And to think it might be higher if not for his 2 full court heaves to end the quarter that he has had in 2 out of the 3 games played.
He's shooting 60% and he has great chemistry with Lonzo already. Bench Ingram and start him at the 3. We need production with our starters and he's the most obvious upgrade.
This kid will be a special player in this league. A contributor for sure. Needs to get stronger, but he has such a good feel for the game.
Yep my thinking too. Let Ingram get his mojo and shot going coming off the bench with Clarkson to light other teams' reserves up. Kuz adds instant offense to the starting unit and start Randle again at the 4 and get his mojo up so if he is going to be traded they can do it at the deadline and then you can move Ingram back to the starting lineup and Kuz to the 4 spot. If Kuz is being outmuscled to a bad matchup then sub Nance in for him more quickly and let Kuz get his minutes that game more at the 3 spot or at 4 against reserves.
i get the theory, but a bad team like ours isn't in a position to develop chemistry with vastly different lineups. i get what luke's doing in that regard. it's why a lot of good coaches would start a third stringer when the starter goes down rather than just go next man up--why mess up chemistry top to bottom? choose the role you want for kuzma and play him that way. i like him at backup 3/4 for 25-30mpg. that's plenty of reps for a rookie. i suppose you could try to sub him in a bit sooner to get him some time with lonzo and other starters, but i'm still not on board with starting him. but talk to me in a month...
It just seems we ought to take care of business first with the starting lineup and worry about everything else in due order. A motivated and balling Randle is better starting (and building his trade value, I guess) than Nance. And right now Kuzma has the flow and the scoring ability needed consistently ...... that Ingram is not bringing. Hell DAR got the treatment and so has Randle so why not try that. Not a lot of chemistry BI's creating by NOT playing like Kuzma and not hitting his shots. When Randle gets moved at deadline then start BI again at 3 and move Kuzma to 4.
The only thing I can say about our season so far is obviously Kuz and Ball are our future. Start them together and let them grow together. Put in the right pieces around them as they become obvious. Don't want us outsmarting ourselves.
One thing about Kuzma is that he produces regardless of who he plays with or what role he's given. The definition of a swiss army knife. So I really don't mind if he comes off the bench, as long as he gets his minutes.
Can Kuzma just start? He’s worked his tail off, he is producing, can add a scoring punch to the always flat starting five... have JR and nance come off the bench.... at some point we’re gonna go small, so JR and Nance will get their mins
Our staff is overthinking it. Randle, Clarkson, and Kuzma are all "points off the bench for that second unit." Problem is they are probably our 3 best scorers, period. Our offense is a bit anemic with the starters. I'm all for the Lonzo/KCP/Ingram/Kuzma/Lopez starting five with Randle as our first big off the bench and Clarkson as our first guard. That should be the rotation. It honestly seems like Luke is just twisting a Rubik's Cube with a blindfold on and eventually he gets the right 5 guys out there that click. But we're down by 15 by that point.
Lopez is our best scorer, we just have no idea how to feed him. If he's on the block we frequently have people within help distance and we have almost no one cutting. Otherwise we have him floating out somewhere on the perimeter forcing him to take tough shots. We've been very poorly coached to this point.
Maybe. But like you said, we're not using him correctly, so he's only our best scorer in theory. Reality is, those other 3 guys seem to be able to get us points in whatever street basketball offense we are running. So due to our complete lack of offensive rhythm, they are our "best" scorers.
True, especially Kuzma who continues to score effortlessly. I'm just very frustrated with the poor coaching... very frustrated.
Might be some trial by fire...but i think what were trying to do with KCP coming back is trying to be right there or close starters vs starters.. Then our stronger bench comes in to deliver a blow to them and give us a lead. Doesnt sound luda... Im just already tired of the feeling that yall know better than them.. Or atleast not giving them time to gel to give it a legit chance before letting jumping the gun
Kuzma's shot seems an inch or two off...except that one air ball. Still hard for me to believe he misses. Kept alive a possession by forcing a foul with his hustle for a rebound. Had an offensive basket interference but I can live with that.
