Can Kuzma be the Lakers 3rd star with their championship aspirations? If they viewed him as the 3rd star how does it change their free agency approach ?
He’s going to have to increase his 3 ball shooting percentage greatly. I would assume he will get more wide open opportunities now but last year he was one of the worst on wide open threes, so not sure if that will make any difference.
He already is. He is popular, has charisma, makes endearing comments to Lakers legends that show he has respect, and has shown that he wants to be on the big stage with this organization. I didn’t think the same of his former teammates that are no longer here. All he has to do is score consistently and play defense, both skills that he hired specialists to help him work on this offseason. He’s invested in himself. I can support that type of employee.
3rd star, imo no. 3rd overall in points scored on the team, maybe off the bench as a 6th man, yes. He is not a good defender, and he isn’t a special rebounder or anything, so if he doesn’t up his shooting percentages and make that a HUGE strength of his, he is just a really, really good role player. Over time, if he continues to work with the shooting coach, if he really starts to get into playing defense and boarding, then it’s entirely possible he could become borderline all-star or make a team at some point. If we don’t go the 3rd max route though we have 2 stars and a lot of quality role players most likely, which is probably enough to win it all if they are top quality, semantics of star or not star won’t matter at that point.
Ideally, 3 and 3A would be nice. Dlo as the other 3 at guard would work. Then add defensive shooters and you are set. That's IF Kawhi, Irving or Butler don't come. Those guys are priority.
with his 3 & D as it was last season, the inside game is ok but he has to expand his shot out further. His 3s were promising the first year almost 37% then dipped to 30% the kid needs a shooting coach fierce but he has shown he can do it and with a fair amount of attempts too so something happened last year and the sucky coaching staff didn't have the means to correct it. Maybe the change from mostly off the bench to mostly a starter effected him (worse defenders) but if so, with the openings LBJ and AD should give him I would expect to see a return to good #s on his 3s. He can be a 20/7/3asst guy this season on a fair usage rate question is will he step up the D. With AD killing everything inside he may just need to increase his help skills there.
I'd rather go with Russell than Butler. Butler will cost 10 million more. Butler is 30 and likely will get worse every season from here on out. He's certainly peaked. Russell is younger and will likely still improve. He can grow with AD and Kuzma. Obviously Kawhi and Kyrie would come before Russell, but I'm just not a huge fan of Butler on this team. He's caused locker room issues (I know, I know..I say that while pumping up D'Lo). He's a career 33% 3=point shooter. Defense is better, but he's declined in that area too.
kuz would need to improve his 3 point shooting and show significant development as defender/passer. I think he has the will and the work ethic to Improve in all areas, but that would take time IMO, which may not correspond with LeBron’s timeline. I see his peak being a borderline all star and floor as a dynamic scorer off the bench. Defensively, he is not physically gifted, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be an above average defender; it would just take time.
I'll be honest, I was not happy with Dlo getting traded, I always thought he had great skills. I want a do over on that. He can ball and he will get better with AD and Lebron there. Kuzma too.
I think he can grow in the 3rd star, thats why I think adding quality depth might be better than adding another max guy
With off season improvements, it's possible. Unlikely, but possible. Problem is we can't afford to take that gamble because we won't know the answer until 20 games into the season, by that point if he isn't, we're up s***s creek. Have to go after players this summer as if he won't be.
Sure, why not? He's still 23 and as explosive as they come. He's got really good instincts on offense, especially off the ball. He just need to work on his defense and I could see him develop into our version of Klay. He'll be slightly worse at 3&D but he's taller, making him a better rebounder and finisher at the rim.
I had mixed feelings because I followed him in college and really liked his potential and thought he would be a great pro. And we took him over Okafur, that was a little shocking, especially for them. But then I started wanting him gone because he didn’t seem to give great effort and relied on talent, which came across as unfocused talent. Basically, he was too immature when I thought he would be hungry out the gate. Remember “ice in my veins!”? I thought we got the pick of the draft. But then, the Swaggy P incident, and I was done. I could understand Magic ridding the team of him because he wanted leadership at the point guard position and DLO didn’t seemed focused on being great at it. Can’t have that if you are doing a rebuild with youth. Four years later and I don’t feel much different now. I think he just balled out because of a contract year. That is what a talented person with no desire to be great would do. We’ve seen this before many times, see Whiteside (and most any other player with an oversized contract that has you wondering why a team paid them that much money). They get that big contract then it’s back to the same old s*** instead of trying to advance their abilities to live up to the new advanced contract. Result: a forgettable allstar. Some may think he has matured and turned the corner, but I don’t, and don’t care especially after trying to airline transport weed from N.Y. to Kentucky. Dumb s*** right there for a 4th year guard at the end of a contract year.
Sorry man but "just" working on his defense won't bring him anywhere near Klay. Klays one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and honestly on an all time list he's among tier 2 at the very least. I believe Kuz improved over the year and I believe in his work ethic so we'll see. Offensively he's one of the best off-ball/cleanup guys in the league with an absolutely filthy in between game that he makes use of with well timed cuts. And he still gets the gravity of a respected shooter without actually being one. As a 3rd cog behind LeBron and AD I actually feel like he can put up KLove and Chris Bosh scoring numbers. I like Cranjis a lot and he talks about optimization vs talent. Those other guys were more talented than their optimization so they had an offensive impact that was below what you'd really love from a great third option. Kuzma's optimization alongside LeBron and AD would be maxed out in accordance with his talent so his impact likely surpasses both of theirs on offense. Unfortunately he loses out on rebounding vs KLove and perimeter defense vs Bosh
