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yinoma2001 Retired Number
Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 119487
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 7:22 am Post subject: |
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I think the fact he is routinely toasted on defense is affecting his offense, like he's trying to make up for his horrific defense too much on the offensive end.
If he would restore balance by playing better defense, I think he wouldn't rush so much offensively. Right now he's trying to force too many things. _________________ From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals |
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32 Retired Number
Joined: 04 Nov 2009 Posts: 73113
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 7:36 am Post subject: |
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Good write up by DB on Kuz from last night's game. He has definitely had some challenges this year.
Quote: | Kuzma -- -- He looked awful in the last one, unable to play his game, which has been muted quite a bit this season because of injury...stress reaction injury, eye injury, ankle injury...and the new role and teammates. Talk about it being tough to getting into a comfort zone? That’s a lot coming at a young player. He’ll come around. It looked tonight like we were trying to get him the ball a little more on the move and into his floater. We set up a couple plays for him, I believe one was an ATO play, so some purpose behind it. Kuzma even got in on the glass, pulling down 5. He also had a couple really nice challenges to get stops. He’s got to do more of that, especially if he’s still finding himself on offense. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a +8. |
_________________ Nobody in the NBA can touch the Laker brand, which, like the uniform color, is pure gold. |
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StoicChalice392 Star Player
Joined: 19 Jul 2017 Posts: 1725 Location: Yorba Linda, Ca
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 7:45 am Post subject: |
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his defensive footwork is horrible. It's amazing how he doesn't trip over himself |
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Fourplay Star Player
Joined: 01 Oct 2002 Posts: 1832 Location: Pacoima, CA
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:21 am Post subject: |
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LeBron has a history of making players better. Heck, last year, he earned Kuzma a shoe contract. Kuzma is a player that has to play with moxy. He's not effective as a system guy nor would we want him to be. He does not do well passively. I'm slamming my remote looking at some of his turnovers and non-box outs. His teammates have lost some confidence too--he was wide open on several plays and they did not pass him the ball. 40% on three pointers is not asking for a lot if there is NO defense. He is wide open. On the defensive end, he is playing like he is playing against college players. These guys want to take your head--all of them. Take the challenge. Take a foul to send a message. Challenge your opponents dribble always. Kuzma, if you are reading this. I believe in you. You believe in you. I know there is an ankle injury/eye injury but you should honestly be lighting some of these dudes up. Listen to MC Eiht like LeBron before the game and get in the mode to dominate. "You could nail me to the..." |
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troy Star Player
Joined: 30 Jan 2013 Posts: 5048
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:31 am Post subject: |
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epak wrote: | Cutting his hair should do wonders.
That and the fact that he's dealing with a sprained ankle. |
I like the move of Kuz cutting off his girlie curls. Some of you are not getting the whole hair thing. You're taking it to literally. Think of getting a haircut not so much as a literal act, but symbolic. Sort of like how football players put black grease under their eyes, or an Indian warrior paints his face before battle. Kuz's cutting his hair is (I hope/project) a symbol of his willingness to get on that court with a determined attitude and be serious about performing. Good first step, just hope his play improves. |
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Ziggy Franchise Player
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 12725
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:47 am Post subject: |
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Yeah I was relieved to see the hair gone. Funny because just a couple days ago I was watching a game from last season that I have saved on my Tivo and was thinking Kuz needs to go back to that hair. People don't want to see you going Hollywood when you're playing like crap. Prepare for battle as Troy said.
Defensively, I know I've said Kuz has physical limitations, but the disheartening thing for me is that he lacks technique and effort. Fundamentals, like boxing out or knowing when to help, can be learned. But he hasn't shown much growth there. And when he does it's inconsistent. He's surrounded by guys with defensive reputations so hopefully he can pick up on it through osmosis. |
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ringfinger Retired Number
Joined: 08 Oct 2013 Posts: 29418
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:49 am Post subject: |
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yinoma2001 wrote: | I think the fact he is routinely toasted on defense is affecting his offense, like he's trying to make up for his horrific defense too much on the offensive end.
