thank you for bringing up that injury. people forget he was playing well and gathering good reviews with team usa before getting hurt prior to training camp.
i think both of these things are worth keeping in mind. i like kuz, and i think we'll have a lot more clarity after this year. it makes sense that his agent wants cash now, but not for us. play so well we have to max you out!
keep him, if he balls out we can always trade him at deadline if we domt think we can pay him what he wants, i dont think his value is all that high right now with the season he just had
yeah, moving him for a non-starter is crazy right now, imo. it's selling low. if he played for a non-playoff team, he'd average 20 and people would be talking about what a steal he was for their veteran bench player.
Kuz needs a team where he can just chuck the ball and get 15, 20 shots a night. That team is not us. His best 3 point shooting average was his rookie year. Since then he’s shot .30 and .31 from 3. You can’t be a spot up shooter if you can’t shoot. He did improve on defense this year but no way he’s worth the kind of money he wants from us. I would try to use him in a trade and hope he ups his value this year if we keep him this summer but no way do I want to be the team that gives him the big bucks contract.
Yeah the problem for Kuz is he is a rhythm shooter, and playing inconsistent minutes off the bench makes it difficult to find and keep his flow. I still think his best days are ahead, but I'm not sure they will be with us.
Kuzma isn't good enough in his role .. there are enough evidence at this point , anything but a trade would be a dissapointment
Personally would like to see his play, for Lakers benefit this season, in a contract year for him. If we don’t find a good trade. And would not be disappointed with “that”.
Cookie said it best. Kuzma needs to play for a team like the Hornets or Wizards. Both of those teams have PG's who could feed him the ball. His role for the Lakers is to be a 3/D player because the Lakers gave up on him being a 'scorer' once it became obvious that he was inconsistent and couldn't create for others. Lots of high hope for him and other than his defense, I haven't seen any improvement in his game. Who here even thinks Kuzma has more potential than THT? At this point, I think THT will end up being a better role player for the Lakers than Kuzma. I'd put Caruso ahead of Kuzma as well....
the more i think about it, the more i'll be surprised if he finishes the year with us. if he wants to maximize his next contract, he'll need to be showcased more. he's already won a ring as a role player, so he doesn't have to prove that. but he might want to re-prove that he can carry more offense, and that's unlikely to happen here.
If Kuz was self aware, he would mold himself after Robert Horry and try to become the ultimate role playing killer. But, I'm pretty sure he still sees himself as capable of being the number one option for some team, or at worst the number two option. Neither of those roles will be available here until LeBron retires. So, moving on is what I expect to happen.
Young man is pretty clueless, but he did a nice job for us this year. If he becomes self aware and decides he wants to stay long term on a reasonable deal, maybe we keep him. I'm just not seeing it right now.
Over the course of the entire season, not just the playoffs, Caruso was probably our third best player. Rondo was our third best player in the playoffs, but over the course of the entire season, Caruso was our best player outside of Lebron and AD.
I think the only way we get maximum output from Kuz is to start him. His ego will not allow him to be a 6th man off the bench. If he and DG aren’t traded, I’d start him over DG in a heartbeat.
