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milesfides wrote:37% from three, 38% on catch-and-shoot threes. Rookie season.

You'd think that playing next to Lebron and veterans would have helped him, but you'd be wrong. He missed a ton of open threes last season, at the worst rate in the league.

There's definitely some sort of mental weakness in Kuzma - is it the pressure of raised expectations? Is it trying to fit into a new role? Is it the changing lineups? Is it really his shot mechanics? Is it not working hard enough? Is it over training?m

Who knows. But yeah, he shot well enough his rookie season. The only major difference I've seen? Play loose and free. His talent shrinks when he plays tight.

I often agree with you Miles, but Kuzma playing tight is not one of my slightest worries. He’s as confident as they come. He was injured last season as mentioned.

All star potential, Team USA invitee. I, and Colangelo and Popovic, think your assessment of him and his confidence and ability is off.

Well we really need him to step up now lol.

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stan francisco wrote:

milesfides wrote:37% from three, 38% on catch-and-shoot threes. Rookie season.

You'd think that playing next to Lebron and veterans would have helped him, but you'd be wrong. He missed a ton of open threes last season, at the worst rate in the league.

There's definitely some sort of mental weakness in Kuzma - is it the pressure of raised expectations? Is it trying to fit into a new role? Is it the changing lineups? Is it really his shot mechanics? Is it not working hard enough? Is it over training?m

Who knows. But yeah, he shot well enough his rookie season. The only major difference I've seen? Play loose and free. His talent shrinks when he plays tight.

I often agree with you Miles, but Kuzma playing tight is not one of my slightest worries. He’s as confident as they come. He was injured last season as mentioned.

All star potential, Team USA invitee. I, and Colangelo and Popovic, think your assessment of him and his confidence and ability is off.

MAgic asked Kuz to work on a quicker release last year to make teams pay and he asked KCP to lose weight and change his whole diet last year. Both did that during the summer, KCP even talked about feeling different on the diet during Backstage Lakers. I mean part of their problems were they didn't do what was natural to them.

Kuz also hurt his hip and back in JAn/Feb.

MAgic also had the bright idea of we don't need shooting just playmaking and Beasley can replace Lopez so

Love to hear that Kuzma is working harder than anyone.

Some of The best coaches are the ones you hear less from. Kuz misses shots, this guy is settin himself up for the blame

I've been following sports long enough that I'm irredeemably cynical with stuff like this.

The final straw was this dude who used to play for the Vikings, Troy Williamson, a wide receiver we drafted with the pick from Oakland in the Moss trade. (It still hurts). Had all the tools, except for one problem: He couldn't catch. Every preseason you'd get the usual company line about how he'd gone to see eye specialists, worked on his hand-eye coordination, caught hundreds of passes a day, flew out to get reps with our QBs, etc etc etc.

And every season you'd get this:



So hey, that's great that Kuz takes his profession serious enough to put this kind of work in. Sincerely hope it pays off, because we need as many bodies as we can get. But it means less than nothing until you prove you can do it when it counts.

I cant knock the guy for trying to promote his business.

What is it with this guy that some people take the glass half empty view? Really interesting. Is he a star in the making? Probably not.... could he be a key to our success this year? Sure. Why question someone who appears to be doing his job? We have had key players here that didn't do anything off company time for us....

I think it's great he's working on about the only part of his game that regressed last year. If he had avoided the nagging lower body injuries he may not have regressed at all. I hope for more consistency and less streaky in his game. That would huge for us to have a consistent 15ppg off the bench to go along with similar numbers from Cousins.

Sedale Threatt wrote:I've been following sports long enough that I'm irredeemably cynical with stuff like this.

The final straw was this dude who used to play for the Vikings, Troy Williamson, a wide receiver we drafted with the pick from Oakland in the Moss trade. (It still hurts). Had all the tools, except for one problem: He couldn't catch. Every preseason you'd get the usual company line about how he'd gone to see eye specialists, worked on his hand-eye coordination, caught hundreds of passes a day, flew out to get reps with our QBs, etc etc etc.

And every season you'd get this:



So hey, that's great that Kuz takes his profession serious enough to put this kind of work in. Sincerely hope it pays off, because we need as many bodies as we can get. But it means less than nothing until you prove you can do it when it counts.

