never the less, you win nothing without taking risks. Todays economic structure favors the players. Players come and go on their own accord, often taking less money to play on a team of their choice with other players they want to play with. The player I will always be most sorry we lost will be Brandon. Kuz is going to have a solid career. The question is, can he fill in the gaps while Lebron is here? Can he score enough and do the little things that make him a valuable fit NOW?? Then there is the concept of can he even fit in with AD EVER? When Lebron retires, will there be enough room in the paint to allow both AD and Kuz to flourish? Kuz is going to be a 20+ ppg scorer in this league. He needs to rebound more, play better D and improve his 3 point shooting if he wants to be elite. Of course, that can be said about almost every player. I really think the fit with Lebron and AD is what matters on the bottom line. If there is a better option than Kuz, then we should explore it. While I think Rose would help us for a year or two, long term it would be diminishing returns. But if we won a ring or two, it would likely be worth it. We will be back to rebuilding mode after Lebron retires and Rose either retires or has injuries. Then we are left with AD to build around. The question is, are we able to make the moves needed to stay relevant while those things go on?? That is proving to be tough for every team in the league. Even San Antonio finally hit their wall. They had a long string of franchise saving players from Robinson, Duncan, Ginobli, Parker and then Kawhi. Once Kawhi left, they were screwed. Good team still, well coached but not gonna win anything for now. Personally, I think the Lakers should do everything in their power to win NOW. To hell with the future. Why? Because nobodies future has any more guarantees on it than ours do anyhow. No matter what we do, when Lebron retires we will have to find a way to replace him. If we win a ring with him and AD and people know this is a team that goes all in, we are more likely to attract that next player. If we play it safe and come in 2nd or 3rd, then players know that we aren't going to do everything in our power to win the next chip. One thing the Lakers have shown is that they can sell seats and merchandise even when they suck, so it is NOT like they should feel it is important for them to simply be very good. It's all about rings or bust. If they have a chance at a ring they should chase it at all costs. I would rather be the 20th best team in the league if it meant we got to win 2 rings in 4 years, while being uber competitive during that period. We should try to NOT have a down period but we should not be afraid of it, the money still rolls in. Go for the rings, that is where the legacy is.
Kuzma even though he's listed as a PF gets bullied by physical wings in all the losses the Lakers have taken. I like him and his contract and have been supportive this season thru his injuries but he hasn't shown he can at least be playable either thru offense,or defense against guys like Harris, Tatum, Siakam, Gordon, etc. I don't expect him to win any duel with guys like Leonard or Giannis, but can't have these second tier All-Star wings are going thru him like he's wet paper
thanks for doing some legwork here. i disagree that we have a third option in the sense that people seem to be using that term. in fact, that list shows me that almost nobody actually has one. carmelo anthony isn't a "third option". neither is JJJ or barrett. at least not in ways that match the expectations thrust upon kuzma. in addition, you highlight the 1 FGA difference, whereas i'll highlight his rank and the standard deviation. 1 FGA difference in the context of this list is...pretty large. the full range is 6. kuz ranks near the bottom. everyone above him is either a really high draft pick (on a bad team) or pretty well-paid. so i'm not sure what the argument is. that he's not better than will barton? am i supposed to be angry? as for moving him for bjielica--i say no. dude can't guard my house. are they giving me an unprotected 1st? does a wing defender or pg come with him. i consider taking bogdan (without a pick attached) because he can handle and create a little, which we lack.
Kuzma is a modified second option. A third option obviously is a subjective term... so I simply used the player with the 3rd most shots per game on their respective teams. Some teams have the two star system like the Clippers, Lakers, Rockets... some have a more even distribution among the five starters... there is no set definition per se. He actually shoots more like a second option as he will launch at a high rate only limited by his minutes on the floor. When his shot is on, this can be a good thing, but as he is inconsistent it's difficult for a team with championship aspirations to rely on him. I haven't seen enough of Bjelica to contradict your assessment. But the relatively cheap contract combined with a pick is attractive to me. I agree Kuzma has been improving on defense but Bjelica is miles better from three and at the free throw line... two skills we will definitely need during the playoffs.
bjelica plays the 4/5, though. and we have that locked down. kuz is a 3/4, and we don't have that past him and lebron. again, we don't have any competent offensive guards, which is why i consider bogdan. but still, if kuz goes out, we need another guy his size who deserves PT on a contender. that's not easy to find on the scrapheap. anyway, part of what started this is people piling on kuz for not scoring after a game in which he took 6 shots in 20+ minutes. he's not being asked to score big. that should be clear by now.
