- Austin Reaves says he had to buy LeBron James Xbox controller as one of his rookie duties on Lakers
- Tristan Thompson says he surprised LeBron James during Lakers workout: ‘I haven’t seen this since Cleveland’
- Draymond Green says the Lakers are a ‘serious threat’ in the Western Conference
- Report: Lakers downgrade D’Angelo Russell’s status for Friday’s matchup vs. Thunder
- Kendrick Perkins rips ‘borderline senior citizen’ Chris Paul for letting Austin Reaves drop 25 points on him
- Anthony Davis issues confident statement on Lakers playoff hopes: ‘You put anybody against us, I like our chances’
- Anthony Davis declares that he and LeBron James have ‘one of the best relationships’ among duos in the NBA
- Former teammate of Kobe and LeBron says Kobe was ‘like Mike’ while LeBron was more ‘happy-go-lucky’
- Report: LeBron James has resumed on-court activity for Lakers
- Monty Williams sounds off on free-throw disparity in Lakers-Suns game
Frank Vogel Heaps Heavy Praise Upon Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Amidst Awful Slump
- Updated: October 27, 2019
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been receiving serious criticism from fans because of his offensive struggles just two games into the season. That has spurred Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel to come to his defense.
“KCP’s been one of our best defenders since training camp started,” Vogel said. “He’s got great recovery speed and containment speed and he gets his hands on a lot of balls. The numbers that we’re looking at with 41 percent tonight and only 86 points for the Jazz, he impacts that end of the floor at a high level.”
Caldwell-Pope’s defensive impact was on full display in the win over the Utah Jazz on Friday. His activity on the defensive end was instrumental in helping the Lakers limit Utah’s score to 86 points.
While defense may be his calling card, Caldwell-Pope still needs to shoot the ball better to stay on the floor and help the Lakers win games. He has missed a combined nine shot attempts in the past two games. His lone point so far has come from the free-throw line.
However, Vogel still has confidence in his young gunner. Caldwell-Pope has plenty of time and opportunity to break from his slump. Once his shot starts falling, the Lakers will become an even scarier match-up for opposing teams.