There will be a lot of trade discussions about Kyle Kuzma. The question is can he handle it?
Lake Show Life was very critical of Frank Vogel after the Clippers contest based on the number of minutes Kuzma played considering he was on fire.
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Against the Clippers, Kuzma had 19 points in the first half. He built on his rhythm from the previous game against the Denver Nuggets by finishing with 25 points. He could have had 40 if he would have gotten the minutes.
Kuzma built on his performance by scoring 20 of his 24 points in the first half of the Portland game. Again, he comes out firing and tails off in the second half. Why? Upon a closer look, this could be the reason. Defense.
Head coach Frank Vogel may be frustrated with Kuzma’s performance on the defensive end. This could be a problem going forward with dealing with Kuz. Maybe the defense is lacking, but the man is a potential walking bucket at times.
When he’s putting up big numbers at an efficient clip, it’s hard to keep him off of the floor. Furthermore, Rajon Rondo gets minutes and he has issues covering himself with a blanket at night to defend the cold L.A. air.
Avery Bradley has struggled at the offensive end and Alex Caruso has dropped off offensively as well. The $15 million man, Danny Green is basically stealing money at this point based on his shooting. Frank Vogel has some decisions to make.
Then there was the Dallas game.
UGH! Kuz scored the same amount of points as the Staples Center crowd on Sunday. Kyle Kuzma left a bagel with 0 points on 0-of-7 shooting to watch his hot streak crash back down to Earth. It just didn’t matter because of how well the rest of the team played on defense.
Speaking of defense.