Los Angeles Lakers: Building the perfect team around LeBron James in LA
By Jason Reed
The scoring big man: Julius Randle/Kyle Kuzma
Both of LeBron James’ title-winning teams had a scoring big man, that at times, have been undersized in the process. In Miami, LeBron had Chris Bosh, who was a natural power forward that eventually started seeing more time at center. In Cleveland, that exact same role has been filled by Kevin Love.
Both possess stretch-four capabilities and are good rebounders for being power forwards, making the transition to center less of a headache.
On the Lakers, the team does not one guy that embodies this role, instead, they have the perfect two-man rotation that can accomplish the feat. In fact, this is probably better for LeBron as he does not need to rely on just one guy to get the job done. They are interchangeable, depending on the situation, they both will be fresh.
Kyle Kuzma provides the stretch-four scoring capabilities with the ability to get to the hole. He is not as a good of a rebounder as Randle, but in smaller packages, will likely be the main scorer off of the bench.
Randle also is small but possesses the strength and ferocity to bully those bigger than him down low. Randle proved that he could be a 20 points, 10 rebound per night guy in the second half of the season last year. Although those numbers would reduce with LeBron and George on the team, his presence would be known.
It is not the traditional “third superstar” but the two-man wrecking crew of Julius Randle and Kyle Kuzma would give exactly what LeBron needs.