Frank Vogel May Not Be The Best Fit For The Lakers

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FRANK VOGEL MAY NOT BE THE BEST FIT FOR THE LAKERS



As always, the Lakers are put under a huge spotlight being the Lakers and having huge names such as LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook etc on the roster. And as we know through 22 games the Lakers are sitting at .500 which seemingly was not expected. As it usually is when 3 big name stars team up, it takes time for the team to gell. But losing to the OKC Thunder twice, the Celtics without Jaylen Brown while they had been struggling, two very close battles with the Houston Rockets one game in which they only won by two points, losing to the Kings without Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes in an 3OT thriller and two close battles with the Detroit Pistons one in which where they lead as much as 19 going into the second half and only winning by four points is inexcusable. Even though some of those games may have been without LeBron James who had been battling an abdominal strain, you should still be able to win games against--with all due respect to them--bad teams. Speaking of injuries, to the Lakers defense for a moment they had been without Trevor Ariza and  Kendrick Nunn all season and Austin Reaves and Talen Horton Tucker for spurts but I believe their ’re problems have been beyond injuries. 










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VOGEL'S FIT


When a team like the Lakers isn’t playing to expectation without in major season ending injuries, the blame usually goes to coaching. Across every media site Vogel has been the topic of discussion. From questionable lineups and rotations, stagnant offenses and defenses, to even the seeming lack of effort/urgency from the players. While yes most of that can be put on Vogel I still believe the Lakers problems are more so the personnel not fitting Vogels system rather than Vogel being a bad coach himself. Vogel throughout his career has been known to be a defensive first coach. That infamous Indiana Pacers team in 2014 winning 53 games was defensive oriented led by Paul George, Roy Hibbert, and David West. The 2020 championship Lakers team was again defensively oriented led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis and guys like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso. Who of course are no longer Lakers. The current Lakers lineup of Westbrook, Bradley, Lebron, Davis, and Jordan is a defensive first mindset'd starting 5 which is of course typical for a Vogel coached team. But that is not an ideal basketball lineup in 2021 for several reasons. Point is, this new Lakers team with thirty-seven year old Carmelo Anthony as its sixth man, Russell Westbrook, and an entire new set of players and egos may not be able to hang their hats on defense like the 2020 Championship Lakers. 








Via BleacherReport

ATTEMPTING TO MODEL THE 2020 LAKERS



One of the glaring problems I have seen with the Lakers and specifically Vogel's coaching is his attempt to still model the team as a big defensive first mindset. The Lakers in 2020 had the third best defensive rating at 106.3, per statmuse. Known for that year being a very tall team starting LeBron at the 1, Danny Green at the 2, Caldwell Pope at the 3, AD at the 4, and Javale McGee at the five. Having unselfish players such as Green, KCP, Caruso, Avery Bradley, and Rondo is what made that Lakers team so special. Everyone I named had is a good defender. This Lakers team was also the 1st seed in the entire western conference eventually going on to win the championship that year. That same season the Lakers ranked pretty much a middle of the pack offense with an offensive rating of just 112 for 11th. The current Lakers defensive rating is ranked 21st at 108.8 with an offensive rating of 106.2 ranked 24th. That being said, for many reasons, that Laker team is very different from this current Lakers roster. With the current personnel there has to be some changes in the system. Not saying that means they have to turn into a complete zero on the defensive end but there needs to be adjustments. The biggest and most talked about one being Vogel choosing to start Deandre Jordan in general, but especially alongside Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook has been very questionable. Vogel this season has been trying to run the Lakers big men lineup of Deandre and Dwight as they did with Javale and Dwight. You can’t even start Bradley as you once did with Danny Green. To keep it short, Javale McGee was very underrated for the Lakers and does everything better at basketball than DJ. Deandre Jordan should not even really be in the Lakers rotation. Unless he is right in the dunkers spot catching a lob, he has zero value to this Lakers team. That’s just my opinion and in the games I have watched. When you have Russell Westbrook on your team, the rest of the lineup at all times needs to be some sort of spacing.  You metaphorically have to play Russ as the center with surrounding spacing at the minimum. 









