Another Lakers old general will play out, guess who?
Although the Lakers' cultivation ability is worrying, their draft vision is really not bad, look at the rookies who have gone out of Los Angeles over the years, almost all of them have played out.
For example, Russell, known as "Water Pull", is now an All-Star point guard, averaging 18.9 points per game, plus 7.1 assists;
Then there's the slow-growing Ingram, who is currently one of the Pelicans' aces, averaging 22.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game;
The controversial Lonzo Ball has gradually acquired the temperament of a top champion puzzle, with streamlined passes, steady defense, and efficient three-pointers;
In addition to these high-ranking rookies, even Josh Hart, who finished in the first round, has grown into a scorer averaging nearly 15+ per game, and of course, he, the Lakers, who always becomes a backhand whenever he loses, Kyle Kuzma.
As an older rookie, Kuzma showed great ability to fight in the first year of his career, averaging 16.8 points, 6.1 rebounds per game, and a number of data were among the best in the same rookie, but since James joined in 2018 and Davis joined in 2019, Kuzma's talent was suppressed, and he could only appear as the 3rd, or even the 4th score point, not only did he not get much ball, but the shortcomings were also exposed in the high-end innings.
Poor defense, unstable shooting, poor dribbling, etc., after the failure to defend the title in 2021, the Lakers used him as a chip, from the Wizards in exchange for MVP star Russell Westbrook, originally thought that the Lakers who formed the "Big Three", can continue to become the favorite to win the championship, but who could have imagined that in this deal, the Los Angeles people actually became the final loser, Wei Shao's performance is not to say, look at the Joining the Wizards Kuzma, the rookie at the end of the first round, even like those predecessors, just left the Lakers quickly opened the peak.
Since entering 2022, Kuzma has seemed to be a different person.
In January, Kuzma played in 13 games, averaging 22.5 points, 11 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
In February, Kuzma played in 11 games, averaging 21 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
In March, Kuzma played in four games, averaging 20.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game.
Compared to the Lakers, Kuzma's progress can be said to be all-round, not only scoring +8, improving to 20+, and most importantly, his passing, a full 6 times.
Scoring, rebounding, assists, all of which are the first in the team during this period, of course, behind Kuzma's blowout data, is a large number of ball accumulations, the past 3 months, his use rate has been more than 27%, but despite the sudden surge in ball power, Kuzma did not waste opportunities.
In January, Kuzma focused on individual offense, shooting more than 60 percent of his true shots, exactly at the level of a top scorer;
In February, Kuzma began to try to organize the offense, the new role made him have a lot of discomfort, scoring efficiency declined, assists increased a lot, the number of mistakes was also increasing, and the assist-to-turnover ratio was only 1.42;
Since March, Kuzma has gradually completed the transition, stabilizing scoring and efficiency, while the organization is also similar, the assist-to-turnover ratio has increased to 2.23, and Langzo Ball, Jokic, Harden are almost at the same level;
As for defense, Kuzma's offense is also obvious to all, you know, the Wizards' overall defense is far inferior to last season's Lakers, but this season, his defense in various positions can effectively limit opponents, such as less than 6 feet in the area, the Lakers period, Kuzma can make the opponent's shooting rate from 62.1%, to 62.7%, but now, he can make the opponent's shooting rate from 61.3%, down to 57.1%.
In such a difficult situation, Kuzma stood up and carried the banner of the whole team, he used the questioned way of playing, leading the Wizards to a difficult move forward, although still lost a lot of games, but at least for now, Washington still has the hope of competing for play-off qualification, as of now, they are only 1.5 wins away from the 9th in the East.
Regardless of the outcome, Kuzma is standing, and the Wizards' team building framework in the next few years will have his place.