Doc on Kuz, via Erica Nehm:
What does Kyle Kuzma bring to the Bucks?
Rivers: “You look at our front line, it’s massive now. You know, whatever Giannis (Antetokounmpo) is, Brook (Lopez) is seven feet, Kuz is 6-9, 6-10, that’s a big lineup for us. Another scorer. He can really score off of the dribble. Great (in transition). His transition numbers are right behind Giannis in transition off the bounce when he rebounds and breaks out. You look at his numbers, they mirror Giannis’ numbers. So we have another breakout big, which is big for us. Also a throw-ahead big where you can throw ahead to him and he can attack. So he does a lot of things that can help us.”
“I mean, I don’t think we did this not to (start him),” Rivers said.
All season long, Rivers has talked about the Bucks’ identity. He has made it clear that the Bucks are at their best when they lean into their strengths as a big, strong team that plays physical defense and gets in the painted area on offense. Trading for Kuzma, a 6-foot-9, 221-pound forward, and starting him alongside Antetokounmpo and Lopez allows the Bucks to play with more size, but it will ultimately lead to some interesting decisions with the rest of the starting lineup.
Can Kuzma help small-ball lineups with Antetokounmpo thrive?
Rivers: “Our small-ball lineups have been awful. Just keeping it real. Coming into the year we thought they’d be great and we have not found the right group yet. So, that would be fantastic, honestly. I still think it should be good. Every basketball part of me thinks it should be good. And so far I’ve been proven wrong on that. It has really struggled. It’s funny, we’ve gone small with Brook and been better than we have with Giannis at the five so we have to figure that out. With Kyle’s size, that may be able to help us.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6123168/2025/02/09/kyle-kuzma-doc-rivers-bucks-trades/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=6188822&source=dailyemail