given his defensive deficiencies, i'm not sure how one justifies his heavy minutes. the lakers have the look of a tanking team, but they should be trying to win. i understand nance playing over other guys because he's like, the only player on the roster who seems to be thinking about defense and rebounding most of the time. hart, too, and even lonzo. you're making a symbolic point giving them minutes. i'm not sure there's a point to kuz playing 40mpg.
I am not seeing that awful defense you guys are talking to. You can't possibly expect Kuz to bang, for 40 minutes, with the likes of Gibson -- a banging, legimate, strong PF in the NBA.
It's not just Gibson, although Gibson did take his lunch, Kuzma just doesn't pay attention enough on the defensive end. The last game against Memphis was the worst Kuzma has ever played because his offense was abysmal and he contributed very little else. He's a good passer, but he's not a consistent creator yet. He's a great scorer, but if he's off he's not rebounding and defending enough to warrant playing time. He has a long way to go.
It's too many minutes. He ended up with back spasms last time he played a long stretch of 40 minute games and now he's hurting again. It doesn't make any sense to play Randle less than 20 when we have guys out with injury. That's stupid. So is playing a rookie 40 over and over.
Well what other options does he have. You expect them to make better use of Julius Randle? C'mon now!
Calls that he’s being played too little have now turned to he’s being played too much. Don’t forget that Zo and jailbird are not around lately. I’m fine if he plays too much than too little because he’s just going to get better in the end. His next season will be monster.
So fun fact: Kuz has graduated and has a degree in Sociology with a year left of eligibility. In other words, he FINISHED his degree in 3 years before entering the draft. How great is that!
I'm going to try and stay positive and think about who will get some extended run in his absence. Hopefully it benefits us down the road having to get guys some good minutes with either trade value or improved quality of play.
