Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma doesn’t think his team will have to wait a year to contend, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes. Kuzma believes the additions of LeBron James and other big-name free agents makes them instant contenders. “We think that a lot of people are underestimating us,” he told Youngmisuk. Kuzma added that many teams need to work on their chemistry but he’s confident the team’s younger players will blend well with the veteran additions. “I don’t know why people kind of just rule us out because we are young,” he said. “We are hungry. We are competitive. Anybody that watched us play last year, we were in a lot of games.”
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Rockets forward Nene Hilario believes Carmelo Anthony is still one of the elite players in the league, Mark Berman of KRIV tweets. “When he commits to do the right thing and they use his talent, man get out of the way. Simple as that. For me, he’s a top-10 player in the league,” Hilario told Berman. Anthony officially signed with Houston earlier this week.
- The Thunder catch a little bit of a scheduling break, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman points out. Each team plays four conference foes three times while facing every other conference team four times. The Thunder only have to play the two-time defending champion Warriors three times, with the Lakers, Spurs and Grizzlies also in that group. The Grizzlies are the only projected non-playoff contender among that quartet.
- The Jazz franchise has become a haven for foreign-born players and coaches, Brad Rock of the Deseret News notes. The current roster includes Rudy Gobert, Dante Exum, Joe Ingles, Ricky Rubio, Raul Neto, Naz Mitrou-Long and Thabo Sefolosha and the team also recently hired the league’s first Greek assistant coach.
Georges Niang was born in Massachusetts
Lol
Yeah and Ekpe Udoh was born in Oklahoma as well. I guess they just both foreign-born players and foreign-sounding names qualified here.
Georges has Senegal citizenship and Udoh plays for the Nigerian National team so its an easy mistake to make. I am more confused to why Rudy Gobert isn’t mentioned
Salt Lake City has the smallest population in the NBA. They say free agents don’t like to go there because it is in a Mormon State. Jabari Parker is the only Mormon that I know of in the NBA.
You’re probably correct about the SLC area being the smallest in the NBA. Not sure where OKC stands. It’s not easy to get good younger players to want to stay in the area for very long.
The greatest thing about the franchise is that they preach team ball and the basics, while still understanding that you must incorporate the 3 into your offense.
Most players who embrace the concept actually perform better here than elsewhere. And most do not do as well outside of the system. D-Will was a prime example of this.
But rest assured that the fans are fiercely loyal to the team, and attendance is not an issue at the games.
But if the nightlife is important, then the player is probably not going to stay.
Welcome is ABC’s Saturday Night Basketball. Tonight the 41-9 Golden State Warriors take on the 26-25 Lakers.
More like the 39-11 Warriors vs the 31-20 Lakers
37-13 Lakers face the 43-7 Warriors, Lakers will beat them in the playoffs though.
Nene is speaking facts.
Um sir this is sarcasm right
No it’s not sarcasm. Melo is still one of the top scorers in the game, if he’s motivated he’s top 10.
Melo is capable of being a top 10 scorer but he wont get that opportunity in Houston.
Why not? Paul is going to feed him the ball more than Westbrook and get him the ball where he likes it.
Last year Oladipo and LMA were 10th in scoring with 23ppg. Thats a lot for the 3rd option or someone coming off the bench. I think he will be more around the 18-20ppg range. He will have his ups and downs so that is taken into account. Include the possibility of a slow start to the season trying to mesh and learn plays. I think he picks it up towards the middle to end of the season. Hopefully he doesnt run out of gas during playoffs…hes not used to getting out of first round let alone being in the playoffs. Damn those NY years!!!
But when is he ever motivated?
Paul will motivate him, CP won’t let him slack off.
Isn’t Rudy Gobert foreign-born as well?
Anthony is not a top 10 player in the NBA. He may not even be a top 10 player on the Rockets.
Anthony is top 5- harden paul capella gordon anthony.
Him coming off the bench will be good for him. You put ryan anderson gerald green guys who can hit 3s itll open things up for him in the 2nd unit.
Fine except that Anthony says he will refuse to come off the bench.
Except he said the opposite about playing for the Rockets. He said he was willing to accept any role is HOU. Try to keep up.
Totally agree with Kuzma, people are sleeping on the show time, Lakers are back & contending, make no mistake about it, they will be in the WCF & hopefully with some real “magic” from the King why not the finals.
Kuzma is a delusional at best. Not to mention laker fans. The Lakers were “in” games because their opponents were treating them as the g league team they were. Resting starters and playing the bench deep into games. Adding a bunch of veterans on the wrong side of 30 isn’t going to make them instant contenders. Wait until the youngsters realize just how ball dominant LeBron is. There will be zero chemistry, and once they start losing games the delusional confidence will disappear and the Lakers will fade back into purgatory. The Lakers will be lucky to be a .500 team. Give me a break. It’s not like magic is suiting up.
Lakers will be lucky to make the playoffs once the whole time LeBron is under contract.
Ooohh edgy hot take
Such a variety of opinion. I think they will not get it together until they get TT.