There has been a lot of discussion around Kyle Kuzma since he arrived in Milwaukee midway through last season, including from yours truly. Most of that discussion has been centred around why Kuzma is a bad fit and should be traded ASAP. While I concur with that sentiment, I think there is a decent chance Kyle spends the entire upcoming season with the Bucks. Therefore, I wanted to write about two overarching strategies I believe the coaching staff should lean on to inform how they make decisions
regarding Kuzma:
Strategy #1: Play Kuzma almost exclusively at his natural position
Firstly, Kyle Kuzma is optimised as a power forward. Why? Firstly, he physically profiles as a power forward (duh). Secondly, the PF position optimises his skill set. The higher (or lower, depending on how you look at it) Kyle plays on the positional spectrum, the less he must succeed as a three-point shooter (where he shoots 33.4% for his career). Of course, he’ll still need to make threes playing the PF, but he’d be relied upon more to do that if he were playing the SF.
Now to address the elephant in the room: Kuzma would have to come off the bench because, well, the Bucks already have a certain someone who plays that position. My reaction? Tough luck. As I ranted about in a recent episode of Deer Diaries (A Milwaukee Bucks podcast presented by us, the staff at Brew Hoop), the Bucks are trying to win a championship; there is no time for worrying about egos and hurt feelings. For what it’s worth, Kyle has been nothing but a great teammate since he got to Milwaukee. Even if his ego took a little hit coming off the bench, I think he’d fall in line.
And if he doesn’t fall in line? Respectfully, who cares? Kuzma isn’t exactly pivotal to the Bucks’ success or plans moving forward; he has very little leverage. The harsh reality that Jon Horst will never admit, but one that is obvious, is that he did not trade for Kyle because he believed he would help the team return to contention. Objectively, Kuzma is a bad fit with this team. Kyle was traded to the Cream City because his contract released the Bucks from apron hell, allowing Horst to do all the weird and wacky things he did this offseason.
In all likelihood, Kuzma’s next most important purpose will be for Horst to utilise his $20m expiring contract in 2026–27 to acquire someone who fits better on this team. To put it bluntly, they should only use Kyle to the extent that he is not hindering the team. I have little faith that Kuzma will significantly impact winning, but he could certainly impact losing. And a key component of how Kyle could impact losing is by Doc playing him out of position to meet some playing time quota that is commensurate with his so-called “reputation.” Giannis played 34 minutes per game last season; play Kuzma the 14 minutes Antetokounmpo sits, plus 5–10 minutes elsewhere, and call it a day.
Strategy #2: Put Kuzma in positions to play to his strengths as often as possible
Passing
As I alluded to above, Kuzma’s game is not entirely translatable to winning basketball; lack of shooting ability is the primary reason for that. However, one element of his game that I believe in is his passing (even though his career turnover average is just 0.5 below his career assist average of 2.7). Regardless, my favourite part of his passing chops is his ability to know where help is coming from in situations where there is a numerical advantage. For example, look at this play:
To the naked eye, this play seems simple, but I don’t think it is. Giannis gets doubled and makes the next pass; Nembhard rotates over. The pass after that is to Lillard, but Kuzma recognises that Haliburton—who was guarding Trent in the corner—tries to shoot that gap before he has even caught the ball, leaving Trent open in the corner. From that point, Lopez makes the correct read by diving to the hoop, forcing Turner to cover him, and Kyle skips it to Trent.
You must have patience and an instinctual understanding of rotations to make that pass. It’s numbers-advantage plays like the one above where Kuzma can shine. But how can they get Kyle in those situations more often? Well, one tried and true method is to pair him in actions with lethal shooters who he can screen for, and crucially, who can screen for him:
There are many advantages to pairing Kyle with shooters, but the main benefit is that it forces his defender to guard him closer than they would otherwise, as they must be aware of the shooter. That allows Kuzma opportunities to do a lot more with the ball, whether that be to screen and play out of the short roll, or even just opening up driving lanes where he can use his size more effectively.
Cutting
Another reason Kyle is optimised off the bench is that it opens his game as a cutter, which is another strength of his. Putting Kuzma in lineups where he is the only subpar shooter allows him the requisite space to intuitively cut into open spaces because the other four players attract each of their defenders. For example, one of Kyle’s primary scoring methods last season was cutting to the hoop after Dame drew two and hit the centre in the short roll (whose shooting gravity warranted the help defender to step up and guard them):
I do want to note that while Myles Turner can play the Brook role here, the ease of which this play was executed will be harder to replicate this upcoming season because 1) there is no Dame to warrant that level of defensive attention up top and 2) Denver runs a coverage with Jokic whereby they willingly sacrifice that short-roll pass. This play is much harder to replicate against OKC, for example.
Still, the general concept of Kuzma being the only subpar shooter will produce these sorts of opportunities in the flow of general play. With Giannis out there, yes, it’s still possible to make this play. However, Antetokounmpo must be the one passing it in the short roll because, while he doesn’t have the shooting gravity, he demands tight coverage due to his incredible length and athleticism. Regardless, this play shows how the court becomes a little more cramped when both he and Kyle share the court:
Attacking in transition
Another reason Kuz is optimised when Giannis is sitting is that it opens his ability to either get an early outlet or grab-and-go off his defensive rebound and negate any need to run half-court offence:
The general idea is that you start the game with Giannis performing the grab-and-go stuff at an exceptionally high level, and then you take him off for Temu Giannis (sorry, I had to). Of course, it’s not as if playing both players simultaneously would negate the Bucks’ ability to play in transition. However, both players are trying to play with a spaced court, and this becomes difficult when neither is a respected shooter.
Look, we know Horst is going to be aggressive at the deadline like he always is. Any significant deal is likely to involve Kuzma. But whether that deal comes at the deadline or a year from now, the Bucks must have a plan for how to optimise Kyle as long as he’s on the roster. That plan might require being somewhat ruthless to maximise the good in Kuzma’s game while minimising the bad. I believe Kyle can positively impact this team, but Doc and the coaching staff will need to put him in a position to succeed.
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