(The full text is 3300 words, it takes 7 minutes to read)
The cruelty of competitive sports is that no one can always be a winner. Is the charm of basketball a championship?
I used to think that after witnessing the Lakers win championships in 2009 and 10 years, I was crazy about how basketball could bring honor to my favorite stars. After 11 years of Lakers chasing three consecutive championship failures, the Purple and Gold Army gradually went into decline, starting from Kobe Bryant's major injury in 13 years, the Lakers experienced the darkest period of time in the history of the team. As the team's record deteriorated and even winning became a luxury, my mentality gradually became peaceful. Watching the ball has become a nostalgia for me.
At the end of the 2015-16 season, the Lakers only achieved a 17-65 record in the regular season, ranking at the bottom of the West, once again setting the worst record in team history, the Lakers sacked head coach Byron Scott and signed a five-year, $25 million contract with Luke Wharton, a former Lakers player and now Warriors assistant coach.
The 2016-17 season was Walton's first official coaching season, and the Lakers played well at the beginning of the season, defeating the Rockets in the opener, and another wave of three consecutive wins in early November, including a 20-point victory over the Warriors, who have a big four. But since December, the other giants in the league have gradually entered the game, and the young Lakers and Walton have paid the price for their growth, experiencing a downturn of 3 wins and 12 losses. By January, it was another wave of 4 wins and 10 losses, and the poor record made the Lakers gradually lose the qualification for the playoffs. The team won only five games in February and March combined. Although he won 5 of the last 6 games of the season, it was too late. The Lakers, who are 26-56 and rank fourteenth in the West, have failed to make the playoffs for four consecutive years, continuing the longest playoff blank record in team history.
Of course, the bad record made the Lakers get the eye of the year. So in the draft in the summer of 2017, the Lakers selected Lonzo Ball with the eye of the list, and by the way, they selected a third-year player from the University of Utah: Kyle Kuzma with the 27th pick from the previous trade.
Rookie Kuzma
Kuzma was 22 years old when he was selected by the Lakers and was an older rookie in the league. The advantage of the older rookie is that the basic skills of basketball are relatively solid, and they have been educated by the NCAA League for a long time, and they have a sense of teamwork, which is crucial, and many players have not played the ball for a lifetime, and these two points are quickly reflected in Kuzma.com.
In July 2017, the NBA Summer League opened in Las Vegas, Kuzma chose to wear the Lakers No. 0 jersey for the team, compared with other players, he is always active on the court, directing everyone to run, pass, and he will never be soft when he has the opportunity. The Lakers went all the way to the final to face the Blazers, in the absence of the outside core Ronzo Ball, Kuzma singled out the beam, the final cut 30 points, 10 rebounds to help the Lakers win 110:98, won the 2017 Summer League championship, Kuzma also won the FMVP for his outstanding performance. In the seven games in which he played, the Lakers 0 averaged 21.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, and was selected to the best team with eye-catching statistics.
Summer League MVP
For a giant team like the Lakers, a small summer league championship is certainly not enough to worry about, but the group of young people led by Kuzma and Ball has brought a glimmer of vitality, a glimmer of light, and a glimmer of hope to Los Angeles, which has been in decline for a long time. Soon Kuzma officially began his NBA career with the Lakers.
On October 20, 2017, the Lakers made his NBA debut at 92:108 with the Clippers, playing 18 minutes and scoring eight points and four rebounds.
On October 23, 2017, the Lakers 112:119 Pelicans, Kuzma 20 points, 6 rebounds, both of which hit a career high.
On October 28, 2017, the Lakers played 92:101 raptors, Kuzma played 28 minutes, scored 15 points, 10 rebounds, and achieved his first career double-double and set a new career single-game rebounding record.
On November 3, 2017, the Lakers 110:113 Blazers, Kuzma 22 points, a new career single-game scoring record.
On November 4, 2017, the Lakers made his first career start with 21 points and 13 rebounds, breaking his career single-game rebounding record and becoming the third rookie player of the season to score 20+10 in a single game.
On November 18, 2017, the Lakers scored 30 points and 10 rebounds at 113:122 with the Suns, becoming the first rookie player of the season to score 30+10 in a single game.
On November 22, 2017, the Lakers scored 103:94 Bulls and Kuzma with 22 points, scoring double figures in the 12th consecutive game, becoming the first rookie player in Lakers history to achieve this achievement since George Lynch in the 1993-94 season.
On December 2, 2017, the Lakers' 27th pick, No. 0 Kyle Kuzma, was named the 2017-18 First Month Western Conference Rookie of the 2017-18 season with an average of 16.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 50.4% shooting and 37.9% three-point shooting.
On December 10, 2017, the Lakers played 110:99 Hornets, Kuzma played 31 minutes, with 12 points and 14 rebounds, setting a new career single-game rebounding record.
On December 21, 2017, the Lakers played 122:116 rockets, Kuzma played 40 minutes, had 38 points, seven rebounds and four assists, including 7 of 10 three-pointers, setting a new career record for single-game points and three-point shooting, and becoming the second rookie in Lakers history (including playoffs) to have at least 38 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a single game since Elvin Johnson in May 1980.
