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Annihilator
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 Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Judah wrote: | You can make a great case for either of them as starters. The only thing that's a shoe in is the fact that it'll be one of them. Kuz is a lower usage player and more proven shooter at this point, which the first unit will be in dire need of with Lonzo and McGee out there. But then again, it would be great to have one additional player in the half court who can get his own shot and create for others, especially since LeBron will spend significant time in the post. That's BI.
Can't say I'm married to the idea of either one starting. The biggest factor will be which one plays better when they share the court with LeBron, and how the starting lineup clicks overall. I wouldn't be surprised if Luke tries out both lineups during preseason. |
| KeepItRealOrElse wrote: | It’s so interesting bout who could start. Either way we’ll have 4 players in the lineup who can generate shots one way or another - even KCP can come off screens, I mean. Zo would be only other assist guy if Kuz starts...and Kuz would take pressure of Lebron just by being able to get shots in the flow, or create his own. Ingram has operated less in the flow, but is a better passer. In a vacuum , Kuz is the better fit with Lebron. Will also be interesting to see how Kuz & Ingram improve defensively.
Honestly, if Ingram can’t hit about 35% on 4 3s per, I’m not in love with him in the starting lineup at all. We have a chance to be an offense with a seemless flow into good shots, Kuz is great w that, and even has a chance to enhance that with gravity. |
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Lakers great32
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| Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| KeepItRealOrElse wrote: | | Judah wrote: | You can make a great case for either of them as starters. The only thing that's a shoe in is the fact that it'll be one of them. Kuz is a lower usage player and more proven shooter at this point, which the first unit will be in dire need of with Lonzo and McGee out there. But then again, it would be great to have one additional player in the half court who can get his own shot and create for others, especially since LeBron will spend significant time in the post. That's BI.
Can't say I'm married to the idea of either one starting. The biggest factor will be which one plays better when they share the court with LeBron, and how the starting lineup clicks overall. I wouldn't be surprised if Luke tries out both lineups during preseason. |
It’s so interesting bout who could start. Either way we’ll have 4 players in the lineup who can generate shots one way or another - even KCP can come off screens, I mean. Zo would be only other assist guy if Kuz starts...and Kuz would take pressure of Lebron just by being able to get shots in the flow, or create his own. Ingram has operated less in the flow, but is a better passer. In a vacuum , Kuz is the better fit with Lebron. Will also be interesting to see how Kuz & Ingram improve defensively.
Honestly, if Ingram can’t hit about 35% on 4 3s per, I’m not in love with him in the starting lineup at all. We have a chance to be an offense with a seemless flow into good shots, Kuz is great w that, and even has a chance to enhance that with gravity. |
Exactly I think people miss this point about Kuzma's game he didn't have many plays called for him at all last year but he can get his in the flow of the game with out all the iso plays. |
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StillSWOL
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| Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Look from everything I can see which granted is from the outside, Kuzma has put in more work than anyone, has transformed his body, was picked by the current regime, is still just 23 years, to just assume than Ingram is THE guy seems bit premature
Further I think, and this is solely my own humble opinion, Kyle Kuzma might have the ability to be the best fit for LeBrons game than he has ever played with
- Non ball dominate scorer
- Stretch the floor 4
- Dynamic enough to create his own shots
- Can score at all levels
- Athetic enough to have the ability to switch on D (Not there yet)
Now LeBron has had teammates that were great fits for his game, but the tools in Kuzmas bag, he has the ability to be a better fit than all of them (Not better players than DWade or Kyrie, better fits), to do so he will need to develop into a mid 40’s three point shooter, have his athleticism translate defensively |
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Purp 32 wrote: | | Kuz isn't starting. |
His defense improved some as the year progressed but wasn’t anywhere near good enough to be a starter on a playoff team. Lebron’s defense is waning, Beasley isn’t good defensively and Rondo plays defense sporadically. Luke is going to have to play with lineups to keep teams from scoring 110+ on us.
