Welcome to the NBA Hangover. We jot down NBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
It’s so weird how much people react to Kyle Kuzma’s play.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Sue Ogrocki/AP.)
Kyle Kuzma led the Lakers (without LeBron James and Anthony Davis) in scoring in a surprising thumping of the scorching Oklahoma City Thunder. He had 36 points against OKC, which followed a 26-point game against Dallas. In the calendar year of 2020 Anno Domini, Kuzma is averaging 18.5 points a game.
It really, really surprises me how some of the so-called pundits on social media react to Kuzma. On one hand, I get it because he’s a Laker and the Laker fan base will, of course, talk about how great he is. But sometimes, I wonder about these people who supposedly analyze the game even WATCH the games.
Now I’m not saying Kuzma IS an MVP candidate. I’m not even saying he’s an all-star. But with the way these “experts” say he’s “trash”, the answer is usually that… he lies somewhere in between (and, also, as an average Asian man who was not the greatest at basketball, I am not calling anyone in the NBA “trash”). He averaged 17.3 points in his first two seasons and, while people who are all about the numbers will tell you that points per game is not the be-all measure of how good players are, it is NOT easy for any player to score that many points in an NBA game. Sometimes, I think we just tend to forget about production in general. We laud players that can score a lot of points. So why is Kuzma held to a different standard?
Yeah, he can be more efficient. He’s shooting threes at a dot below the league average at .353 so that’s respectable. And he’s a hair below the league average for eFG% (that’s effective field goal percentage where threes gets adjusted for field goal percentage because three points are worth one more point than two; Kyle Kuzma’s eFG% is at .518 while the league average is .524). Yeah, his shot selection could be better. But he’s also one of the few that doesn’t need to be fed for a shot; he can create his own. Let’s not forget that he’s STILL working his way back from the multiple injuries he has suffered over the last few months.
Of course, the narrative is that Kuzma can’t play defense. And yeah, I don’t think he’s a Ron Artest or anything and he still has a long way to go. But he’s out there working and he has made some good defensive plays and rotations at times. Of course, I think he can improve on that immensely. But it’s amazing how this is being picked apart when I don’t see someone like a Bojan Bogdanovic getting criticized. Probably a market thing, I suppose.
Kuzma’s role is to be the third scorer on this team. Honestly, he has done his job over the last few games (scored double digits in 8 of the last 10 games). And yeah, there will be times where he won’t score well (4 points against Detroit on January 5 and a goose egg against Dallas on December 29) but I mean, everyone has games where they just can’t make ANYTHING. He also admitted that he plays much better with more minutes and yeah, some players are like that. The Lakers haven’t exactly put him in a position where he could play 30 minutes a game but we’ve seen what he can do when he does play a lot. It’s just a matter of the player and the team having a happy medium and compromise.
And yes, the Lakers apparently do better numbers with him off the court…
…but the Lakers still roll very nicely with him on the court.
I know some of the Laker fan base are itching to trade him and they have made extremely unfunny jokes about “upping his trade value.” But it’s hard to get something great in return with a package centered around Kuzma. And not that I would think this would happen with that team but we’ve seen how teams react when they trade away a key piece. Of course, we’ve seen the opposite happen and the trade works out extremely well for a team. But the Lakers are 32 and friggin’ 7. And I’m not in the locker room or in road trips with these guys but they seem to get along extremely well. Why mess with this?
Anyway, I just think Kyle Kuzma is better than most people think. But I’ll also pump the brakes and say that he’s not an all-star or anything. I’ll say that he is a very good scorer in the NBA. And some teams need a guy like that.
Bullet Passes
Yeah, it’s probably unfair for me to not profile Jayson Tatum, who did score 41 points against New Orleans. But he is having an excellent season and has become a main pillar for this Celtics team. It’s hard not to like the talent of the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown duo.
The Sixers just continue to baffle as they lost a game on the road against Dallas. It’s supposed to be a proving ground to see what Ben Simmons can do without Joel Embiid and they didn’t do so well against Luka Doncic and company.
James Harden has joined 44 other players in the 20,000-point club. That is a lot of points scored, man.
Break out those Cavaliers. They’ve won two straight games. And they pulled off the upset at Denver, who is now in a three-way tie for third in the West. Denver, Houston, and Utah are all 26-12.
Here is Anthony Davis the reporter:
Best reporter in town, @AntDavis23 with the walk-off @RajonRondo interview. 😂 pic.twitter.com/fFtFwhMZOM
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 12, 2020
I love that Rajon Rondo said Kuzma was going to take 37 shots. Also, I love that Davis referred to himself in third person. Amazing.
The Scoreboard
MIN 109 (15-23) @ HOU 139 (26-12)
NO 105 (14-26) @ BOS 140 (26-11)
CHI 108 (14-26) @ DET 99 (14-26)
LAL 125 (32-7) @ OKC 110 (22-17)
PHI 91 (25-15) @ DAL 109 (24-15)
CLE 111 (12-27) @ DEN 103 (26-12)
MIL 122 (35-6) @ POR 101 (16-24)
Watch This Play
Gary Harris breaks Matthew Dellavedova into a million pieces.
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA On Fire.)
That’s a rough go for Matthew. Woof.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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