i didn't fully comment in the other thread, but i wonder if indy is leaking these "failed offers" to try and drum up interest in their pick. i can't imagine teams being super desperate to get up to 13, and indy just hired a guy who doesn't play rookies. feel like they're trying to set a market: give me someone better than eric gordon or kuzma, and the 13 is yours. also, we don't know what the other part of the deal was. was it us offering kuz/22 for warren/13? i bet it was. we only hear what the leaking party wants us to hear.
lakers and teams with space. the mavericks are in on every single rumor simply because they have money. definitely just agents agent-ing.
been saying this all year. he played a poorly-fitting role, so it was hard to see his progress, but it was there. i don't think i've seen a hypothetical deal involving him that i like, tbh. he's going to make us look dumb if we move him for hield or something, imo.
Yup. He had a bad playoff showing but it's going to be hard to replace his size and athleticism on the wings and off the bench.
Hield is a better fit for us than Kuz, but I would hesitate in packaging KCP. Maybe Trez if he opts in?
We need KCP to chase point guards, as long as he and the eagle are around I’m secured that we can contain other teams’ star point guards
I want to agree but the lack of consistent shooting from him is just killing his value for the Lakers: he can do all the right things on defense, rotating the ball, but you've got to be able to hit an open 3 if you're playing next to AD and Lebron. He should be the Cam Johnson of this team but just isn't. I think he'll have more value on a team like the Kings who need a smart roleplayer and have more consistent shooters. Hield's shooting and what it would unlock for the Lakers is just too much value to ignore. (I'm assuming playing with Lebron and Vogel will help get his defense better: if Hield is even an average wing defender for the Lakers they would be tough to beat by anyone)
he shot 36% from three. good luck finding a 6'9" guy who can defend on the perimeter and shoots 36% from three. much less one that's proven he can score nearly 20ppg consistently if need be. teams are smart to be sniffing around him right now. they're going to trade their junk for someone who will immediately produce for their team, imo. as for hield, there's a reason sac is looking to unload him for a player everyone here (and in the press) claims is objectively horrible. his defense has been consistently bad, and he's sort of a one-trick pony on offense who's not even that great at his one trick. all for the low low price of 20+ million per for the next three years. i'm fine moving kuz, but we need to be smart about it. this isn't it.
Kuz's inability to hit the 3 consistently is a fair criticism but he still does other things really well given the inconsistent minutes/role. He puts up occasional stinkers but he's solid every 3 out of 5 games. In his rookie year he would get clear outs or forays to the basket coming off the weakside screens. He is a volume and streaky player but if you can give Schroder the long leash why not Kuz. The last 3 years we have seen little plays run for him and he has become completely forgotten. If Lebron needs help he needs to use the talent that's already on the team instead of always asking to get help from the outside.
i'm fine with moving him since we can't/won't change the offense to maximize his talents. and that's probably fine. but don't trade him for hield. for joe ingles? ok. for robert covington? i'm listening. as part of a bigger deal for a star-level player? i'm in. but for a comparable/possibly inferior player on a bigger contract with an uncertain fit in his own right? nope.
I think we can all agree Kuzma is just not a playoff performer at this point. I don't care he can get 30 in the regular season if he adds nothing to the team during the playoffs and is a liability. We need players that can be reliable during the playoffs in order to win. like Lonzo and BI, I think he'll thrive with a starter role in a team with way less pressure, but just not right a fit for us and for me it was a mistake not moving him last year.
Interesting that we've had a flurry of conflicting reports of Kuz's trade value the last couple of days. From Woj's ridiculous claim that we offered him to every team with no interest to the stuff yesterday insisting that he has more value than most think. I'm glad that Rob is trying to move him, but also glad that he is not giving him away.
I understand your line of thinking as he's neither a good defender nor playmaker but the shooting is incorrect. Hield takes a lot of tough shots (poor basketball IQ could be a legit criticism) and even with tough shots he's able to still be extremely high percentile in terms of 3 pt shotmaking. he's definitely an elite shooter. The shot quality next ad/Lebron should go up dramatically. He's got his faults but AD has never played with a shooter of Hield's caliber and Lebron hasn't except for the Ray Allen days. You can't afford to let him open If Vogel can turn him into average defender lineups with him, AD, KCP, and say Caruso would be elite on offense and still be pretty darn good on defense and he'd be the only weak link. I think in this context with what the Lakers are good at I think the Lakers have take a long look. He's not going to be available with that kind of shooting if he didn't have flaws but going to a system under Walton to a structured approach where he is clearly at best 3rd guy on the totem pole could make him shine
i don't really know what these numbers mean. these are percentile ranks? it's hard to make sense of them. i was busy debunking some draft guy's analysis earlier today because the data were of dubious quality/validity. his raw percentages aren't great compared to the really great shooters, nor does his ability to shoot seem to help his team win any games ever. combine that with the long history of dudes showing up in la and forgetting how to shoot and i think we'd be better off looking elsewhere. it might be different if he would only cost us one guy (kuz), but he's going to cost us two.
