Originally Posted by sancho
He played very well in many games; awful in others, and continued a tradition of head-scratching decision making in many. He wasn't consistent at all.
He played very well in many games; awful in others, and continued a tradition of head-scratching decision making in many. He wasn't consistent at all.
Frequently, it felt like Kuz was "letting the game come to him" to a fault. There were times we would have been better if he had asserted himself, like it's sound he did yesterday.
“To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.
In what game did he play awful last year? He had double figures in scoring every game but one in conference and had 12 straight games of at least 8 rebounds. Sounds pretty non-awful and consistent to me.
I suppose it all depends on your definition of consistent. I would argue that he had an awful game against Arizona, but outside of that he was mostly at a double double or within shouting distance for most of conference play (with the admitted slip in rebounding over the last couple weeks of the season/post season). All in all, I would say he was much more consistent this year than he was last year.
There is some buzz of him moving up into the first round (personally, I see him as a mid second round guy, but anywhere from late late first to undrafted wouldn't suprise me). I am cheering for that. A number of folks have argued this with me, but if we have three first round draft picks in a row, recruits will notice. That is a great sign of a staff that can develop guys who want to put in the work and be part of the group. Its obviously not the number one thing on anyone's list but every bit helps.
He had 7 turnovers in the OSU loss, and his 10 FGAs were well under his per season average. There's no way Kuzma can look at that game and say with a straight face he played well.
Based on the advice given in this article to better NBA prospects, Kuzma made a mistake.
Whoops. http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...-return-school
Last edited by SeattleUte; 05-14-2017 at 01:56 PM.
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We had this back and forth here on the boards last year in regards to Poeltl. I will start by saying that yes, in a perfect world, the overwhelming majority of these guys go back to school and iron out their weaknesses and the NBA has more polished players coming in every year. Unfortunately, that is not how things have worked for most of this century. With many guys trying to maximize their earnings, they are opting to leave early, develop in the NBA and be a year or two closer to those second and third contracts (where the real money is). Rational or not, the fear of getting injured playing college ball is another factor.
I did not read all of the evaluations in that article. I started with Mika because I think his decision will be very interesting to watch. The unnamed NBA exec who spoke on him mentioned wanting to see him go back to school and 'extend his range'. Fair assesment (he went 0-1 on threes this year). Now that is one executive on one team. More analytics-driven execs are going to see that he hit 76% on his free throws, shooting nearly 9 a game and that was up from 62% as a freshman back in 2013-2014. Free throw % (and its trend over time) are great indicators of 'stretch 4' potential. Its there. No one who truly has Mika's best interests at heart is going to advise to go back to school to 'extend his range' when the potential is clearly there, and its uncertain just how much Dave Rose (whose seat is getting ever so slightly warm) would be willing to experiment with such an attempt. In the D-league, that could be worked on with no consequences while learning a team's system for a salary in the high five figures or even 6 figures.
Quick look at Kuzma..........what else can he prove at the college level that would cause his draft stock to really rise? He could lead a team to a big tournament run. The measurables (which are ok, nothing great, nothing bad) won't change. He could 'extend his range', his basketball IQ could rise, etc.
I know I am rambling here, but to me, he has reached a level where the D-league wouldn't bury him and he can develop just fine there and be closer to that second contract, if he is so fortunate. Would have loved to have him back because I think there is more Larry can teach him, but after his performance at the combine, as laughably small of a sample size as it is, I believe he made the right call and his potential to move up with another year at Utah may not outweight another birthday.
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