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Annihilator
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 3:11 am Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | Purp 32 wrote: | | Kuz isn't starting. |
His defense improved some as the year progressed but wasn’t anywhere near good enough to be a starter on a playoff team. Lebron’s defense is waning, Beasley isn’t good defensively and Rondo plays defense sporadically. Luke is going to have to play with lineups to keep teams from scoring 110+ on us. |
It will be interesting to see how their defenses improve this year. All are capable of playing good defense. We will see exactly how good of a coach Walton is. If he can get Beasley and Rondo to focus on defense-- I believe he already has Kuzma's attention--he will have made great strides in learning to be the coach that the Lakers need.
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DShotMaker1824
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| Annihilator wrote: | | venturalakersfan wrote: | | Purp 32 wrote: | | Kuz isn't starting. |
His defense improved some as the year progressed but wasn’t anywhere near good enough to be a starter on a playoff team. Lebron’s defense is waning, Beasley isn’t good defensively and Rondo plays defense sporadically. Luke is going to have to play with lineups to keep teams from scoring 110+ on us. |
It will be interesting to see how their defenses improve this year. All are capable of playing good defense. We will see exactly how good of a coach Walton is. If he can get Beasley and Rondo to focus on defense-- I believe he already has Kuzma's attention--he will have made great strides in learning to be the coach that the Lakers need. |
All of this could be fixed very easily, all that's required is LeBron James playing defense. If LeBron plays defense, then I'd adjust my 47 game prediction to 55. However, since I don't expect it, I'll stick to my prediction.
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epak
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:02 am Post subject: |
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I'm looking forward to see if slim Kuz plays better defense.
But from what I recall, it was lack of defensive b-ball knowledge that made him a bad defender more than lacking in physique (looking lost at times and not knowing when to rotate or help).
Hoping there's an improvement on the mental side as well as the physical side. If his defense does improve, it's going to be hard to not start him. Luke will have a harder task ahead of him than he already has. |
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Judah
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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| diando wrote: | | Annihilator wrote: | | venturalakersfan wrote: | | Purp 32 wrote: | | Kuz isn't starting. |
His defense improved some as the year progressed but wasn’t anywhere near good enough to be a starter on a playoff team. Lebron’s defense is waning, Beasley isn’t good defensively and Rondo plays defense sporadically. Luke is going to have to play with lineups to keep teams from scoring 110+ on us. |
It will be interesting to see how their defenses improve this year. All are capable of playing good defense. We will see exactly how good of a coach Walton is. If he can get Beasley and Rondo to focus on defense-- I believe he already has Kuzma's attention--he will have made great strides in learning to be the coach that the Lakers need. |
All of this could be fixed very easily, all that's required is LeBron James playing defense. If LeBron plays defense, then I'd adjust my 47 game prediction to 55. However, since I don't expect it, I'll stick to my prediction. |
You can pretend that LeBron just doesn't care about playing defense or whatever it is you're implying, but most folks who gravitate towards rationality instead of inundated bias see it differently.
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adkindo
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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heard this on a recent Sam Vecenie Game Theory podcast with Cole Zwicker as the guest....
only 3 rookies in NBA history have averaged 16 points, 6 Rebounds and shot 36% from 3.....Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Kyle Kuzma. (for the record, I did not verify) |
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Ziggy
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| adkindo wrote: | heard this on a recent Sam Vecenie Game Theory podcast with Cole Zwicker as the guest....
only 3 rookies in NBA history have averaged 16 points, 6 Rebounds and shot 36% from 3.....Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Kyle Kuzma. (for the record, I did not verify) |
Hallz of Fame here we come babeh  |
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Baron Von Humongous
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| adkindo wrote: | heard this on a recent Sam Vecenie Game Theory podcast with Cole Zwicker as the guest....
only 3 rookies in NBA history have averaged 16 points, 6 Rebounds and shot 36% from 3.....Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Kyle Kuzma. (for the record, I did not verify) |
And Joel Embiid: Link
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governator
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:13 am Post subject: |
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| StillSWOL wrote: | BTW really curious to see how Pop uses Derozan
Think he could flourish |
prob same way he's used Manu all these years |
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adkindo
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 6:00 am Post subject: |
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| Baron Von Humongous wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | heard this on a recent Sam Vecenie Game Theory podcast with Cole Zwicker as the guest....
