By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Sacramento Kings lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA preseason, and Sasha Vezenkov was part of the starting five for the first time. He finished the match with seven points, shooting 3-10 from the field.
“Here, you’re playing faster, and the speed is different, but day by day, I’m studying the game and I’m trying to be the best version of myself,” Vezenkov said after the match.
Coach Mike Brown said before the clash with the Lakers that he’s not sure whether Vezenkov will be part of the rotation when the season begins.
“I just told the truth. I think you asked me if Sasha would be in the rotation right now. I do not know. I think that was a fair question, but I don’t know. I know Davion Mitchell will be in the rotation, as will Malik Monk, Trey Lyles, and JaVale McGee. Will it be Sasha? I do not know. We had only played one game when I was asked,” Brown explained after Vezenkov’s second game with the team.
Even though he gave the former EuroLeague MVP an advantage over Keegan Murray in the starting lineup for the Lakers match, Sacramento’s head coach still needs time to decide on the Bulgarian international’s role with the team. Former accolades don’t mean much to him.
“It’s not my philosophy to give playing time, no matter how successful a player is in another environment. I’m not a coach who will say: “Okay, he did those things where he was, he will come now and play 30 minutes”. We have to see what will happen on the floor. When we were trying to get Vezenkov here, that was one of the first conversations we had. I told him he has to earn his playing time,” Mike Brown concluded.