone's got a quality 5 or scoring guard surplus, and we can solve each other's problems.
Once they get 18, then it's time to catch the Canadiens at 24 and then the Yankees at 27. Always someone to chase.
In the quote from the interview above, Kuz lays the blame for his inconsistent play on being given an inconsistent role. He didn't mention Vogel by name, but he didn't need to. It's Vogel who assigns team roles and minutes. My issue with his statement is not his desire for more minutes and a larger role. He should want that. It's that he is off loading his own responsibility to produce consistently within the role and minutes he was given.
Kuz is feeling that 13 million dollar contract already. It sounds like he has eyes on getting into the 20 plus range on the next one.
there have been worse allstars, imo. he's put up big scoring numbers before, and he has improved since then. if another lotto team feeds him the rock, he could fool some folks.
It's true that Frank Vogel/Lakers didn't use Kuzma probably. It's also true that Kuz didn't take advantage of the opportunities he got either. He is a volume guy who needs a lot of touches in his spots to get into rhythm but he bricked many wide open 3s. He can only blame himself for that. Credit to him for improving his defense, rebounding and shotblocking significantly. Guys like Connaughton and Cam Johnson are not as talented as Kuzma but they're having an impact. I wouldn't give up on Kuz yet, give him one last chance
Kuz talking about roles? There were times in my life I had to play out of position. I wasn't as impactful, but as TIME alluded to, I didn't drop to the basketball equivalent of 29/17 percent.
It's actually a great place to be IMO. Similar to guys like Odom and Kukoc who were "sixth men" they would come in finishing lineups where teams would go small (rodman ro Gasol at center). Look I've liked what Kuzma tried to do last year but at the end of the day he just cannot consistently make open 3's or finish inside. He should be the guy taking the Drummond and Trez minutes in the playoffs and similar to Bridges on the Suns taking on another wing but he just has never shown the consistency to be able to do it. Time to trade him if you can find a way to take on the salary of a guy like Barnes who better fits that 3/4 tweener role
It's not just Kuz though, he's the easy scape goat but outside of Caruso who played well beyond AD and Bron, I guess THT......
He has to say something I suppose. The "I sacrificed my game so the team could win" line isn't looking good about now.
hmm...i view them quite differently. odom was a 3/4/5, whereas ingles is a 2/3. odom was a better defender and rebounder, but ingles is a much better shooter. both are high iq players who are great off the bench anchors and can start in certain configurations, though. it's hard to think of a good odom comparison in the game right now, honestly. and he'd be super valuable now that everyone plays small the 5 for like 24mpg.
