Los Angeles Lakers: Does Kyle Kuzma have a legitimate shot at Rookie of the Year
By Jack Obrien
Ben Simmons vs Kyle Kuzma
Ben Simmons plays on a much further developed, mature team and boasts several offensive assets that Kuzma simply doesn’t have. Also, crucially at 6’10” Simmons plays point guard, changing his usage rate and effectively setting him up to consistently stack the assist category and rebounds category when battling the boards on both ends against smaller guards.
The question is how would Ben Simmons fair if he was depended upon every night to be the number one option? Joel Embiid, J.J. Redick, Robert Covington, among others, make Simmons’ job much easier on a nightly basis.
Of course the Lakers are not without talent, however, one could argue that from night to night, there is no consistent number one option. Frankly, most of this season it has been Kyle Kuzma.
Kuzma’s role on an NBA team has to be taken into consideration. Basketball is certainly about more than stats and analytics.
The closer mentality of Kyle Kuzma throughout this–albeit difficult–season is as relevant to the Rookie of the Year discussion as Simmons’ RPG and APG totals. But for the sake of it, let’s talk about how Kuzma stacks up statistically against other rookies.