Game Thread Dec 22, 2022 07:00PM MT: Jazz vs. Wizards

[HermanG]

Olynyk + the Nets/76ers 1st for Kuzma

Who says no?

I do. If we trade for Kuzma we gotta trade away JC. Otherwise its Kuzma and JC on wings and Lauri loses his free role and has to play 4.

Cant have Kuzma play off ball away from Conley. He has to play wing for sure. As does JC.

I dont know how Kuzma + Lauri wings would work though. My guess is great offensively, but defending true guards would become an issue.

 

[Nate505]

I love the smell of dead tank in the morning

 

[LogGrad98]

Wasn’t Lauri at the scorers table still?

The whole quarter?

 

[Tremendous Upside]

The superstar whistle Beal keeps getting on the road is nothing short of absurd at this point of his career.

**** that.

Also, since the refs didn't have KO out there to bully, it seems they took their frustrations out on Lauri. Most of those calls on him were laughable. If you get called for a foul when you're in perfect defensive position, between your man and the basket, and the ballhandler just straight rams into you, that's not basketball anymore. It's bull****. That kind of contact belongs in the sport and you're not supposed to blow the whistle every time it happens.

 

[Agent#00]

There is no home cooking at home no?

 

[idiot]

There isn’t really any ties with them either that I can think of either that’s what makes it interesting. It’s not like it’s friends catching up after a game.

I think Kuz has been in the Team USA program, even if he didn't make the final cut. I suspect they've crossed paths there.

 

[Ron Mexico]

His net rating suggest otherwise.

Basketball reference says he is the worst offensive rating on our team besides bolmaro. His defense is a higher but his net rating would still be -23, which is one of the worst on the team. Most stats are showing he sucks and he definitely looks like he sucks when pretty much anyone watches him. His effort is very low and his shooting is off. Players regularly go after him on defense. His VORP, BPM, WS, WS/48, TS%, PER, and pretty much every other important stat show he is the worst on our team next to Bolmaro who isnt really playing, just like he shouldnt be. I am not sure why you are clining to this one stat. Simone isnt great but he is pretty much better at every major stat including these. Our team would be better with him taking Gay's minutes. That isnt even getting to the morale part of the team. Its hard to play with a vet who is really lazy on the court and doesnt seem to care.

I only assume we are playing him because we gave him some guarantee about minutes when he signed and are trying to keep his minutes going to help with a trade later or just general respect for a vet on the team to help with our image to other players and agents.

 

[Ron Mexico]

I do. If we trade for Kuzma we gotta trade away JC. Otherwise its Kuzma and JC on wings and Lauri loses his free role and has to play 4.

Cant have Kuzma play off ball away from Conley. He has to play wing for sure. As does JC.

I dont know how Kuzma + Lauri wings would work though. My guess is great offensively, but defending true guards would become an issue.

Why would Kuz and Lauri be guarding guards? Neither of them would play guard. Kuz would play PF. Maybe Lauri and him switch around depending on matchups and changing up the pace.

 

[hgb]

I dont know if I have ever made a gamethread comment relating to screen setting before but man Kessler did a great job of setting screens for shooters tonight. Very impressive. He was pretty awesome in every aspect of his role. Which is very typical.
I LOVE that he played 32 minutes tonight. That is right about how many I think he should play every night for a long time now.

While he's still behind Gobert in almost every aspect of the game, it feels like he's really learning from him on a daily basis. Guess maybe in a way he does, since we have sooo much video of Rudy doing his thing, and also coaches who know what it took Rudy to go from where he was as a rookie to the all star he became.

 

[HermanG]

Why would Kuz and Lauri be guarding guards? Neither of them would play guard. Kuz would play PF. Maybe Lauri and him switch around depending on matchups and changing up the pace.

Not both, but one of them would have to. I thought I already pointed out why.

You think Kuzma would be happy to play PF? I cannot remember him not playing at wing and he is getting 60 touches this year (JC numbers). I think you would have to have both Lauri and Kuzma next to Conley, and putting either one at 4 would be a waste. We already know Lauri withered away at 4 in Chicago.

Putting players in best positions for them is key for them to succeed. Kuzma is his best version at wing, and so is Markkanen. Thats one of the reasons I like Collins way more. He plays 4, and has always done so. He is an off ball player while Kuzma needs the ball in his hands a lot.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Not both, but one of them would have to. I thought I already pointed out why.

You think Kuzma would be happy to play PF? I cannot remember him not playing at wing and he is getting 60 touches this year (JC numbers). I think you would have to have both Lauri and Kuzma next to Conley, and putting either one at 4 would be a waste. We already know Lauri withered away at 4 in Chicago.

Putting players in best positions for them is key for them to succeed. Kuzma is his best version at wing, and so is Markkanen. Thats one of the reasons I like Collins way more. He plays 4, and has always done so. He is an off ball player while Kuzma needs the ball in his hands a lot.

I wouldn't call Collins an "off ball player". He wants more touches since he's been sitting in the corner lately (which, in the modern NBA, is what a 4 does if they can shoot at all). I presume he wants the screener/roller role in a PnR centric offense. Collins is a play finisher, like Lauri.

On the Jazz, bringing him into the starting lineup would push Markkanen into the spacer role, since Lauri is clearly the better shooter.

IMO these two overlap way too much. If we keep Lauri in his freelancing role, Collins needs to space, aaand he's right back in the same situation he wanted to escape in Atlanta. He won't like that.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Not both, but one of them would have to. I thought I already pointed out why.

You think Kuzma would be happy to play PF? I cannot remember him not playing at wing and he is getting 60 touches this year (JC numbers). I think you would have to have both Lauri and Kuzma next to Conley, and putting either one at 4 would be a waste. We already know Lauri withered away at 4 in Chicago.

Putting players in best positions for them is key for them to succeed. Kuzma is his best version at wing, and so is Markkanen. Thats one of the reasons I like Collins way more. He plays 4, and has always done so. He is an off ball player while Kuzma needs the ball in his hands a lot.

Neither of them are playing guard or guarding guards. Both of them play pf this year plenty and do it well. Kuzma starts at PF, I don't know the percentage he plays there since I don't watch many wizards games. Lauri switches to PF plenty with our team.

I slightly prefer Collins because he has a longer contract and could be had for cheaper most likely. But that's assuming he can really step up his play.