If he would restore balance by playing better defense, I think he wouldn't rush so much offensively. Right now he's trying to force too many things. |
I actually think it’s the other way around.
They don’t run anything for Kuz. That makes him uninvolved offensively and that affects his defense (which not great but not as bad as many are saying). |
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SuperboyReformed Star Player
Joined: 07 Oct 2012 Posts: 4083
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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there's always going to be someone going through a bad streak, its not a big deal, and nothing to worry about. remember kcp? now he's doing well, and green and kuz are doing bad. when kcp was bad, green was good. etc etc.
you guys realize if all these guys do as you expect, we'd score 200 a game and everyone is hitting 45% threes. its crazy and impossible.
lebron is the only one who can control his stats and make adjustments individually that are significant. everyone else is basically in reaction mode unless he's on the bench, and then they have a few minutes to do something. so, honestly, nothing to worry about at all. it's always going to be someone.
all we need out of kcp, green, rondo, bradley, ac4, troy, is for one or two of them to get hot and its a blowout. today rondo was on = blowout. |
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SuperboyReformed Star Player
Joined: 07 Oct 2012 Posts: 4083
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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Fourplay wrote: | LeBron has a history of making players better. Heck, last year, he earned Kuzma a shoe contract. Kuzma is a player that has to play with moxy. He's not effective as a system guy nor would we want him to be. He does not do well passively. I'm slamming my remote looking at some of his turnovers and non-box outs. His teammates have lost some confidence too--he was wide open on several plays and they did not pass him the ball. 40% on three pointers is not asking for a lot if there is NO defense. He is wide open. On the defensive end, he is playing like he is playing against college players. These guys want to take your head--all of them. Take the challenge. Take a foul to send a message. Challenge your opponents dribble always. Kuzma, if you are reading this. I believe in you. You believe in you. I know there is an ankle injury/eye injury but you should honestly be lighting some of these dudes up. Listen to MC Eiht like LeBron before the game and get in the mode to dominate. "You could nail me to the..." |
lebron doesn't make players better, this has been a loooooong running misconception. and people think kobe doesn't make players better, which is also a misconception. lebron makes players worse....all the stars who join lebron do worse than before lebron.
edit...lol, i was going to expand on this because it sounds so hateful. but im going to leave it. |
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Fourplay Star Player
Joined: 01 Oct 2002 Posts: 1832 Location: Pacoima, CA
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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Kudos to Kuzma for stepping up and playing some defense. The three blocks were Outstanding! I loved that more than anything else that happened in the game against Utah. What happened to Kuz? He's working his butt off working himself back. |
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CRoost Star Player
Joined: 21 Mar 2017 Posts: 4818
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:16 pm Post subject: |
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SuperboyReformed wrote: | Fourplay wrote: | LeBron has a history of making players better. Heck, last year, he earned Kuzma a shoe contract. Kuzma is a player that has to play with moxy. He's not effective as a system guy nor would we want him to be. He does not do well passively. I'm slamming my remote looking at some of his turnovers and non-box outs. His teammates have lost some confidence too--he was wide open on several plays and they did not pass him the ball. 40% on three pointers is not asking for a lot if there is NO defense. He is wide open. On the defensive end, he is playing like he is playing against college players. These guys want to take your head--all of them. Take the challenge. Take a foul to send a message. Challenge your opponents dribble always. Kuzma, if you are reading this. I believe in you. You believe in you. I know there is an ankle injury/eye injury but you should honestly be lighting some of these dudes up. Listen to MC Eiht like LeBron before the game and get in the mode to dominate. "You could nail me to the..." |
lebron doesn't make players better, this has been a loooooong running misconception. and people think kobe doesn't make players better, which is also a misconception. lebron makes players worse....all the stars who join lebron do worse than before lebron.
