RealGM

Alright....so here we are at the end of year 3 with Kuz. Typically by year 3, the cream starts rising. This guy had 4 years college as well, so he's got zero excuses.

Anyone seeing cream?

I'm seeing regression. 13points, 4.5 boards, and an assist. Some D....but it's far from great. Minutes have gone down. Let's be fair to him....he lost a decent chunk of minutes. But you could also argue, he's now spending more time against opposing benches, as apposed to starters.

I find myself less and less impressed, and less and less enthusiastic about Kuz, although I admit, I'm not sure we get much for him in a trade. I think the "new kid" shine is off for sure.

Where are others with him? Anyone think we got an AD/Kuz duo in the future?? If we could trade him, what would we honestly get?

I'm just thinking about this team post Lebron....and I'm thinking about AD and his assessment of this team. Does anyone think AD looks at Kuz as someone you could goto battle with?

Thoughts -

Kuzma is a low BBIQ, high energy player... There's still upside there in the right environment I think, but we'd be silly to pay him what he's going to demand on the open market... I don't know if he can be traded at this point but I don't see him on the team next season, unless there's some crazy Klutch love for him like KCP...
AD probably forgets Kuz is on the team from time to time... So no, not seeing any future with those 2.

I'm hoping we get rid of Danny Green's contract by adding Kuz. Not sure if there is a sucker out there that'd do that trade, IIRC Vlade isn't the GM of the Queens anymore.

danfantastk32 wrote:Alright....so here we are at the end of year 3 with Kuz. Typically by year 3, the cream starts rising. This guy had 4 years college as well, so he's got zero excuses.

Anyone seeing cream?

I'm seeing regression. 13points, 4.5 boards, and an assist. Some D....but it's far from great. Minutes have gone down. Let's be fair to him....he lost a decent chunk of minutes. But you could also argue, he's now spending more time against opposing benches, as apposed to starters.

I find myself less and less impressed, and less and less enthusiastic about Kuz, although I admit, I'm not sure we get much for him in a trade. I think the "new kid" shine is off for sure.

Where are others with him? Anyone think we got an AD/Kuz duo in the future?? If we could trade him, what would we honestly get?

I'm just thinking about this team post Lebron....and I'm thinking about AD and his assessment of this team. Does anyone think AD looks at Kuz as someone you could goto battle with?

Thoughts -

It ignores that Kuz lost shots too. It’s one thing if he was a sixth man, he isn’t. Vogel really didn’t have one all year as he played Kuz, KCP, 23 mins with the rotations. So he gave up 4 shots a night and 9 minutes too. And his usage rate is down.

The funny thing is Kuz has already proven that he scores at the same rate per minute. He also has proven that he’s a 19 point guy every time he starts and one of AD or Bron is out and he gets minutes. He also makes less than Caruso does

Kuzma's market value have always been quite low and i'm not sure we can get much for him. In my opinion, he still does a lot of stuff pretty well and is quite underrated defensively. At the same time his contract is up pretty soon, so this might be a decent time to move on from him. Ideally, we package him with some combination of Bradley, Cook, McGee and the first round selection and get back someone who can make a real impact.

I’m predicting he stays on a reasonable two year deal, second year player option. That way we get his young legs and developing game (albeit slowly) on the cheap throughout a threepeat; and likewise, Kuz gets a chance to take part in a threepeat and gets more time to develop and prove that he has earned that big star paycheck.

Something we should revisit after this finals series but I really have no clue where his valuation ranks around the league. Has some positives and glaring weaknesses but I'd be remissed if I didn't mention how he seems to have taken it all in stride. And he seems to be super engaged on defense to the point where he's not as much of a liability as we've known him to be.

If the Lakers can't package/parlay him into a consistent, high-impact wing then they should hold onto him.

Kilroy wrote:Kuzma is a low BBIQ, high energy player... There's still upside there in the right environment I think, but we'd be silly to pay him what he's going to demand on the open market... I don't know if he can be traded at this point but I don't see him on the team next season, unless there's some crazy Klutch love for him like KCP...
AD probably forgets Kuz is on the team from time to time... So no, not seeing any future with those 2.

KCP is apart of klutch, although I wouldn't be surprised if kuz signed with klutch soon.

iamworthy wrote:

Kilroy wrote:Kuzma is a low BBIQ, high energy player... There's still upside there in the right environment I think, but we'd be silly to pay him what he's going to demand on the open market... I don't know if he can be traded at this point but I don't see him on the team next season, unless there's some crazy Klutch love for him like KCP...
AD probably forgets Kuz is on the team from time to time... So no, not seeing any future with those 2.