A lot depends about whether or not the Lakers had any choice between BI and Kuzma. If Kuzma managed to talk himself into being the chosen one and management had options... then Kuzma needs to produce to justify that decision. If he is an innocent victim in all the turmoil and was the only player Griffin didn't want... then I don't blame him. We may not know the answer to this mystery for many years.
i really don't want to move green until he has a chance to play in the playoffs. if he flames out there, he's a big expiring that makes us players on the trade market around draft time. but he signed with us over others and waited out FA. it's a bad look to move him when he's basically been himself in his time here.
The big piece of the trade was Ingram. Griffin had been public already about liking him. He was the centerpiece. They wanted a PG as well so that Holiday could play off guard as he requested, thus Lonzo as well. We had to give up our two numbers two's. We probably said ok, you can have those two but we hold on to Kuz who was the next best player. Then they most likely asked for Hart to make it three of our young guys. I don't think the trade gets done without BI being the centerpiece. In fact I would bet just about anything on it.
Right—we could have kept hart instead of kuz I guess. But I wouldn’t have. And he wouldn’t be the mythical #3. I’m not even sure Brandon Christ would thrive in this role.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-anthony-davis-kyle-kuzma-20190612-story.html Tania Ganguli reported that Kuzma was the most coveted piece. I agree Griffin wanted BI, but maybe we could have kept him or at least #4 Again, I said we don't know. At least I'm waiting to see what comes out years from now before I declare the truth.
I'd be shocked if NO didn't demand Ingram as the centerpiece of the trade. In fact I don't see any reason why they wouldn't.
This was part of the game, it’s called using the media to put a narrative out there, it’s similar to spin if not the same thing. I’m sure the Lakers wanted to make the Pelicans look like they wanted Kuzma above all else, and I’m sure they wish they’d have actually coveted him most. If the Pelicans coveted Kuzma above all else though and they would not have asked for Ingram as well, they’d have had him, and Ingram would still be here. The only reason we were able to trade for Davis is because we had Ingram and his long term health was a little less in question by the time of the trade, because we ended up keeping our pick and it was very high at 4, and because in the 11th hour Rich Paul made it clear that he would not re-sign with any team except the Lakers. All of that finally made NO take one of our deals. I honestly can’t believe this is still a discussion though, to be honest.
You all forget that BI was recovering from his health scare... he did have the 27PPG post all star explosion but that was only for six games. The national media who half assed followed him were always talking about how Kuzma was the stud of the group. I agree Griffin always wanted him, but in the context of the health scare, it's possible that Kuzma briefly held more appeal to some. I had a guy tell me on another message board that Kuzma would be more successful because he had that Moneyball swagger... because he could walk into a bar and pick up more women. I mean I get that confidence is good... but these are the types I argued with last season when Lakers fans were evenly split between the merits of Lonzo, Kuzma, and BI. It's clear cut now... but back then it wasn't.
It would be completely distasteful from a PR perspective for the Lakers to trade anyone after what happened to Kobe. I think we can win without any changes. I'm only hoping we grab Darren Collison. Otherwise, this team will only be stronger with that Kobe situation.
It's a business and this team will have a big hole at the wing defender spot if only Collison is added. Kobe would have definitely favored improving the team <shrug> instead of sitting pat
Perhaps so but I never really liked Kobe’s GM ideas such as trading Bynum for Jason Kidd. As ever the FO needs to be very selective if they are going to move Kuz. He is our best young asset and it would need to be a savvy move if we do it not just a desperation one that hurts us long term. Bjelica to me is a no go. Rose is a no go. Bogdanovic is almost a lateral move and he’s going to be a FA next year and command a lot more money. Covington is an upgrade defensively but a real drop offensively and the price seems very high for him now. I agree that Kobe wouldn’t want us to stand pat out of sentimentality but there doesn’t seem to be a good deal out there right now. If there is then I trust Rob the shark to do his thing.
I don’t know how I feel about trading players at this point. I can’t really articulate why, but it just feels wrong.
