NatP4 wrote:he’s been a boat anchor for 5 full seasons.
Can we retire this phrase. It's tedious how many times it has been repeated. And it doesn't apply in this case. Defensively we'd be sunk if we didn't have a player rebounding as Kuzma does. He's among the league leaders in clutch scoring (as are a handful of other Wizards this year, we have played well in last second desperation moments). Recently though Kuzma he has been attacking the basket more frequently, where his scoring rate above 80% this year (on shots 0-3 feet from the basket).
The problem with Kuzma in the past has been that he plays as though he thinks he is better than he is. Shot selection is part of it. This year he shoots about half of his shots from outside where yeah he is subpar EXCEPT in late game situations, and the other half inside 10 feet where is doing quite well. When it comes to interior scoring Kuzma is one of our few players who is not pass dependent. Kuz, Brad, Dinwiddie, these are the players who can attack from the outside when everyone else is tightly guarded.
At $13 million flat, guaranteed through next year, his contract is a decent value, and is a nice sized asset for trades if it seems we are going that direction. Front offices will take a guy with multiple 30pt games a year, a 40-piece and a 20/20 in his resume, especially considering he is regularly posts a double double. And so far has proven pretty durable (knock wood). You curse him for playing 40 mins a game, but he has played every game, all those minutes.
Yeah but boat anchor boat anchor boat anchor! Depends on the measure you use. Basketball ref's DRtg has him on our top 10 best in points allowed per 100, only 1 pt behind Deni. He does not in fact have the team worst +/- this year. Whatever our problems Kuzma is not the biggest of them. Okay outside shooting is the biggest of our problems and yeah aside from the 4th quarter he is part of that problem. The more he slashes and exploits his mismatches as an outside Big, the better his stats will look. Some of that is coaching. Is Kuz the star he sometimes plays like he thinks he is? Uh, sometimes. He is streaky. That has been his operant mode since he joined the league, he is upsy downsy and inconsistent. Still, 8 games in a row he has contributed to keeping the games close or winning late. So maybe we take that streak and ride it, maybe he has turned a corner. Maybe not. But for every time he hits a clutch shot late, I say you hold off on one more mention of your pet phrase. Trez early in the year and Kuz late have been a couple of the few things that get the home crowd riled up and cheering. No point kicking a man while he is playing well. Let him have his accolades while he is doing well.