On December 23, 2017, the Lakers 106:113 Warriors, Kuzma scored 27 points, 14 rebounds, and scored 25+ in the third consecutive game, becoming the third rookie player in the Lakers' history to score 25+ in three consecutive games since Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.
On December 26, 2017, the Lakers played 104:121 with the Timberwolves, Kuzma played 41 minutes and scored 31 points, becoming the first rookie player in NBA history to score 30+ in the Christmas game since LeBron James (34 points).
On January 25, 2018, the NBA officially announced the roster of participants for the 2018 All-Star Rookie Challenge, and Kyle Kuzma was selected.
On February 11, 2018, the Lakers 123:130 Lone Ranger, Kuzma played 32 minutes, 12 points, 15 rebounds, a new career single-game rebounding record.
On February 15, 2018, the Lakers played 27 minutes, 23 points, five rebounds, and scored 20+ points in a single game for the 16th time of the season, becoming the first rookie player in Lakers history to achieve this achievement since Elvin Johnson in 1980.
On March 14, 2018, the Lakers played 112:103 for the Nuggets, Kuzma played 39 minutes, 26 points, 13 rebounds, including 5 of 11 three-pointers, and hit 131 three-pointers in the season, surpassing D'Angelo Russell (2015-16, 130) and becoming the player with the most three-pointers in lakers' history in rookie season.
On March 29, 2018, the Lakers played 122:124 Bucks, Kuzma played 46 minutes, 27 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, becoming the first rookie player in Lakers history to have at least 25 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in a single game in the regular season.
At the end of the 2017-18 season, the Lakers with a group of potential young people have a record of 35 wins and 47 losses, and the team has had the problem of dropping the chain at key moments due to the young lineup and lack of experience in many games, losing too many games that should not be lost, although the record has improved compared to last season, it is still unable to enter the playoffs, and the team's playoff absence record has also been extended to the longest 5 years.
The once-talented Lakers
But at least the team's style in the game has been very different from the previous two seasons, in the game against many strong teams the team can always rely on the team to exert amazing energy, many games are entangled with the opponent until the last moment before being killed by the opponent's ace players with experience. Fans also joked that the Lakers and opponents that season were "forced to open five or five.".
Lakers No. 0 player, Kyle Kuzma played in 77 regular season games for the Lakers as a rookie, including 37 starts, and had 31.2 minutes of playing time per game due to his style of playing in line with the team's tactics. He averaged 16.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 45 percent from the field, 36.6 percent from three-point range, 70.7 percent from the free throw line, and 52.7 percent from the field. He scored a total of 1242 points in his rookie season, becoming the third player in Lakers history to score more than 1,000 points in a rookie season and shoot more than 50 percent of his effective shooting.
On May 23, 2018, the NBA officially announced the best rookie lineup of the season, and Kyle Kuzma was selected for the all-rookie team for a while. The Lakers haven't won this award for at least 20 years. Lakers fans in China have nicknamed Kuzma because of his appearance: "Aunt Jenny's Sweetheart."
Kuzma and Lakers boss Jenny Bass
Of course, he also has many shortcomings, as an older rookie growth direction has become more mature, technical style is difficult to have a breakthrough. It seems that eighteen martial arts are proficient, but in fact, they are sparse. And to a large extent, his data is because the Lakers have not yet completed the run-in that season, the opponent generally has a light enemy mentality, and the targeted defense is not strong, so his data is more or less watery.
But Kuzma's rookie season has been loved by Los Angeles fans, not only handsome appearance, but also what he showed to everyone: face-to-basket singles, back-to-back singles, fixed-point shooting, blocking and dismantling, and even exquisite hand-to-hand passing, and more importantly, his vitality on the court, he was always shouting, and when something went wrong, he would always be the first to come out and take charge of "mine, mine." "When a teammate makes a mistake, he will also go up to communicate with his teammates as soon as possible." Every good team needs such a person and their innate leadership temperament.
End
Many people do not understand why Kuzma has such a high popularity in the Lakers, especially some later fans, because they do not understand the years when the Lakers fell, Kuzma was the lakers' first shining point. Not Russell, not Randall, not Ingram, not Ball Brother Bauer, but the handsome guy who was 2.06 meters tall, Kyle Kuzma.
Then later, James came, the system that Walton built for the Lakers was not needed, Randall was traded because of the overlapping positions, and the former youth army began to fall apart.
The Lakers in the 18-19 season, although there were 20 wins and 14 losses at the beginning of the season, ranking fourth in the West, and also had the highlight moment of the 20-point break of the Warriors in the Christmas war, but with James's groin strain and the team's intention to complete a deal with the Pelicans in the middle of the season, the news of the team's transaction with The Pelicans was leaked, all the players involved instantly became shaky, the team's morale and cohesion have since plummeted, and the record has never returned to the beginning of the season. It was from this time that the Lakers lost their future. Many fans have only started watching Lakers games in recent years, and I don't know if they will continue to watch it in the future.
(End of the full text, thank you for watching, the picture is from the network)