Frank Nova wrote:Siefer wrote:Bad contract, doesn't play defense, and can't shoot? Hell yes.
I’m not advocating for Kuzma at all but I have to say that I don’t find that contract bad at all, I’d actually consider it “team friendly”. He makes 23m and the contract depreciates over the next 3yrs down to 19m when he expires. I wouldn’t consider that all that bad in today’s NBA. And, again not advocating here but he actually checks out as more of a neutral defender by the numbers more so than “bad”. I think that’s a misconception he gets flamed for by the fans being stuck on a total **** show Wizards team. But you’re 100% accurate he can’t shoot now for whatever reason. Like Giannis % FT shooter now and a TS under 50%. Like, really bad.
Again, not advocating for Kuzma, but I would say in all likelihood, Kuzma's shooting numbers would improve here. For starters, he's shot over 70% from the FT line nearly every season of his career (shot 69% one season when he had fewer total attempts than he currently has this season). Even factoring in this season's atrocity and that one 69% season, he's still at 72% over the last 5 years...not particularly good but at that percentage, he's fine.
As for the jumpshots, once again he's having an outlier terrible season. The 3 point shooting isn't even the worst part; he's at 14% on mid-range jumpers over 16 feet so far this season. Having said that, it's almost impossible for any Wizards player to get a remotely decent shot off. The team has no offensive identity, very little shooting, very little creation abilities, etc. 48% of Kuzma's shot attempts this season have been tightly or very tightly contested. For comparison's sake, that number for some of our complimentary players:
AJ Green: 29%
Andre Jackson: 33%
Khris Middleton: 33%
Gary Trent: 20%
Having said all that, Kuzma is not a particularly good shooter, but he is a capable one, unlike guys like Andre Jackson for example who has literally not attempted a contested jump shot this season.
That's really the story with Kuzma. At his best, he has the size and athleticism to compete defensively and is just skilled enough all-around offensively to play off the ball around ball-dominant guys or create his own looks to varying levels of success if he's playing with a bench unit. He's just kind of okay in a lot of areas that could be helpful. But the Wizards ecosystem has been horrible for a long time and has reached new lows this season and on top of the fact that nobody has really found success for them this season (among the 10 players that have played close to 500 minutes, Valanciunas is the only one with a positive BPM lol), Kuzma is simply not capable of being the #1 or #2 guy offensively every night while also needing to be the wing defender.
TLDR: Trading for Kuzma (or really any Wizards player) is gambling on them looking better in an actual functional system. Kuzma is generally much better than he's been this season, and I'd say it's extremely likely that he'd look better with us than he's looked this season. Still might not be/probably isn't worth the risk of trading for him though.
