Zach Lowe on Kuzma and Lakers:
Shooting made Kuzma an obvious fit next to
LeBron James, but his canny cutting has taken that to another level. Kuzma skulks the baseline when his defender gawks at the ball. That is a handy skill playing with LeBron; the Lakers run a lot of their offense through the elbows, and LeBron attracts eyeballs lording over the action there.
Even better: Kuzma executes those baseline sneaks amid the chaos of semi-transition, and that is where the Lakers live.
About 64 percent of Kuzma's 2-point baskets have come via assists, up from about 53 percent last season. James alone has assisted him 20 times already.
Kuzma should stay in his starting role.
Brandon Ingram should too, even if he deserves more run leading second units when LeBron sits. As I wrote before the season, playing James, Kuzma and Ingram together with a center --
JaVale McGee -- shifts the Lakers toward giant lineups.
That might be their best hope for offense-defense balance. The current starting five, with
Lonzo Ball rounding it out, is plus-13 in 31 minutes so far. McGee has been, frankly, incredible by his standards over an unthinkable 27 minutes per game. (The Lakers need to be careful, starting yesterday, about running McGee into the ground.)
The Lakers, an awful defensive team overall, have allowed only 98 points per 100 possessions with LeBron and McGee on the floor, a mark that would rank second in the league, per NBA.com.
That starting five shoves
Josh Hart, an essential two-way bruiser, into backup duty. Hart might just have to accept that. He is versatile enough to log 25-plus minutes off the bench, especially if the Lakers stop experimenting with silly things like playing Ball and
Rajon Rondo extended stretches together.
They might even think about giving run to a super-big lineup featuring no traditional point guard -- something like Hart, Ingram, James, Kuzma and McGee/
Johnathan Williams. Hart needs to play more than Rondo, period.
Luke Walton is solving a weird roster puzzle. Kuzma has solved part of it for him.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25151211/zach-lowe-10-things-like-including-damian-lillard