just love that his rebounding numbers have jumped as the season has worn on. i remember complaining about him not at least grabbing boards when he can't impact other ways, and he's been doing it.
Is it just me or does Kyle seem to relish now and get the same kind of joy from an improbable, hard earned rebound and his defensive play ..... and the recognition that the coaching staff and fans give him for that as he used to get from when he was hot and doing well offensively and scoring 20+ in a game? Thing is, the more valuable he becomes in playing this way, the more his minutes go up .... and in the course of all those minutes plenty of opportunities to score many different ways, including some of his pet, hold my beer watch my stuff .... moves, if he just picks his spots when he's not ONLY 3 and D ing it and doing his best Rodman impersonation. He actually utilizes and showcases more of his surprising athleticism playing this way as well.
Same thing as last year: the bench guys go just as crazy with great rebound/steal as a Lebron tomahawk.
I think for this team, he's becoming more of a Tayshaun Prince (he should start watching his tape) even though his wingspan is a couple inches shorter. On another team, he could have a Shard Lewis like trajectory, but on this championship squad, I think that's his role. To achieve that, he still has work to do defensively, Prince was capable of picking up the best perimeter player on the other team. Haven't seen that consistently from Kuz; but I think Wes, Dudley and the coaching staff can get him there though.
Love what Kuz is doing and how productive he's been considering he's pretty much been an aftermath and overlooked as a 4th or 5th option. Having said that I bet the Lakers in the back of their minds are thinking if they could unload him for 1st or 2nd round pick at the deadline. Or to a team that no FA wants to go to. (Spurs? Houston? New York? Memphis? Charlotte? ) We have Morris/THT who can make up for what Kuz provides. It is not a fan favorite move but this does open up $ for us to keep at least 2 of Harrell, Schroder, AC and THT
why make moves before we need to make moves? tax bill is pretty low for this year, and lots can happen between now and when we have to make decisions on AC/THT and maybe DS (we may or may not have choices with harrell). feel like too much is being made of the tax/salary issues right now. yes, it could be an issue. it's not an issue now. and it's not an issue we can't manage when the time comes. why give kuz away for a pick now when we can keep him and have him help us win?
There is no way I move him until his raise kicks in. We can actually get value for him then (possible package for 3rd star/Bron's eventual replacement). Moving him now, you're giving him away for no reason.
Because Kuz is replaceable for the most part and probably one of the trade chips that we can lose for nothing and still be fine without him. Again I'm not advocating for trading Kuz but I would understand why the Lakers would try to move him if necessary. The Lakers owners primary business is the team and they're not making a lot of money right now with no fans in attendance. ^ thats the point for moving Kuz. Unload him for nothing so that the team can dish out the raises and re-up more important guys like AC, Harrell, THT, Schroder. Right now they can't keep everyone for summer 2021 but if they want to retain the guys who are top priority they may have to make a tough move at the deadline. Again, I'm not advocating for moving Kuz, but the Lakers can't dish out raises for even 2 out of the aforementioned 4 guys, as it stands. The price for a Beal or Lavine or any star is very high. That Jrue Holiday/Harden trade showed teams are looking for multiple first round picks and we don't have that. But all of this becomes moot if they just stick with the team as is and deal with FA decisions during the summer as abeer pointed out. It would be prudent to simultaneously have a championship team and try to make moves to lengthen that championship window
Lakers earn 200 million a year from Spectrum. They are barely half way through that contract. Before they start any year, they make 200 mil per from tv channel money alone. Does Brian Fathorse ever say anything not condescending or derogatory about the Lakers? Is he ever gonna get over the fact that his favorite player left his home town slap team for the hated Lakers? Jeanie is a Billionaire. You know why? Because if she put up the Lakers for sale tomorrow, she could write 5 billion to start. Someone will come in with 6 and 7 to finish it, maybe more. Lakers have a title contender for the next half decade, Jeanie has already said she will do whatever it takes to keep winning. End of story.
LOL seems that way or who’s sexier in their own mind. They are similar size wanna be alphas too. Speaking of wanna be 3rd options .... here’s Kuz’s big chance to show his newly expanded bigger minutes starter all around game off. He wanted it and now he’s got it. Both sides of the ball effectiveness has blossomed at the perfect time with AD down for an extended period.
He needs to start every game or at least get 30-35 mins a night. He can establish himself as a legit 20/10 player given the minutes
I mean he got roasted by Paul George in the first game which really concerned me as the Clippers duo was always a tough matchup for the Lakers. But outside of that he's been shockingly good. Just need his offensive game to match the improvement in defense and rebounding. The good thing with his offense a lot of his improvement could be just from improving shot selection
This D is so enjoyable to see. You know, we see these things all the time: a big player goes down, an understudy of sorts steps in and goes ape-s***. Not that he'll replace AD, but this could be a huge opportunity for him to help with the heavy lifting. Hopefully his threes start falling as well. Really pulling for Kuz.
Would run some more actions for him: he looks really comfortable out there and with KCP and THT struggling a bit, I would try to get him more shots. Continues to play good defense and make good decisions with the basketball