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NEW TEAM, NEW SYSTEM


As we know, the Lakers this year have many new faces. So with that, comes a necessity on time to mesh. But what would make things easier as well, is an adequate system. Like I said when you have Westbrook on your team, that needs to be surrounded by much needed shooting. Anthony Davis this season has been a terrible jumpshooter, but you’re obviously not benching Anthony Davis. LeBron turning 37 this December as he has gotten older has now evolved to a capable shooter. So that specifically leads to "Vogel's favorite center" as Lakers fans say, Deandre Jordan. You can’t expect the Lakers to play good basketball when its impossible to get into any sort of rhythm. Just having Russ on this team alone, not saying he is a bad defender but the team needs to be more offensive oriented. That means obviously AD to start at the 5. As for the guards, I think it needs to be either Malik Monk or Talen Horton Tucker, preferably Malik Monk. Until Trevor Ariza gets back and since they want to keep Melo as the 6th man, Lebron may have to slide down one to the four. A lineup of Russ, Malik, Bazemore, Bron, and AD is much much better for the Lakers. Then once Ariza comes back you slowly add him back into the rotation and take Bazemore out of the starting lineup, in my opinion. 



Now with any time of change, players need to check their egos and leave them at the door. That means AD needs to play center full time not just part time and aggressively. This Lakers roster is old as everyone knows and the time is now. Their window may not extend past next season at the latest since the players are only getting older and on very short and small contracts. So every game should matter. Every NBA minute for the Lakers needs to matter. These lineup changes to me are necessary to maximize the Lakers potential. Another reason the Lakers have been struggling this year is the lack of quality play-calls. With the lineups I suggested, there needs to be some sort of off-ball action ran with players like Monk. The current offense is full of a-lot of standing around and doing nothing off ball. So make the offense more dynamic give the defense something to communicate on with some off ball screens, cuts, pin downs, and floppy sets for guys like Monk and Wayne Ellington off the bench. Make Westbrook more valuable using him as a give and go guy more often and even as a screen setter. When Russ does not have the ball in the hands, have him specifically at the corners of the court as that is where he shoots the best three point percentages, if he is not setting any off ball screens or cutting. Hold Anthony Davis to a very high pedestal as he should be the lead guy for the Lakers every night. If Vogel does not want to make these kind of adjustments, he may not be the best fit for LA.











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EGO MANAGEMENT


Another crucial factor for the Lakers and Frank Vogel is managing egos with this new Lakers team. It can be noted Vogel did a good job in 2020 managing the egos of Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, and Kyle Kuzma. Nothing wrong with those players by any means, but he had to get them to buy in. Vogel has a tougher battle on his hands this year with Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. All winning teams in history play in an unselfish way doing whatever it takes for the team to win. The big word is sacrifice. On defense there needs to be consistent communication and good switches and rotations. On offense there needs to be less standing around and some type of action. It is going to take Westbrook and Anthony, Davis as well to do the most sacrificing for the team to reach its most potential. Westbrook has never had a coach really either to really try to control his positives and negatives and his aggressiveness. It may be hard for Vogel to tell players like Russ and Carmelo to move off ball, set on and off ball screens, relocate, cut, etc. It may be hard for Vogel to even tell AD he has to play the 5 full time for the team to succeed. Its on both the players and coaching as a whole to be unselfish and willingly winners.  The players have to fully trust their coach and vise versa. As even LeBron has said following a postgame quote, this Lakers season has been the biggest challenge of his career:

 “[This season] ranks right at the top of any other challenge I’ve had in my career, which actually brings out the best in me, and I love that,” James said. “I love trying to figure out how we can be better, get through the mud, get through adversity, and just make it sweeter on the backend. I feel like we haven’t even scratched the surface on what team we can be. We’re gonna continue to get better and better as we continue to learn each other more and more, continuing to work into our system offensively and defensively.” via Lakersdaily.com

If it is Vogel who does not see these serious issues and them needed to be addressed, there may need to be a change. 





Phil Handy/IG

POTENTIAL HC SUITORS

As for some potential head coach fillers in case Vogel ever did get fired, I would first look internally at current Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy. A more players coach who is more knowledgeable on the offensive side of the game and has many players around the leagues respect. Has won a championship with the Lakers in 2020, the Raptors in 2019, and the Cavaliers in 2016. I believe in Handy to have the team chemistry much better and have guys more willing  to buy in and sacrifice on both ends of the court to maximize their potential.  A head coach search for a win now veteran molded Lakers team would obviously be very difficult but I would first look at Handy. If not him a well respected offensive oriented guy is preferred. To easily gain the players respect a former player would probably be more efficient. You will need a player that is best for this new system with Russell Westbrook in town, which obviously should again include spacing for him. If the Lakers could/wanted to they could even just bring in an offensive assistant but as of right now a coaching change seems more serious. Come February the Lakers could very well look completely different and do a complete 180 on every aspect of basketball with just more play time together and minor adjustments but as of right now there is a big list of changes that need to be made within the team and play-style. One of them just might be a coaching change which is best for both sides.





If it is February and Vogel still has DJ starting, it will continue be VERY hard to watch. Even if it is only twelve minutes. 

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