You gotta think that Detroit looked at Kyle Kuzma for their 12th pick no? Also, Denver really messed up taking Tyler Lydon...pretty sure he has played 1 minute his entire career thus far. Also, Orlando may have messed up taking Isaac and that euro with 6th and 25th...imagine them with Kuzma right now... Basically, I'm very happy we have Kuzma...oh and we got Hart 3 picks later as well...what a draft!!!
It’s amazing the difference in perception on LB. These type of bad games are pretty rare for Kuz. I think he’s the second best player on this team by a good amount, and it’s inconcievable to call him a bench player.
This guy needs to stop jacking up low IQ 3's. Someone needs to tell him we aren't playing pick up games.
I know Kyle's shooting was off last night, but I was really impressed with the double digit rebounding effort. Good showing I thought and I'm glad to see him doing other things when his scoring isn't quite on.
He has been absolute crap since his 40 point outburst.... Would be nice to see some consistency from him and more efficient shooting as well...he's been really bad from 3 this year.
Yes, the 3 ball has been his culprit. I still think he is by far the 2nd best player on this team and a particularly good fit next to LeBron...low usage, clinic scoring and high confidence. But the damn 3 ball....if his 3s would fall, he would be more consistent overall because that opens up the game for him to drive and use his array of hooks, midrange shots and layups.
Jamal Crawford was 26 and in his 7th season when he hit 52, Lou Will was 31 years old and in his 15th season when he scored 50. Kuz is a 2nd year kid and did 41 in 3 quarters, 29 mins played. If Kuz played the 4th quarter as they did, at his rate of scoring and hot hand he'd have had the 50+ pts. Crawford and Williams have never had 12 rebounds like Kuz did last night, comparing a big with small guards is just wrong. Though he hasn't killed on defense there is potential there to be good with his quickness. In their first few seasons, neither Lou nor Jamal attempted the amount of 3s that Kuz does either which clearly he is struggling with. Kuz is .571 on his 2pt attempts this season. Neither Williams nor Crawford have approached that number in their careers. The fact that he's in his 2nd year playing 2nd fiddle to LeBron and the worst people can say is maybe he should be a only 6th man right now (which I do not agree with especially with Lebron on the team and how Kuz fits with that unit) speaks pretty well of what he's accomplished.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. If Kuzma had posted 12 rebounds with those 41 pts I would have been impressed, but he posted 2 reb and 0 ast. And he's been bricking shots ever since, proving my point about how streaky he is. And fyi, Crawford's career highs are 11 boards and 14 assists. Lou's career highs are 10 assists and 10 steals. If I can temporarily swap Kuzma with Lou to keep us afloat in Lebron's absence, I would. Kuzma hasn't shown enough to convince me that he's anything more than an one-dimensional scorer. He scores well in a free-flowing offense, but needs to be assisted (spoon-fed) on most of his buckets and thus plays well with a playmaker like Lebron. He isn't skilled enough however to be a go-to scorer in the ilk of Wade or Kyrie. We aren't going anywhere with him as our second option. As I said, I value him highly as a scoring punch off the bench, but he needs to expand his game significantly (especially on defense) to be a starter on a championship team. Right now I view him as a poor man's Gallinari.
^ Then take the game he went 15/12/6 earlier this year. Point is he's a big, you're comparing a big to little guards and a big that has just started his career to player's stats they achieved after playing in the NBA for years. The fact is he already fits in nicely aside LBJ. Addressing our current scoring issues by imagining our 2nd best scorer in some other role isn't solving anything, our problem is our players that are not scoring efficiently. I'll say it again, his 2pt % is .571 and are 57% of his attempts. He needs to give the 3s a bit of a rest and make that a summer project. Get his 2pt attempts up to 70+% of all attempts.
^ This. When your shot isn't falling you find other ways to win, seeing him do that shows me his continuous growth as a player.
16 pts, 12 rebounds last game. Kuzma is doing fine especially relative to his time in the league and draft position. Luke just needs to change the green light to yellow on 3 pointers. He just fires them up and needs to be much more selective.
It's tough because Kuz the scorer kind of needs freedom to launch. He has that quick release and he can get a bit unconscious for bad or good. I'd be wary of trying to reel him in when we need offense so badly. After Lebron gets back sure, reel it in.
