The Los Angeles Lakers selected forward Kyle Kuzma out of the University of Utah with the 28th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Some weren't sure of the pick while others thought Kuzma would dominate in a city like Los Angeles and a team like the Lakers.
Kyle Kuzma played three years at Utah (although he attended for four years and graduated with a degree in sociology) and saw himself grow year-by-year into a solid player. During his freshman season, Kuzma played just eight minutes per game and averaged 3.3 points. By his sophomore year, he was a starter averaging 10.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. During his junior year, Kuzma upped his averages to 16.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. Kuzma had another year of college basketball eligibility, but he ultimately decided to declare for the NBA Draft.
According to NBADraft.net and DraftExpress, here are just a couple of the weaknesses scouts wrote down regarding Kuzma:
– Only a 30 percent three-point shooter in college.
– Only a 63 percent free-throw shooter in college.
– Doesn't have reliable mid range game or off-the-dribble jumper.
– Can be sped up and turnover prone.
– Lacks the physicality to handle bigs down low.
– Doesn't provide much rim protection as a help side defender.
Those kinds of weaknesses, without looking at Kuzma play ball, would make any coach and front office think extra hard about whether to use their pick on him or go with a safer option.
The former seems to be exactly what happened with Kuzma as 22 teams passed on him before the Lakers finally snagged him with the 28th pick, a pick they acquired in the trade with the Nets sending D'Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to Brooklyn and Brook Lopez to Los Angeles.
The 6-foot-9 forward impressed all of Summer League and early in the regular season, but with the recent hand injury to Larry Nance Jr. at the beginning of November, Kuzma started 11 straight games for the Lakers and was arguably their best player during the 5-6 stretch averaging 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists on 47.1 percent shooting from the field and 38.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Before taking on the Lakers in their second meeting this season, LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was asked about the emergence of Kuzma as a legitimate scorer in this league, and he shared a pre-draft story that explains how the lanky stretch-four may have fallen to the Lakers at the end of the first round.
“He's been terrific, said Rivers. “Right now, he may be the leader for Rookie of the Year or at least one of them. He should at least be in the running. It's just a great example of scouting. You know, with Kuzma, [NBA] head coaches didn't get a chance to see him all year. I didn't get a chance to see Kuzma all year so I didn't have any negative thoughts about him.
“I'm going to the pre-draft camp and I'm sitting by Magic [Johnson] and Rob [Pelinka] and a couple other guys. They didn't see him all year because they weren't there, they didn't have the [Lakers] job. So it was their first look at him. The first game in Chicago, he was like 10-10 [from the field], then he missed one and then I think he got hurt after that. So from our vision, I remember walking right towards scouts saying, ‘Holy goodness, this guy is amazing!' And then all the scouts, you know, not only ours but scouts [in general] said, ‘Nope, you should've seen him in college.' They had all the negative stuff so you dismiss.
“I guarantee you that's what all those teams did,” added Rivers. “In some ways the Lakers were fortunate that their two guys didn't have all that baggage. They saw the positive stuff and that's the way the league works. Now, he's carried it on and I'm happy for him. He found something somewhere, now he's doing it, and it's really good to see. I wish it wasn't for them, but it's good to see.”
Once teams saw Kuzma's game directly translate to the NBA arguably better than any rookie from this 2017 Class, the number of teams beating themselves up over not selecting the athletic forward certainly grew. At just 22-years of age, Kuzma certainly has a bright future ahead of him.
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