Kyle Kuzma is set to start in place of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for the Los Angeles Lakers in their second games against the Memphis Grizzlies. It will be the third start of the season for the 25-year-old forward. He had 20 and 11 points respectively in his previous starts one of which was against Memphis yesterday.
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel talked about Kuzma’s role on his team, saying that it should not affect the forward’s mentality whether he starts or not and whose place he is taking.
Via Dan Woike of Los Angeles Times:
“We want him to be, whether he’s in the starting lineup or coming off the bench, we want him to be ultra-aggressive offensively, in particularly this year looking for opportunities to be a movement shooter but also to be a great reader of the defense,” Vogel said. “We don’t want him out there just taking bad shots and I think he’s done an outstanding job of that this year just looking to create, taking what the defense gives him, shoot the shot when it’s there and when help comes move it on to the next man and then obviously to compete his tail off on the defensive end. That role doesn’t change at all.”
This season, Kuzma is averaging 11.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists. His best game of the season so far was against the Minnesota Timberwolves when he scored 20 points in 29 minutes of play.
