https://goo.gl/zyd5Mp
Kuzma Diversifying Role, Including First Steps at Small-Ball Center
成為小球陣容的中鋒
Prior to last season, Kyle Kuzma had never played outside of his power forward
role.
But injuries forced him to briefly suit up at small forward as a rookie, and
Kuzma performed well on the wing. Now he is adding the center position to his
repertoire.
“I’ve never really played the five before,” Kuzma said.
“I think it’ll be good for us having a small-ball unit, getting out and
running and gunning.”
The benefits of playing Kuzma at center are obvious. He’s a lethal scorer who
can open up spacing for others with his shooting, and push the pace with his
mobility.
The trick will be on the defensive side of the floor.
“You’ve got to be the anchor of the defense at that five position,” Kuzma
said. “Call out pick-and-rolls, screens. The five is usually around the rim,
so you see everything.”
以前除了PF沒有打過其他位置，但上季因傷兵潮，讓Kuz在SF適應的不錯，我這輩子也沒真
正打過C，進攻端上我有我的優勢，但重點在於防守端。
Kuzma said that playing center on defense makes him more vocal and aware of the
other players. Watching film has helped him learn to recognize what he needs to
communicate with his teammates.
“The coverages and things like that are obviously different for him at the
five spot,” coach Luke Walton said. “He’s been good. It hasn’t been a ton
of reps, but we’ve had him out there trying to see if it could possibly work.
”
Kuzma’s primary focuses over the offseason were his defense and adding muscle.
That latter part was obvious to Walton, who said Kuzma is “much more of a man
now, physically.”
The Lakers’ defense is predicated on having players that can switch across
positions defensively, and Walton believes that his roster’s combination of
“length, versatility [and] smarts” are the ingredients for a “really good”
switching defense.
Yet for Kuzma, playing center could require serving as more of a backline paint
protector.
“A lot of the stuff we do is one through four switching,” Walton said.
“When you’re the five, we don’t want to switch point guards onto [our]
bigger players. It’s more about our traditional coverages.”
在防守上打5，讓我需要更多的Vocal，透過多看影片學習了解隊友。
Walton説會讓Kuz打5，不會打大量的時間，但我們會嘗試是否可行。
對Kuz來說，未來的比賽會更多注重在禁區的防守。
However, the Lakers’ defense took a huge jump last season — from 30th in
efficiency the year before to 12th — in part because of Julius Randle’s
ability to switch onto guards from the center position. With Randle now on
New Orleans, Kuzma could occupy that role for the upcoming season.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re trying [Kuzma] out there,” Walton said.
“We liked that versatility that Julius gave us.”
While Kuzma’s journey at center could have huge ramifications for the Lakers’
season, his ability to play multiple spots speaks to the Lakers’ vision for
“positionless basketball.”
In fact, much of his offseason progress included working on skills that are
typically exclusive to guards.
“I’m looking for more pick-and-rolls; not necessarily always being that
popper,” Kuzma said. “It’s good. Luke has the interchangeable offense,
and it allows me to do those things.”
上賽季因為J.Randle在防守端貢獻，讓湖人防守效率從原本墊底進步到上賽季的第12名，
隨著J.Randle已經離開去鵜鶘，希望這賽季Kuz可以撐起這個角色。
對於湖人現在對位置是沒有明確定位的，Kuz如果可以撐起5，對於湖人會有很大的幫助。