At present, the outside world is rumored that the Los Angeles Lakers are considering changing the head coach, whether this news is correct or not, Xiaobian doubts that this is really the most urgent problem for the Lakers, or is this the easiest problem to solve? It is not surprising that head coach Frank Vogel's work is precarious, although he led the Lakers to a championship in 2020, the Lakers only gave him a one-year contract extension, all of which is obvious, because according to the practice after winning the championship, the team will basically send a long contract to the meritorious head coach to show trust.
All this shows that the Lakers do not trust Vogel so much, in the season when the Lakers won the championship, there has always been a voice that the Lakers have a healthy, strong lineup, any rookie-level coach can bring success, but is the question really like this? Will the coaching change help the Lakers improve enough to compete with the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets?
The core of the problem is that the Lakers may not be able to save this season, because the player lineup is unreasonable, the trading market has limited operating space, the Lakers need a person to come out and bear the mistakes, and Vogel is only the best person among them, as an NBA source said, if the Lakers do not blame Vogel, then it is much more difficult to blame the players.
But the outside world generally does not think the problem is with Vogel, a former Western team executive directly said : "I don't understand how this can be Vogel's fault, this idea is rubbish, without him, they could be a lottery team." This will not solve any problem. ”
Stan Van Gundy, a longtime NBA team head coach, was even more blunt: "It's ridiculous, he won a championship less than two years ago. The Lakers have had injuries this season, and the team's roster has some flaws, and firing Frank is nothing more than trying to find a scapegoat for the mistakes made by others. ”
Van Gundy's words mentioned a mistake by someone else, and this mistake undoubtedly referred to the decision to trade Westbrook with Kyle Kuzma, Caldwell Pope, and Monterrez Harrell, after all, outside of the Lakers management, it is difficult to find anyone who agreed with this decision at the time.
Most of the rival executives don't think the Lakers will go far this season, citing westbrook's $91.3 million left on his contract (assuming he chooses to execute the $47.1 million player option in the final year of his contract), lack of space for the deal, a 22-draw in the first round (the Indiana Pacers used to select Isaiah Jackson), and a choice not to keep Alex Caruso.
The lack of roster depth has seriously hurt the Lakers, making them simply unable to withstand injuries and the impact of the league's health and safety agreements, but unfortunately Anthony Davis and Kendrick Nunn are still sidelined with knee injuries, and LeBron James and Horton Tucker also suffered injuries to varying degrees at the start of the season.
In such a situation, it is unfair to blame Vogel entirely, Vogel is known as one of the top defensive coaches in the league, although their offense was very mediocre in the season when the Lakers won the championship, but they relied on the league's first defensive ability to win the championship.
In 44 games this season, the Lakers' offense ranks 24th in the league, only 108.3 points per 100 rounds, and the defense is not much better, only ranked 18th in the league, which is far from the top defense in the league in the previous two seasons, and the final net rating is only -1.5 (losing 1.5 points per 100 rounds, ranking 23rd in the league), and the Lakers' current winning rate is still above 50%.
That's not to say vogel doesn't have any problems at all, it's clear that Vogel hasn't adapted well to the new lineup, and he's stuck to the traditional lineup with DeAndre Jordan as the starting center for too long before he finds the Lakers' ability to play smaller lineups significantly more efficient. On the defensive end, Vogel is more committed to traditional alignment than to more aggressive changes, and on the offensive end he has been unable to find a way to make non-shooters like Horton Tucker and Westbrook play more comfortably.
An executive of a Western Conference team said directly: "A guy with a short 10-day contract (Stanley Johnson) and a lost draft (Austin Reeves) are actually the reasons for the Lakers' victory, which is ironic in itself, the Lakers don't need more Johnson and Reeves, other players need to work as hard as they do." ”
But at the end of the day, the Lakers management didn't give Vogel a lineup that would allow him to play defensive expertise, and given the situation, the Lakers management's idea is also very simple, since the defense is no longer incurable, then find a coach who is more creative on the offensive end to improve the offense.
But who is to blame for the mismatch of the lineup? In particular, who made the deal with Westbrook? Rob Pelinka is vice president and general manager of Basketball for the Lakers, and the decision ultimately depends on his consent. But there is also news that James is a significant supporter of the trade with Westbrook, and if he and his agent, Rich Paul, put enormous pressure on the team management to get it done, should he be held responsible? If that's the case, then James really should be partly responsible.
For Pelinka, now that the mistake has been made, something must be done to make up for it, because it is unacceptable to do nothing, then he may have no choice but to fire Vogel. The Lakers can indeed try to trade Westbrook, but sources say that Westbrook has no trading market at all, and the Lakers will only be able to trade him until the last year of Westbrook's contract, when some teams hoping to clear up the new skill space may be interested in him, but no other team is currently willing to take on a contract with an annual salary of up to $47 million.
There is also news that the Lakers have been exploring the possibility of trading players such as Ben Simmons, Jeramie Grant, Miles Turner and Harrison Barnes. But the problem is that the Lakers don't have enough chips, and the only ones that can come up are Horton Tucker (who has performed poorly this season and is significantly less valuable), Reeves (the Lakers prefer to keep him), Nunn (who did not play in this season because of a knee injury, the value is low), the 2027 or 2028 first-round draft picks, some second-round picks and low-paid veterans like Kent Bazemore, Wayne Ellington, Howard and Jordan Jr.
Malik Munch is a very prominent player in the Lakers, the problem is that even if the Lakers want to keep him, the most they can give next year is a middle-class contract with an annual salary of about $10 million, so the outside world generally believes that he will leave the Lakers after the end of this season, so these teams are not enthusiastic about getting him, it is better to wait until he becomes a free agent to sign him directly.
Given the above-mentioned problems, the Lakers' only hope is that God will suddenly see some players in the buyout market that they want to see, and these players just happen to want to join the Lakers.