Podcast: How can Kyle Kuzma turn things around?

The Los Angeles Lakers played with their food and it finally cost them a game, this time losing to the Toronto Raptors at home. Our hosts responded to the loss, and what went into the losing effort.

The 30

In this episode, Jas is joined by Sportsnet 650’s Marcus Fitzgerald to breakdown the Lakers’ first defeat in several weeks. To kick things off, they discuss the fourth quarter letdown for the Lakers, and how their effort wasn’t there in this game, especially on the defensive end.

Then, the guys shared their thoughts on why this was a good loss for the team, and how they can’t rely solely on talent to get by, especially against playoff-caliber teams.

Following that, Marcus and Jas get into the flaws the loss exposed in the Lakers roster. Do they have enough scoring depth off the bench to keep up with the other top teams in the league? With Kyle Kuzma slowly finding his footing after missing two months with his foot injury, can he be the long-term answer the team needs, and are there any options out there not named Andre Iguodala?

To wrap things up, Marcus and Jas share their thoughts on the 7-2 start overall, and how Frank Vogel has fared early in the season.

You can listen to the latest episode below, and for more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

Locked on Lakers

It was bound to happen. The Lakers have fallen into the habit of playing down to competition. Another reading of the situation is that they’ve spent this early part of the season figuring out how little energy they can expend and still win the game. Either way, they lost a game against a banged up, already-inferior opponent.

Listeners in the mailbag were pretty focused on one player, though: Kuzma, who has struggled since coming back from injury. He’s had flashes, but the vast majority of the times he’s been on the court, he’s looked tentative. So I tried to get to the bottom of that.

Other topics included tactics to get shooters better looks, the perfect role player to add to the team, ranking basketball movies, and more.

You can listen to the entire episode below, and make sure to subscribe on iTunes, where you can also leave questions in the form of a five-star review to guarantee your topic makes the show.