KCP is apart of klutch, although I wouldn't be surprised if kuz signed with klutch soon.

Yeah I get it's a different situation with KCP. It was sort of a joke... Just saying the only way I saw Kuz being around next season would be if the Klutch Kabal had secretly fallen in love with him...

I think trading Kuz with Cook, McGee and Bradley is a good option. Can drag someone back with a salary up to 19m.


Evan Fournier
or
Eric Gordon and House
or
Derrick Rose and Tony Snell

zimpy27 wrote:I think trading Kuz with Cook, McGee and Bradley is a good option. Can drag someone back with a salary up to 19m.


Evan Fournier
or
Eric Gordon and House
or
Derrick Rose and Tony Snell

I’m going to be that guy... Rose is a terrible defensive player. Detroit offered to trade him last year and he said no. Minny offered and he said no. He likes no eyes on him. When he was in NY he went MIA because the media pressure was too high. When he was with Lebron and the Cavs he went missing because he had expectations and media attention.

zimpy27 wrote:I think trading Kuz with Cook, McGee and Bradley is a good option. Can drag someone back with a salary up to 19m.


Evan Fournier
or
Eric Gordon and House
or
Derrick Rose and Tony Snell

yea I only like the Evan deal, Gordon is close to washed and House alone ain't worth that price

Roses defense is atrocious

I think we hold onto Kuzma unless there is good value in a deal, the fact he can be a role player or step up his scoring when AD or LBJ is out is great versatility

Yeah easy pass on Eric Gordon. Not close to worth his contract anymore

What about Joe Ingles?

sign and trade.

If KD and Kyrie want DeAndre Jordan starting (leading to a disgruntled Jarret Allen) i'd do a S&T for Jarrett Allen involving Kuzma. Allen alongside A.D would be a nasty defensive duo and Allen runs the floor great, he'd be an ideal 5 for us other than he doesn't shoot (then again i wish kuzma wouldn't shoot half the time).

barring that then a S.G (Dipo is out of reach, though he'd be an ideal final piece to make us an out and out superteam, but maybe someone like Fournier would be nice)

Dr Aki wrote:What about Joe Ingles?

Obviously great but I can't see Utah parting with him.

NCHeels2008 wrote:

zimpy27 wrote:I think trading Kuz with Cook, McGee and Bradley is a good option. Can drag someone back with a salary up to 19m.


Evan Fournier
or
Eric Gordon and House
or
Derrick Rose and Tony Snell

yea I only like the Evan deal, Gordon is close to washed and House alone ain't worth that price

Roses defense is atrocious

I think we hold onto Kuzma unless there is good value in a deal, the fact he can be a role player or step up his scoring when AD or LBJ is out is great versatility

The players to trade are all kind of superfluous. Kuzma gets minutes but he's out of position. Lakers need a true backup SF.

I believe Gordon's game has suffered because both Harden and Westbrook have the same slashing game. You look at his lineup numbers and he's bad with Harden and Westbrook. But yeah, it's risky for sure.

He's a cheap restricted free agent in 2021. You keep him and continue to watch him develop.

I think if you just lower your expectations (he needs to lower his expectations as well) he can be a nice 4th/5th option on a contender. The model he should be shooting for is Warriors Harrison Barnes/ early Nets RJ.

Great transition player, cutter, versatile energetic defender and otherwise park your butt in the corner. I think you've seen enough to where he isn't ever going to be a good enough on ball player but can be valuable playing off a great playmaker. By the way the 2 guys above got huge contracts due to the value of that type of wing/forward.

He's made significant strides defensively this year and that's the big thing. I think with the lack of young talent/ draft picks on the way you really don't want to get rid of him.

Maybe the argument is he doesn't fit next to AD and Lebron. And to be honest I don't see it. If you can be off ball and shoot and can switch you can play with anyone. He gets benched in the 4th normally due to IQ and missed rotations. He's making strides just need to stay the course.

This season basically told us that our shooting is terrible and we really need some sharp shooters on this team to open things up for LBJ and AD. I would try to include Green and Kuz in a deal that would net us a sharp shooter. Both of them are expiring contracts that rack up at more than 18 million. There will be team's trying to clear cap space. Maybe Washington decides to blow it up and they're ready to trade Bradley Beal?

More realistic options would be Joe Harris, Danilo Gallinari as far as shooters go...

Go after Mikal Bridges
Great defensice player who has improved his offense as well
Hard worker, the right mind to play the game, good size as wing and build game from defend

Kuz for mikal Bridge straight up ?