Los Angeles Lakers: Jared Dudley talks about his role

In multiple Media Day interviews, Jared Dudley stressed the importance of his role on the Los Angeles Lakers team.

The Los Angeles Lakers have finally kicked off the training camp with the traditional Media Day. It has been a Media Day with a lot of expectations for LA, finally looking ahead with big hopes for the upcoming season.

Conversations at this time of the year are always the same. Teams from top to bottom answer questions with optimism, saying that the team looks great, it apparently does not have flaws and they have big expectations, never less than the playoffs.

Furthermore, every player feels great, ready to make his contribution and expects to play.

The hard truth is that only 16 teams qualify for the postseason, just one wins the championship at the end of the year, and many of them will face big challenges and issues throughout the year.

Hence, it is refreshing to hear the honesty, realism and straightforwardness of Jared Dudley when it comes to talking about his role on the Lakers team.

With a deep roster led by superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis and full of shooting wings, Dudley does not look set to play a big role on the court for the Lakers.

There is no mystery to that and he does not have any problem addressing the point. He knows he is going to have an equally important task and talked about it in multiple interviews.

First of all, as a mentor:

"For me, my guy would be Kyle Kuzma. Play the same position. It’s ‘What can I do off the court to help him get his full potential?’ […] He is the one that has the potential that is untapped, that can become an All-Star player. I did it with D’Angelo Russell, where he was getting benched the fourth quarters and I would watch film with him on the plane. It helped him expand to become an All-Star. (I did the same) with Devin Booker, Bradley Beal. So, I have experience of dealing with young players before they’ve reached their All-Star potential."

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Secondarily, on the floor:

"I know I’m not a starter. I know […] I can get five or six DNPs and (then) have to play 25 minutes because AD is on load management."

Much like last year in Brooklyn, Dudley will mentor young players (in the particular case Kyle Kuzma). Although he also got to start 25 games, the intangibles, both on and off the floor, were the reason he was so important to the Nets.

Those intangibles are what kept him around the league for so long. He knows his playing time will be limited and stats will not be his thing contributing to team success. But, certainly, his mentoring of Kuzma will be crucial as much as LeBron James’ production.

Dudley talked the plain and simple truth and the Lakers could not be more fortunate to have a player who perfectly understands his role and embraces it with the same enthusiasm of a young star. A good piece to start the quest for the championship.