“We Can’t Rely on Our Two Big Guns”: Lakers Head Coach Hints Shifting Focus from LeBron James and Anthony Davis

NBA Playoffs 2020 are closing in. The teams which have their playoffs berth reserved are now focused on a change in their approach to stay competition ready. Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel is making the key players, especially LeBron James, play regular 30+ minutes to ensure they get that feeling of pushing themselves and staying in shape.

Moreover, the coach is relying heavily on preparing his bench unit. He is keen on using rotation efficiently so he can analyze how to use depth on important occasions. The fact that the Lakers sealed their playoff position early awarded them with a chance to rest James for a game and use a younger roster instead.

Frank Vogel gets vocal about his team’s dependency on LeBron James and Anthony Davis

Los Angeles Lakers beat Denver Nuggets at the last moment, when viewers were almost sure the play will move into overtime to find the winner. The Clippers lost a free throw, and a pass from LeBron James to Anthony Davis and from him to Kyle Kuzma ended up in the basket for a winning three.

Kyle Kuzma is attracting many praises for the form he is in. The 25-YO man has been phenomenal in the Orlando Bubble season restart. The head coach agrees to this and says, “Kyle has the ability to give length and athleticism and just a hard playing approach in the defensive end while being hot offensively.”

He later added to the praise, “You know he is continuing to make the right reads and make the right plays. I think there’s a big jump in that since the restart in his game from where he was at when we left off. So, he can be huge for us.”

The coach sees Kuzma as his third option and trusts that he can end games in a similar fashion. He adds an important note when he said, “We can’t rely on our two big guns to carry the whole load, it’s a team game.” One thing is clear with this, the Lakers are prepping up their starting five as well as the bench, and not just putting an excessive load on two shoulders. Have a look at the interview coach gave to Mike Trudell via Zoom.

How has the remaining Lakers unit played so far in the bubble?

The coach believes that Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are important in the starting five, for they are fast and give good defense around the perimeter. His trial-and-error approach has benefitted a few players. 

Kuzma has averaged 15.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. KCP has an average of 7.33 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1 assist per game while Alex Caruso is averaging 5.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. Dion Waiters has averaged 10.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg, and 2 apg in the bubble so far. 

These figures still are not very impressive, but they can get the sync back in place before the playoffs. Do you think Kyle Kuzma’s form is here to stay for a long time? Let us know your views on him in the comments.

Sources: Bui Nghich – YouTube