He's benefitting of the absence of Beal. Also playing on an average team, they are in 11th place in the East. Still made sense to move him as he wasn't able to produce as a 3rd wheel in a good team
nope. he was way better than lakers fans said, and they need to marinate in it. we sold low, which is becoming a habit.
No he wasn't. The fact that we replaced him with Ariza doesn't mean he's the best we could have gotten. Phoenix alone have 3 wings in the roster that made more sense to this team. And I still don't get the fuss with his numbers in a team placed in 11th of the Eastern Conference. But yeah, if our bar is fighting for the 9th place as we currently are, then yes, he would made sense on this team.
Maybe Vogel just isn’t a young players coach. Played Kuz too many roles as he says here, took him forever to play Caruso the minutes he deserved, took him forever to start Monk and Reaves..
yes, he clearly was. and it's funny that his numbers mattered so much when he was with us and now they don't. just admit you were wrong if you were one of the "trade kuzma for anything" guys and move on. because you were wrong.
Lol, I like Kuz. I'm actually all about winning with a proper strategy and consistent growth. I don't like to "buy" success with big 3 or back door strategies like we did with AD or even when we take advantage of loopholes to get guys like Reaves in the draft. So, I really wish Kuz has a great career and was hopeful he would do that in LA. That's my baseline. He developed well and tried to fit in many different roles and ways of play. But in the end, I don't think he plays winning basketball. Like Ingram. Like DLo. Like Russ. There's a number of good NBA players who don't play winning basketball albeit having a lot of skills. Kuz is one of them. He may fit in a smaller role for a contender, but he's in that limbo where he's too good for a diminished role (like 15/20min from the bench) and not good enough for a larger one (+30mpg) in a contender. Exactly like Ingram, DLo, Randle. He also needs high usage to get going, his best games were when he could play freely in the offense (mostly if not always without AD), like this season in WAS, and he couldn't be consistent when he was on the floor with 2 superstars where they only ask him to hit the occasional open 3. Crowder, Cam Johnson, DFS or Green have learned to play that way. I think Kuz he's not that type of player. He may find a context where he can get minutes that maximize his skills (like Clarkson) in a contender but it would be a very specific context, maybe in Denver would make sense, playing with a playmaking center and a roster that lacks some talent. But generally speaking, he will struggle to be an asset in a contender. On the other hand, it's not me that is over reading its stats, it's the comments before and the tweet. I don't think they prove we made a bad move to trade him because 1) it is a completely different context and 2) it actually prove that him having better stats doesn't translate in wins. Finally, he was our main asset to get the team better. Unfortunately we used it in the worst move ever, but he would always be traded if you were to improve the team. That's my opinion and I respect any contrary ones, like yours seem to be.
i'm sure vogel wasn't exactly beneficial in kuzma's development and he probably was asked to play a different role with AD on board, but are we really going to blame that for his inability to make a shot last season? everyone knew he'd play well in WAS because there wouldn't be any pressure on him to perform and he'd be given the green light to do as he pleases as opposed to playing alongside two superstars who need the ball in their hands at all times
He didn't make enough of his open shots but neither were lineups/plays run to maximize him. He made up for it by being an above average rebounder and multi-position defender and a key component of Vogels great defensive team. We didn't use him well enough IMO he had the tools to help our squad.
this. people just hyper focused on what he didn't do and missed what he did. as pika indicated, clarkson was also a supposed loser who then found a home in utah as a big part of a perennial winner. we just mismanage non-star assets left and right. THT's next. watch. why didn't he do that here? he couldn't. he wasn't allowed to or empowered to. i really don't even think it's the pressure of la (except maybe in lonzo's case). it's that we want young players to be vets when they're not. and a lot of that is lebron and his clock.
