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Alex Caruso embodies basically any and every cliche imaginable about white basketball players. He works hard, plays mostly smart, isn’t afraid to hit the floor for loose balls and, according to his Los Angeles Lakers teammates, is now also sneaky athletic.
Kyle Kuzma was asked after the Lakers' loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night about Caruso getting up for an alley-oop dunk and immediately went exactly, um, there:
”People think because Caruso is half bald and white he can’t jump, (but) he's got bounce. He’s probably top five on our team with bounce.
”I’ve seen enough in games last year and this year, he’s done it enough.”
It’s hard to figure out which part of Kuzma’s analysis is funnier. On the one hand, the whiteness plays into all the aforementioned cliches, but the half-bald part is just amazing. There was Caruso, making a play the vast majority of basketball fans only dream of, only to have his hairline called out.
It’s fair to maybe wonder if Caruso is a little extra aerodynamic as a result of his prematurely-thinning hair (Harrison could only wish), but still, Kuzma and his damn near perfect hairline didn’t have to go there.
Oddly enough, Moe Wagner chimed in on the play and offered up analysis that nearly knocked me off my chair:
”He has sneaky white boy bounce, that’s what I would call it. He can get up so that’s not surprising.”
Tremendous take here from Moe Whitener.
Really, though, Caruso has done a tremendous job and deserves every bit of praise he receives as a result of the way he’s played since he was called up and had to play rotation minutes minutes for an injury-depleted roster. He’s been the Lakers’ lone bright spot over the last few weeks — in more ways than one, according to his teammates.
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