Lakers Rumors: Predicting each Rookies’ stat-line next season
By Jason Reed
Kyle Kuzma
Predicted stat-line: 7.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.2 BPG
The Lakers selecting Kyle Kuzma with the 27th overall selection in the 2017 NBA Draft may lead to an even bigger domino effect. However, that is a topic of discussion for another day, as we are merely looking at what Kuzma can do for the Lakers next season. More likely than not, Kuzma will see a reduced amount of minutes, leading to a hit in his performance.
The Lakers already have two power forwards ahead of Kuzma in both Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr. Randle is a menacing double-double machine that has the potential to become an all-star in a short amount of time. Nance, on the other hand, is slowly growing into his bench role and is one of the best dunkers in all of the NBA.
However, Kuzma does bring something different to the table. Los Angeles likely selected Kuzma to be a stretch-four, playing very similarly to Kevin Love. While obviously, he won’t be as good as Love, his play style will likely be the same in Luke Walton’s system.
This selection obviously is to give Lonzo Ball more weapons in his arsenal. TJ Leaf was a great target for Ball at UCLA, filling in that stretch four role. With the Lakers lacking anyone of that mold, the selection of Kuzma makes sense.
Yet, Kuzma’s shooting needs to get better. It has improved throughout college, but in his junior year at Utah he shot 32.1%. That will take a hit at the NBA level. 2017 will prove to be a year of getting through the learning curve for Kyle Kuzma.