Alright full disclosure I fell asleep last night watching that travesty, but I rewatched most of it this morning. What makes Kuzma so valuable right now is his decisiveness. He's a natural basketball player which means reads come easy to him. He can score because he can adjust faster than the defense, that's just something he's born with. It's not dissimilar from the way Lonzo reads plays and it's a talent, it's something you're born with. Right now when teams are questioning what they're doing, including us, it's invaluable. His quick decision making leaves defenses on their heels. As time goes on, things will get much more difficult for him. Defenses will catch up and he'll find himself trapped more often. As of right now, he's more valuable as our starting SF than as our PF. He's struggled with size inside and he's not as strong on the glass as Julius. Not to mention he might be one of the best shooters in the game right now so he'll space the floor for everyone. I know everyone wants Randle out of the lineup, but tell me what Ingram does better than Randle and I'll change my mind. Right now Ingram isn't defending well, he's not shooting well, he's MUCH more of a ball stopper than Julius, and he's not as good a rebounder. Right now Ingram is not efficient at any part of NBA basketball. With Randle at least you get size and energy at the rim. A lineup of Lonzo/Pope/Kuzma/Randle/Lopez has shooters in at least 2 spots (Lonzo and Pope are streaky shooters right now), size on the glass, length and speed in the passing lanes, and energy to boot. I think it makes more sense than Lonzo/Pope/Ingram/Kuzma/Lopez for now while Kuzma is struggling with size and Ingram isn't doing anything to prove he's ready for what Magic wants out of him.
Looks to me that you need to stay in your lane and follow your own local bball club up in Seattle...oh yeah, that's right. STFU #49ers I'm with Real, in that Kuz is built to be most effective at the 3 (his body isn't there yet to battle the bruisers at the starting 4 spot)...so BI is put on notice to start bringing it to keep his starting gig. However, I'm with LT, in that he needs to be our 6th man. We all know Clarkson is a goner, so let's start grooming Kuz for that role of being the 1st guy off the bench and being that guy we can count on to finish games in the 4th if the game is ever in question. To me, that is more important than being a starter. Plus his confidence is through the roof right now...We should keep feeding him lesser talent for him to dominate over. By coming off the bench, he will face the 2nd stringer either at the 3 or 4... And he will capitalize off that lesser talent.
For me the thing is, if you bench Ingram for Kuzma after hyping him up like we have, do you destroy his confidence? Randle, I really don’t care about his confidence, he’s not in our future anyway. But Ingram, he’s either got to be very good, or we have to keep the illusion that he’s going to be good if we even want to keep him one of our best trade assets. You bench him, that is a baaaad look.
Do we really care about defense and rebounding or developing our potential best talents. I say we at least experiment the Zo,kcp,bi,kuz,Brook lineup in the next game.
I don't disagree. I don't see a scenario where you can bench Ingram after Magic spent all summer calling him the next big thing. I do think that if we start Kuzma over Randle, you just run into another problem instead of a real solution. Kuzma would be beaten up by starting PFs in the league. Can you imagine him trying to guard Aldridge? Griffin? Davis? He wouldn't just get beat, he'd be beaten up as well. Bringing Kuzma off the bench means he faces weaker talent and continues to blaze through them. I think people just really hate Julius and in some ways I think many enjoy kicking him while he's down. I get it, he's not the savior so he's the villain right now, but he should be our starting PF when the season rolls around. Why isn't anyone crushing Larry by the way? He's been nonexistent. He's missing layups, not creating plays on either end, he's been nothing.
i think nance is playing out of position, and that explains some of it. randle looks better than last year, and kuzma can't play pf right now (maybe not ever, he's not big-framed). people are on luke about not putting people in position to succeed, but he's done that with kuzma. expanding his role or starting him might not be good for anyone.
I don't understand why people think Kuzma can't play the 4 in this current NBA. Will we have trouble against the Pelicans? Yes, but so will the rest of the league. Kuzma is about the same size as Robert Horry and he played the important minutes for us at PF through our 3-peat. He'll have trouble against Davis, Aldridge..and who else? The other power forwards in the league include Favors, the Morris bros, Love, Milsap, Anderson...there aren't bruising pf's that back people down and crush you in the paint anymore. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't see him as being some shrimp in there.
Kuzma is by far our best player so far in this very short sample size. That said, he is a rook and shouldn't be starting. We have to develop Ingram further and benching him won't help that. Kuzma is a keeper and a guy for our future. But Ingram should be too. And Kuzma might be a good stretch 4 in future, but right now he does get a bit tossed around by more physical PF's. Randle should be starting and so should Ingram. Kuzma should be getting minutes at backup 3 and 4 but I'm in favor of him taking those minutes away from Nance and Brewer and Deng. He's just better than all of them.
Sav, he ain't built that way tho. There are legit men in this league playing that position. He's 22 and is an "older, savvy" rook in that regard, but looking at his rebounding (even with a limited sample) should tell you that dude is having a hard time positioning and maintaining that position in the paint. He even suggests that in his post game pressers. Some gym time and some seasoning will get him there...But right now why feed him to the dogs when in his current role he's the one feeding. He needs to body up before he can body them. I'm confident he'll get there tho...Cause again he's got the right headspace. #MambaMentality
People are not trashing Larry because he was always seen as an energy reserve guy. Flashy play here and there, dive for a lose ball etc. Ingram was called KD 2.0 and a franchise cornerstone...
He gives a lot up in weight to probably a lot of also quick and athletic, if not as talented, 4s in the league. It's just physics like Nance trying to guard Plumlee. But pick and choose who he goes up against there..... hell to the yes. Minutes there, at the 3 and even the 2 in a pinch. Better D there than DLO for sure. He's a budding big Klay Thompson maybe even in his rather large repertoire at his young age. Maybe lite version of Klay if it's what the team needs at the 2 at some point in the game and to get him minutes.
Expectations on Nance are definitely lower for me. I do think he can play much better than he has though. As it stands he's very low on the list of issues for us though.
I don't care where you play him. Call him a three, call him a four, call him a starter, call him a 6th man, just don't call him late for dinner. Right now (until Lopez gets floor time) he is our best player. You play him 30-36 minutes a game no matter who else on the team has to sit for those minutes. Then you give a BIG bonus to the person in the scouting department that first sold Kuz to Magic & Rob.
everyone you named can walk kuzma right under the basket with no problem. and your list omitted a lot of others: ibaka, draymond green, blake griffin, zbo, towns. even the teams that play smallball 4s as starters play very physical sfs (harrison barnes, melo, marvin williams). i just don't buy the narrative that the league has phased out 4s and 5s and just shifted everyone up a spot. that teams that do that are still rarities (if they even exist--dantoni starts capela and ryan anderson, gs starts pachulia and draymond green).