only 3 rookies in NBA history have averaged 16 points, 6 Rebounds and shot 36% from 3.....Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Kyle Kuzma. (for the record, I did not verify) |
And Joel Embiid: Link |
ok...maybe they meant "real rookies"....or rookies that played at least half their games....but yeah, technically he is in the group also. |
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Baron Von Humongous
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| adkindo wrote: | | Baron Von Humongous wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | heard this on a recent Sam Vecenie Game Theory podcast with Cole Zwicker as the guest....
only 3 rookies in NBA history have averaged 16 points, 6 Rebounds and shot 36% from 3.....Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Kyle Kuzma. (for the record, I did not verify) |
And Joel Embiid: Link |
ok...maybe they meant "real rookies"....or rookies that played at least half their games....but yeah, technically he is in the group also. |
I bet they included a minutes cutoff in their criteria. But even without any minutes restriction, Embiid is the only other guy who met or exceeded those numbers as a rook, and I'd bet on him also being a future HOFer if he remains healthy.
Great company for Kuz.
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RG73
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 8:46 am Post subject: |
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| adkindo wrote: | | Baron Von Humongous wrote: | | adkindo wrote: | heard this on a recent Sam Vecenie Game Theory podcast with Cole Zwicker as the guest....
only 3 rookies in NBA history have averaged 16 points, 6 Rebounds and shot 36% from 3.....Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Kyle Kuzma. (for the record, I did not verify) |
And Joel Embiid: Link |
ok...maybe they meant "real rookies"....or rookies that played at least half their games....but yeah, technically he is in the group also. |
Mitch Richmond was at 5.9 rpg as a rookie, and above the 16/36%. He deserves a honorary mention. |
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The Juggernaut
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 10:47 am Post subject: |
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| If Kuz improves at a modest trajectory this season I think he will be our 2nd scoring option and put up 20 PPG. |
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3baller
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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| The Juggernaut wrote: | | If Kuz improves at a modest trajectory this season I think he will be our 2nd scoring option and put up 20 PPG. |
In 37 games as a starter, rookie Kuz was already averaging 18.8 ppg, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 44.6/39/72.5 splits, 52.6 EFG and 55.7 TS on 15 FGA per game.
His efficiency was pretty average but if he improves this year, and he will, and gets to play alongside Lebron(historically has made teammates more efficient) as a starter and still gets around 14-15 attempts per game, 20ppg is very much a possibility.
Getting that many attempts though is the hard part and may very well be out of reach with Kuz most likely coming off the bench where he won't be getting 30+ minutes on most nights anyway  |
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Judah
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| 3baller wrote: | | The Juggernaut wrote: | | If Kuz improves at a modest trajectory this season I think he will be our 2nd scoring option and put up 20 PPG. |
In 37 games as a starter, rookie Kuz was already averaging 18.8 ppg, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 44.6/39/72.5 splits, 52.6 EFG and 55.7 TS on 15 FGA per game.
His efficiency was pretty average but if he improves this year, and he will, and gets to play alongside Lebron(historically has made teammates more efficient) as a starter and still gets around 14-15 attempts per game, 20ppg is very much a possibility.
Getting that many attempts though is the hard part and may very well be out of reach with Kuz most likely coming off the bench where he won't be getting 30+ minutes on most nights anyway |
But why wouldn't he get over 30 minutes most nights? I'd be really surprised if he didn't.
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3baller
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Judah wrote: | | 3baller wrote: | | The Juggernaut wrote: | | If Kuz improves at a modest trajectory this season I think he will be our 2nd scoring option and put up 20 PPG. |
In 37 games as a starter, rookie Kuz was already averaging 18.8 ppg, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 44.6/39/72.5 splits, 52.6 EFG and 55.7 TS on 15 FGA per game.
His efficiency was pretty average but if he improves this year, and he will, and gets to play alongside Lebron(historically has made teammates more efficient) as a starter and still gets around 14-15 attempts per game, 20ppg is very much a possibility.
Getting that many attempts though is the hard part and may very well be out of reach with Kuz most likely coming off the bench where he won't be getting 30+ minutes on most nights anyway |
But why wouldn't he get over 30 minutes most nights? I'd be really surprised if he didn't. |
He was averaging 26 minutes off the bench last year. Getting to 30mpg this year with him presumably subbing for Lebron would be even harder than it was last year. |
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Judah
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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| 3baller wrote: | | Judah wrote: | | 3baller wrote: | | The Juggernaut wrote: | | If Kuz improves at a modest trajectory this season I think he will be our 2nd scoring option and put up 20 PPG. |
In 37 games as a starter, rookie Kuz was already averaging 18.8 ppg, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 44.6/39/72.5 splits, 52.6 EFG and 55.7 TS on 15 FGA per game.
