With all of the hoopla surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers' acquisition of Anthony Davis and what eventually turned out to be failed pursuit of Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Kuzma has gotten lost in the fracas.
But make no mistake: Kuzma is going to be absolutely imperative to the Lakers' championship hopes going into next season.
Yes, LeBron James is the top dog and Davis is right there, but Kuzma will have to carry the load at times for the Lakers, as you can't rely on James and Davis to be on the floor all season long.
Both veterans will absolutely miss some games, which will place a whole lot of burden on Kuzma's shoulders.
Due to that, Kuzma needs to work extra hard to improve his game this offseason.
Here are three areas where he must improve the most:
3. Passing
When Kuzma came into the league two years ago, he was not known as a passer, and it showed, as he averaged just 1.8 assists per game during his rookie campaign. However, this past season, Kuzma showed marked improvement in that area, tallying 2.5 assists a night and actually logging a 10-assist night in March.
However, in spite of his improvement as a distributor, there is no question that Kuzma still needs work there.
Kuzma is not a natural passer and is never going to be elite in that category, but there is something to be said for consistently making the right basketball play and recognizing when you need to move the ball to extend possessions, and that is what Kuzma needs to hone this summer.
Fortunately, he is playing alongside one of the best passers we have seen in quite some time in LeBron, so he has a great mentor to help him.
2. Perimeter Shooting
While Kuzma is certainly a solid scorer, he is not a great outside shooter.
The 23-year-old shot just 30.3 percent from three-point range this past season, resulting in a rather pedestrian true-shooting percentage of 54.6 percent.
Oddly enough, Kuzma shot 36.6 percent from deep during his rookie campaign, but outside of that season, he has never been a good shooter, as he made just 30.2 percent of his treys over three collegiate seasons at Utah.
While Kuzma may have the ability to develop into a reliable long-range shooter, he obviously needs some work in that area, as he is not a consistent threat from beyond the arc.
And on a Lakers team that still needs shooting even with the additions of Danny Green and Quinn Cook, it would really behoove Kuzma to add that element to his game this offseason.
1. Defense
Let's call it what it is: Kyle Kuzma is not a good defensive player, and he is likely never going to be all that good on that end of the floor.
He doesn't have the footspeed or the athleticism to adequately defend 3s, and bigger 4s can take advantage of him down low. Plus, because he isn't the greatest athlete, he is not much of a rim protector.
But the thing with Kuzma is that his lack of defensive chops is not for a lack of effort; it's merely physical limitations. Because of that, Kuzma can at least become a passable defensive player, a guy who can defend intelligently by making timely rotations, drawing charges, not fouling, that sort of thing.
Kuzma also seems to be very committed to improving as a defender, which is why he has reached out to Metta World Peace and asked him for help improving on the defensive end this summer.
He doesn't need to become Kawhi; he just needs to be decent enough to not get targeted.
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