Not sure how this is even remotely the same. As a die hard Viking fan since the early 70's I witnessed every game of this guys career. He never caught the ball at any level...... ever. That was known by the team when they drafted him.... in fact one scout told them he never would catch the ball. He was also drafted to replace Randy Moss. That's like drafting Shannon Brown to follow Kobe. He's got Kobe athleticism... all we need to do is teach him to play.....

Kuzma shot well in his first season and overall shot about the same in his second. He shot well in college. I'm not sure what you're getting at here. It isn't like Kuzma was drafted to be coached up to be the next superstar..... that is how Williamson was drafted.

The guys role will change this year and he'll be counted on to score off the bench. We'll see if he can do it but in the 2 years he's been here he seems to rise to those occasions more than not. He's always put up more effort and had better success late in games. Watching Kuzma and having watch Williamson I can find almost no similarities other than they were both pro athletes.

People under rate Kuzma here. He played injured last season. All the other starters were injured, too.

Look at the previous season. Look at his good games, that’s what he’ll turn into.

I don’t see him as a sniper

More of a scorer

I like scoring long range from different positions. So im thinking break out year. Weve got 3pt shooting guards, kuz will bring it from the 3/4 spot. Maybe dudley as well

It is not just about getting from 35% to 40% though that is a welcome improvement. It is more about going from 35% to 47% on a specific spot on the floor. Because he will be getting those specific floor shots with AD and Lebron, so the goal is to be comfortable with them so he shoots it a high clip to be a threat.

He already is a mild threat anywhere on the floor but adding a big leap on 2-3 spots on the floor makes him even deadlier and also opens up his game.

Pre all-star break in 51 Kuzma was averaging 19/6 on 56 ts%. Then things went downhill with the trade talks and his injury. I expect him to be hungry this year to show people the Lakers don't need Kawhi.

SweetTouch wrote:I don’t see him as a sniper

More of a scorer

Yes. Far from just a sniper. I see him as an all around badass. Doubtful I’d pick Tatum over him after this season is over.

Eye of the tiger. Won’t back down from anyone. Hard worker. Plays well off the ball, a good passer.

He’s our third star. The league just doesn’t know it yet.

Not sure if he's going to thrive here. He needs to "fit in" or he will be "shipped out," under Lebron Inc.

Kuzma's already a top dynamic scoring four, I wouldn't take 10 players before him. That doesn't mean he'll be successful as a role player on a team with championship expectations and little room for error.

Kuzma just needs to sacrifice and practice catch-and-shoot threes and work on defense. But he'll also have to forgo being an all-star and earning a max contract.

milesfides wrote:Not sure if he's going to thrive here. He needs to "fit in" or he will be "shipped out," under Lebron Inc.

Kuzma's already a top dynamic scoring four, I wouldn't take 10 players before him. That doesn't mean he'll be successful as a role player on a team with championship expectations and little room for error.

Kuzma just needs to sacrifice and practice catch-and-shoot threes and work on defense. But he'll also have to forgo being an all-star and earning a max contract.

Not sure if he needs to sacrifice that much. When he is on the floor w/ both Davis and Lebron then yes, but I don't believe he will be used in that lineup. It will be more Green's, Bradley's (or KCP's) and Cousins' (or McGee's) job. I hope he will mostly share the floor w/ one of AD or Lebron plus the bench aka Rondo, KCP and McGee. Actually he played in the very same lineup last year as our starting 4 and played really well.

Out of Kuzma, Ingram and Ball, Kuzma was the one that moved off the ball the best, the one to most seamlessly play off LBJ. If you don’t think so you must have not watched many Lakers games last season. He’ll have no problem fitting in. None at all.

Kuzma is a sniper, sure, but he’s way more than that. He’s a scorer, period. Great touch around the rim, finishes hard in the grill of anyone in his way, he even has a solid mid range game and a very soft touch on floaters as well for a big. He’s a natural killer on offense. He doesn’t need the ball in his hand to be effective.

SF? Sure. Why? Length.

PG LBJ 6’8” / SG DG 6’5” / SF KK 6’9 / PF AD 6’11” / C JMG 7’0”.

My only worry about Kuz is defense which he improved end of last season and is studying with MWP(!) in the summer.

He’s a handful, a future all star, AND the perfect fit next to LeBron and AD.

Kuzma is not a Small Forward. Any post that has him pinned as small forward is immediately discarded as having completely invalid opinion on everything mention in that post.