Los Angeles Lakers: 5 goals for Kyle Kuzma’s rookie season
By Randy Porga
5. Getting stronger and fit for NBA
While Kyle Kuzma has an atheletic frame for his height, he weighs 190 pounds and it shows on the defensive side of the ball.
He isn’t much of a defender on the inside or out on the perimeter. When in the paint, he is very inconsistent in closing out and does not always give a 100 percent effort.
His per 40 minutes metric brings this flaw under a large spotlight. Throughout his three-year college career, he averaged only 0.7 blocks per game and 0.6 steals per 40 minutes.
Big men typically flourish and get whatever they want on the inside against Kuzma, which can put a question mark on whether he will see more time against bigs playing at the 4 or getting shifted to playing at the 3 instead.
While he is unselfish on the offensive side of the ball, he tends to stick to his man instead of helping down low when a lane is cleared for his opponent, making for an easy target other athletic bigs.
Kyle Kuzma should find himself plenty of time in the weight room before he heads to training camp to boost his confidence when defending in the paint.