edit...lol, i was going to expand on this because it sounds so hateful. but im going to leave it. |
Lol all those so called stars were putting numbers on a mediocre teams. What do you expect when they are playing on championship team? The impact when Lebron joined and after Lebron leave tell a better story. And Kobe, Shaq and Gasol had their career years playing with him.. |
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statyin Starting Rotation
Joined: 05 Jul 2013 Posts: 440
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 2:05 am Post subject: |
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He is playing in a system that does not need the third scoring guy. The offense is mainly coming from LBJ and AD, and the rest is contributed by the team as team offense. If you look at the scoring table, most of the time we see LBJ and AD in double figures and the rest are pretty much evenly distributed, with some occasional burst from KCP, Green or Kuz.
IMO, he is kind of a young, poor man version of Carmelo Anthony. He needs the ball in his hands and thrives in isolation. In this regard, we are not using him where he is good at. |
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drae Franchise Player
Joined: 13 Nov 2018 Posts: 16145
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 2:12 am Post subject: |
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statyin wrote: | He is playing in a system that does not need the third scoring guy. The offense is mainly coming from LBJ and AD, and the rest is contributed by the team as team offense. If you look at the scoring table, most of the time we see LBJ and AD in double figures and the rest are pretty much evenly distributed, with some occasional burst from KCP, Green or Kuz.
IMO, he is kind of a young, poor man version of Carmelo Anthony. He needs the ball in his hands and thrives in isolation. In this regard, we are not using him where he is good at. |
Kuz is not great at iso plays. His handle is too poor for one |
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hype Star Player
Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 4386 Location: Lake Nacimiento
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 2:18 am Post subject: |
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drae wrote: | statyin wrote: | He is playing in a system that does not need the third scoring guy. The offense is mainly coming from LBJ and AD, and the rest is contributed by the team as team offense. If you look at the scoring table, most of the time we see LBJ and AD in double figures and the rest are pretty much evenly distributed, with some occasional burst from KCP, Green or Kuz.
IMO, he is kind of a young, poor man version of Carmelo Anthony. He needs the ball in his hands and thrives in isolation. In this regard, we are not using him where he is good at. |
Kuz is not great at iso plays. His handle is too poor for one |
Yeah, I strongly disagree on that one.. More iso is the absolute last thing Kuz needs. Both his handles and decision making leaves a lot to be desired. He easily panics and throws up a much tougher shot then necessary or a bad pass more times then not, especially on a Championship caliber team like this one.
If anything they need to find ways to get him more shots with the least amount of thinking as necessary, at least until he gets much more comfortable in the offense. |
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ringfinger Retired Number
Joined: 08 Oct 2013 Posts: 29418
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 6:12 am Post subject: |
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There was a play near the end of the game, Kuz set a pick and then quickly cut. I think it was Rondo who dished the rock to him and he made an easy layup.
Those are the kind of plays we need to run for Kuz. That and him popping up at the 3pt line off a cut or something.
Now when Lebron/Ad in the game we probably aren’t running that. But point being, we ran a lot of those types of actions for him last year and if we want to get him going, that’s probably what we need to do. |
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SGV-Laker fan Star Player
Joined: 23 May 2013 Posts: 8921
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 6:55 am Post subject: |
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Kuz does not have a go-to move. he gets his points on broken plays and second chance opportunities more often than from an offensive set. and he's not a good enough of a shooter to keep defender honest when he gets into his iso mode late in the clock. his game reminds me of Cedric Ceballos', both can get 15-20 points any given game, but you rarely remember how they got them. |
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ringfinger Retired Number
Joined: 08 Oct 2013 Posts: 29418
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 6:57 am Post subject: |
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SGV-Laker fan wrote: | Kuz does not have a go-to move. he gets his points on broken plays and second chance opportunities more often than from an offensive set. and he's not a good enough of a shooter to keep defender honest when he gets into his iso mode late in the clock. his game reminds me of Cedric Ceballos', both can get 15-20 points any given game, but you rarely remember how they got them. |
Are you talking about this season or in general? |
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wolfpaclaker Retired Number
Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 58385
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:01 am Post subject: |
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Struggling on O, but really good defensive game from Kuz.
