feel like he's always had to be. the upside comp for me was always rashard lewis, who was a tweener that could only play the 4 in very specific circumstances. i thought it was encouraging how much better kuz got as an on-ball wing defender last year. if he could just replicate his rookie shooting from deep, he'd be a very valuable player, imo. but he might be one of those who's best with lots of reps/touches, and that doesn't make sense here. but again, maybe there's someone somewhere else (e.g., a torrey craig type) who is best when they have a very specified role.
If things are going really well this season and he’s not playing that many minutes, I bet Rob checks to see how much he can get in a trade for him. But keeping him for S+T purposes also makes sense as a restricted free agent.
Kuzma should start. And play 30-35 min this season. If he clanks left and right after 20-25 games, then adjust but I think playing him at PF didn't work, and he needs to shoot 1000 shots a day and be the best spot shooter and slasher in the NBA.
We could interpret that tweet in so many ways. Kuzma has a target on his back now regardless of Lebrons intentions
Reading those replies from Laker fans is horrible. They're still bagging on him for hyping himself on social media and for those PS5s. Kuzma better off just letting play do the talking and stay off twitter its ugly
I don't agree about starting or playing that many minutes, but I do agree that he doesn't work at PF and he should get on that Ariza workout of shooting 1000 threes a day. That's how Ariza became a good outside shooter.
Compared to 2 years ago he's just no the same player anymore. He doesn't get as many touches in his sweet spots as he used to and he just gets the left over (but he still gets open looks and its on him to knock it down to deserve more plays/touches for him). His defense/rebounding is also something only he can control.
Kuz had many chances , he can't be who the Lakers asks him to be : mainly a 3 and D guy next to Bron and A.D He got lucky to be part of a championship team ( maybe two) and should be VERY thankful to Kobe . If it wasn't for Kobe liking him and Rob being the GM , Kuz would be long gone
I haven’t given up on Kuz but he needs to work on his shooting drastically. Early in the bubble Kuz was knocking down threes with regularity and his jumper looked much improved. As the playoffs went on though he seemed to regress and with each passing series he got worse. I like that Lebron is trying to boost him up. I am hoping Kuz improves, I’m just not counting on it. I think his declaration of wanting a sizable contract from the Lakers was not a great move PRwise and didn’t endear him to fans, especially with his mediocre play.
I was reminded of this: While I don’t feel as strongly as this as whoever uploaded this to YouTube, I can’t trust the judgement of someone who liked Chance’s trash last album. As Kobe said about Bynum during the Jason Kidd saga, “ship his *** out” (I’m joking ... but seriously that album is trash. It was like the Game of Thrones Season 8 of hip hop. It’s hilariously on brand for Kuzma to have been gassing it up in social media)
I'm rocking with kuz for better or worse. the amount of hate he gets isn't justified, although he doesn't do himself any favors either. I hope this is the year for him. if he plays well, he either gets traded and/or a nice new deal. if he plays bad, he's still likely traded. with all the additions of the off season he is in a weird spot that will dictate the rest of his career.
Maybe its because I wasn't invested in any of the Lakers young dudes during the rebuild but the negativity on Kuzma seems over the top to me -He is a late first rounder who is on a cheap contract compared to his actual (not hoped for) production -He is for all his self-inflicted social media trip ups has to adjust a lot -a lot less touches -change of position -more catch and shoot-While his scoring varied a lot, he was a decent 3 point shooter and after the switch to SF became a much better man defender. That's a big plus for me: any guy you can reasonably play in the 4th quarter of a playoff game and not be targeted on defense and still have to accounted for on the offensive end is big particularly at the wing spot. You can be a better player, better scorer, more highlights, etc but on a contender you need dudes like this
I think Kuz turns people off on social media because he tries to come off as some mega superstar and his game says otherwise. Hopefully he’ll let his play do the talking this year.
Kuzma needs get the eff off of it and focus on being the 3rd star. If not, he will go the way of Jordan Clarkson.
Bring your effing hook shots back Kuz on those cuts to the hoop in close. Why did those go away? With his length and good form he should be able to sink a nice % and not get blocked if he works on them both left and right hands. Unlike our midget rookie guard firing up "floor hooks" (@KareemtheGreat33 LOL) only from right side. Sorry midget right handed rook.
