I need to see some numbers on his defense when he’s not at center to believe this. From what I’ve noticed he hasn’t been terrible when he wasn’t expected to guard centers. Even when Lebron is on the court with him, Kuz has still been expected to guard the biggest player when we went small and he had zero experience doing that before this season. Not only was this just dropped on him last minute when he was practicing guarding the 3 all summer, he even had to go to Luke and ask him what to do to play the center position before the season started... that’s how little this guy knew about it. I still think Kuz should start and play the bulk of the minutes. Offensively I think he’s literally the only other player than McGee that plays well with LeBron. Just don’t put him in a position to fail by asking him to do something he’s not good at just because he’s tall.
Me too. With all the gym work Kuz did this off season I expected some dividends on the defensive front.
Talk about breaking out of a slump. He was driving and cutting to the hoop again, pulling up and hitting threes with no hesitation. More of that please.
Scoring is on point right now. No question. Shooting is still a weakness but at least lately rather good. I'm a little dissatisfied with his work on the glass...you can't play 30+ minutes and grab 2 rebounds as one of the biggest guys on the floor for us. We have been getting KILLED on the glass. Honestly, that's unacceptable. Kuz has to take more responsibility on the glass. I'm not unhappy with him and glad to have him, just think he can and should do more especially rebounding-wise.
I wish we could morph Ingram and Kuz into one player. Shooting/ scoring of Kuz mixed with defense of Ingram. I don't see both staying long term. Similar to Eddie Jones being traded so Kobe could blossom. Question is, who does Magic / Pelinka keep?
Both kuz and Ingram in the off-season need to dedicate there work to 2 things: Defense defense defense. And working on their lower body strength, they should work out with LeBrons one million dollar Navy seals lol
Our roster definitely has issues with redundant talent. Hopefully we see who shakes out because I don't buy into positionless basketball 100%. You need bigs. We are lacking the 4 department right now.
Kuz is just in his second year. I expect mistakes. I don't think he'll ever be a great defender but he can be a solid one with proper coaching. I think Chandler is going to help him a lot out there both from being able to give him advice and covering for his lapses as he learns. Like Hart, I think he just has a knack for making plays when it matters and I think he should be on the floor down the stretch.
Lakers' Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart make major strides in excelling in their roles http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-sidebar-20181107-story.html