Even last game, had some nice contests on help D and then good man D on Millsap in isolations in the 4th.
In the Utah game, Kuz was our best DFG% 3-11 (27.3%) Utah players shot on him, which is excellent. |
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lar9149 Star Player
Joined: 10 Jul 2010 Posts: 2410
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:13 am Post subject: |
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wolfpaclaker wrote: | Struggling on O, but really good defensive game from Kuz.
Even last game, had some nice contests on help D and then good man D on Millsap in isolations in the 4th.
In the Utah game, Kuz was our best DFG% 3-11 (27.3%) Utah players shot on him, which is excellent. |
Despite that plenty of us want Kuz to score more points, his defensive effort maybe more important b/c the big weakness of the Lakers, is the lack of defensive wings besides Lebron. |
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SGV-Laker fan Star Player
Joined: 23 May 2013 Posts: 8921
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:59 am Post subject: |
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ringfinger wrote: | SGV-Laker fan wrote: | Kuz does not have a go-to move. he gets his points on broken plays and second chance opportunities more often than from an offensive set. and he's not a good enough of a shooter to keep defender honest when he gets into his iso mode late in the clock. his game reminds me of Cedric Ceballos', both can get 15-20 points any given game, but you rarely remember how they got them. |
Are you talking about this season or in general? |
mostly this season. |
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troy Star Player
Joined: 30 Jan 2013 Posts: 5048
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:27 am Post subject: |
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lar9149 wrote: | wolfpaclaker wrote: | Struggling on O, but really good defensive game from Kuz.
Even last game, had some nice contests on help D and then good man D on Millsap in isolations in the 4th.
In the Utah game, Kuz was our best DFG% 3-11 (27.3%) Utah players shot on him, which is excellent. |
Despite that plenty of us want Kuz to score more points, his defensive effort maybe more important b/c the big weakness of the Lakers, is the lack of defensive wings besides Lebron. |
No doubt. We have enough collective scoring from the rest of the Lakers that compliments what lebron and AD do. Kuz's best contribution to the Lakers would be to play solid defense, grab some rebounds and then hit that occasional 3 pointer or mid range. He doesn't need to concentrate on being a 3rd scoring option.
Kuz will be just fine. |
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ringfinger Retired Number
Joined: 08 Oct 2013 Posts: 29418
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:32 am Post subject: |
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SGV-Laker fan wrote: | ringfinger wrote: | SGV-Laker fan wrote: | Kuz does not have a go-to move. he gets his points on broken plays and second chance opportunities more often than from an offensive set. and he's not a good enough of a shooter to keep defender honest when he gets into his iso mode late in the clock. his game reminds me of Cedric Ceballos', both can get 15-20 points any given game, but you rarely remember how they got them. |
Are you talking about this season or in general? |
mostly this season. |
Gotcha. Yeah, I mean he’s not a guy you put the ball in his hands and let him go to work. The Lou Will comps puzzle me. He’s a finisher, more than a creator. |
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Pullin' 3's Rookie
Joined: 25 Jun 2017 Posts: 15
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:35 am Post subject: |
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george w kush wrote: | How about putting this in the Kuz thread? Mods, you know what to do. | I guess they knew. |
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anth2000 Franchise Player
Joined: 16 Apr 2001 Posts: 12277 Location: Pasadena, CA
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 9:59 am Post subject: |
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Dude Kuz cut his hair. Looks so much better last night than those stupid clown hairstyles of recent. |
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ringfinger Retired Number
Joined: 08 Oct 2013 Posts: 29418
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 10:18 am Post subject: |
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anth2000 wrote: | Dude Kuz cut his hair. Looks so much better last night than those stupid clown hairstyles of recent. |
He must be the super duper hardest worker on the team now! |
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