Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma has had a bright path to his rookie season, becoming the team's starter at power forward with less than 10 games into the young season. Yet the Utah product believes this team's collection of talent should be enough to garner a better record than the .500 mark they've put up thus far.

“Five and five, we should have a better record than that,” said Kuzma after a win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday to put the Lakers even for the year, according to Harrison Faigen of Lakers Nation. “I think we as a team, of course we like to win, but I think our record should be a lot better than it is. We lost a lot of close games.”

The Lakers had gotten off to a somewhat expected sluggish start with newer components into their roster, but notched impressive win against teams in a hot streak like the Washington Wizards (3-0 before facing Lakers) and the Detroit Pistons (5-2 before Lakers matchup, beating the then-undefeated L.A. Clippers and the defending champion Golden State Warriors in consecutive games).

Yet Kuzma's confidence is a by-product of the sheer talent on the roster, with a passing wizard like Lonzo Ball, a long-striding wing in Brandon Ingram, and reliable pieces like 7-footer Brook Lopez and sureshot Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Los Angeles can surprise if they get into a rhythm at some point in this 2017-18 campaign, but that's still dependent on how quickly they can integrate their collective talents into a cohesive unit.