fair enough. kuz is a solid rotation player on a winning team and is basically paid accordingly. i beat this drum for kcp last year when everyone was s***ting on him, too.
completely agree. yeah we now know he isn’t going to be a star. but at least AC is super consistent as far as what he brings. toughness, energy, hustle, EXCELLENT DEFENSE, great hands. we know we will get this for the most part day in and day out. kuz, got a small little payday which i do believe is overpaying. I understand he’s playing behind high usage players like AD and lebron. However, his negatives far out weigh his positives IMHO. he will usually have the boneheaded/unforced turnover(s), misses FTs a little too much, isn’t consistent with his 3 point shooting, terribad iq, handles are avg at best, cant take anyone off the dribble, passing is suspect... he will do the cutting, he will play solid man defense, occasional block. of course he has fallen off and regressed from his stellar rookie year where he got a ton of minutes, but it seems like he isn’t quite comfortable in his role/doesn’t know his role on the team etc. he doesn’t do any one thing well/great to me.
When you say Kuz got paid, you meant to say got paid peanuts compared to plenty of guys this offseason that have accomplished far less. I get it, you always need something to complain about. This year it’s Kuz, but he’s earning that contract and I’m sorry you’re missing it while it’s clearly on display.
they're not on the lakers so i don't care, so you want me to be content with kuz cause some overpaid player elsewhere sucks? thats like asking your boss not to fire you cause you don't make as much as the guy at another company even though both of you are bad at your job
Kuz is much easier to trade with his new contract. I don't get the hate. We've seen other franchises give guys like Luke Kennard more money. Kuzma can be trade bait with this deal if it doesn't work out. Lakers didn't lose out by offering this to Kuz. It might be a tad bit overpaid but nothing egregious and I think getting him paid this season would help the Lakers overall since Kuz won't force stupid plays.
You guys just can't leave well enough alone, can you? Let this team play for god's sake. Everyone is playing their roles perfectly, chemistry is phenomenal. Coaching is great. Lakers are number 1 in the West, the hell do you guys want?
You're disregarding common sense about how professional sports leagues operate and trying to equate salary to a normal job. Your analogy is also entirely backwards. If an employer has an opening for a job that other companies are paying $100k for the same position, but you can get a candidate with more qualifications for only $80k, they'll do it every time and be very happy with their decision. Congratulations, you just played yourself. Market value and comparisons to what other players get paid is an essential part of contract negotiations. Always has, always will be. You don't get to claim someone is overpaid but then say you don't care what market value is for players with similar experience that have less accomplishments in their careers. Just take the L. Just like your reaction to Marc Gasol after 1 game. And Wes Matthews. There's plenty of receipts.
Kuzma scored 40 points once. Obviously he should be doing that every game if he cared or tried, wasn't worried about his hair or fashion, and wasn't so inconsistent. Am I doing this right? Props to Kuzma adjusting and figuring out he doesn't need to average 20 points on this team to be super valuable to us. He has just created a long and profitable career by learning to play with the type of star his ego tells him he is, but clearly isn't.
yes. i think a lot of people have undervalued that a guy who was basically a 20ppg scorer for his first couple years in the league was willing to take a back seat to win. the fact that the organization offered him the contract means (to me) that they were happy with how he's adjusted to the changing role. they could easily have traded him for someone else on a rookie deal whose extension decision wasn't up yet, imo.
marc is still slow but still effective (was wrong for sure on him), i didnt have anything to say on mathews other than i rather have him bricking shots @3M than Green bricking at $15M, there's no hate here for Kuz, all i said was more should be expected of him n if thats a good gm from him in the last one then we got low bar for him. look at advance stats for kuz i stead of replying with giberish, my analogy fits here, whether he makes 13m vs a guy making 20M, if both arent living up to their contract then that's all there is to it
You say you want more from Kuz. What exactly? Points? Not really a dire need for this team. He's been playing really good D, rebounding, and making the right reads and extra passes on offense. The bar you've set isn't based on reality or reasonable expectations. Kuz played a good game the other night and I'll happily take that at a discounted rate compared to the market. Because as I've already said, we're not going to ignore the market rate because you say so. It's an essential point in the discussion. And I'll say this again too, go look up the numbers for the guys that got $16-18M per this offseason. When we do that, I'll go as far as saying Kuz is outplaying his contract. (Technically by a lot since his extension hasn't kicked in and he's only making $3.5M right now)
most inconsistent player we have and he hasn't progressed one inch since last year. could easily be a 20ppg player coming off the bench, but seems he just doesn't want to work on his game enough to achieve it.
Make or miss league: really needs to hit open jumpers That being said I hate this starting lineup: he's much better as a tweener 3/4 not as a 2. Throw in Marc's slow feet and Schroeder's bit of blinders not a great fit
His FG% when the Lakers are down in the 2nd half has to be BAD . Someone needs to tell him you have the right to catch an offensive rebound with both hands instead of playing voley ball out there .