His efficiency was pretty average but if he improves this year, and he will, and gets to play alongside Lebron(historically has made teammates more efficient) as a starter and still gets around 14-15 attempts per game, 20ppg is very much a possibility.
Getting that many attempts though is the hard part and may very well be out of reach with Kuz most likely coming off the bench where he won't be getting 30+ minutes on most nights anyway |
But why wouldn't he get over 30 minutes most nights? I'd be really surprised if he didn't. |
He was averaging 26 minutes off the bench last year. Getting to 30mpg this year with him presumably subbing for Lebron would be even harder than it was last year. |
I think it's very possible that he starts. But even if not, I really think the second year version of Kuz will be too good to be playing less than 30 minutes. The team is deep at the wings and Kuz is right in the thick of it, especially as one of the best shooters on the team overall. He’ll be one of the most important players.
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“Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there."
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oldlakerfan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:27 am Post subject: |
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Kuz seems like a star in the making and I expect him to improve significantly this year. That said I wonder how he will adjust to being a bench player. Last year he play much better as a starter. The more minutes he got the better he played. This year I think the minutes will be down for Kuz due to the depth on the team and since he plays the same position as Lebron.
He is one of those guys that may struggle finding his role this year especially early in the season. Lebron, Ingram and probably KCP/Heat, Ball/Rondo and McGee all would seem to have their roles pretty well defined except for who starts and who is the primary backup. While Kuz may be Lebrons primary backup that may not mean very many minutes. Now maybe Lebron plays some small ball center or maybe Kuz steals some backup minutes at the 3 but those are both up in the air type of situations that may vary from game to game and he will have to beat out Beasley & Stevenson and maybe SVI and KCP/Hart for the minutes at the 3 spot.
I don't see Kuz or as a small ball 5 unless the other team is just not using a center. I guess the best way Kuz can get his minutes is to be the 2nd best player on the team. Then he can have as many minute minutes as he needs at the 3/4 slots which are the positons he can play. |
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GoldenThroat
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:23 am Post subject: |
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| Kobe said that Kuzma's been down to work out with him this summer. |
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Lakesh0wtime
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:46 am Post subject: |
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| GoldenThroat wrote: | | Kobe said that Kuzma's been down to work out with him this summer. |
bucket season!!! |
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SocalDevin
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:51 am Post subject: |
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| oldlakerfan wrote: | Kuz seems like a star in the making and I expect him to improve significantly this year. That said I wonder how he will adjust to being a bench player. Last year he play much better as a starter. The more minutes he got the better he played. This year I think the minutes will be down for Kuz due to the depth on the team and since he plays the same position as Lebron.
He is one of those guys that may struggle finding his role this year especially early in the season. Lebron, Ingram and probably KCP/Heat, Ball/Rondo and McGee all would seem to have their roles pretty well defined except for who starts and who is the primary backup. While Kuz may be Lebrons primary backup that may not mean very many minutes. Now maybe Lebron plays some small ball center or maybe Kuz steals some backup minutes at the 3 but those are both up in the air type of situations that may vary from game to game and he will have to beat out Beasley & Stevenson and maybe SVI and KCP/Hart for the minutes at the 3 spot.
I don't see Kuz or as a small ball 5 unless the other team is just not using a center. I guess the best way Kuz can get his minutes is to be the 2nd best player on the team. Then he can have as many minute minutes as he needs at the 3/4 slots which are the positons he can play. |
I don't agree that he needs to be the second best player on the team to get minutes. Kuz can play 3 and 4.. I also don't think he'll have any trouble beating out the guys you mentioned for the 3 spot. He's likely to pick up quite a few minutes in the 4th at the 4 when Luke goes to small ball, and Bron plays center. |
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KeepItRealOrElse
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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| GoldenThroat wrote: | | Kobe said that Kuzma's been down to work out with him this summer. |
And Lakers Nation erupts ! The chosen one has popped out of the flame! ... or something |
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