The Lakers have a poor record this season, which is a well-established fact. The teams that rushed to the championship before the start of the season reached the end of the regular season, but they may not even be able to retain the play-off qualification.
The Lakers' fall to where they are now is due to a variety of reasons. For example, management decision-making errors, aging team lineups, Westbrook performance stretches and so on. Even if James is in good shape this season, averaging 30.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, he still can't save the Lakers. Of course, more fans believe that the Reason why the Lakers' performance is not ideal, head coach Vogel should bear the greatest responsibility.
Many fans believe that Vogel's platoon arrangement this season has had a big problem. Vogel's rigid use of people, too obsessed with the five small lineups, especially for Howard's use, made some fans grit their teeth in hatred. However, Vogel doesn't think so. In an interview with reporters, Vogel said that the Lakers' poor record this season is bad luck, and called himself a successful coach.
Vogel said that after each game, he reflects on himself: "I will rate myself, after every game... I would consider everyone playing for a few minutes, did I keep the players playing too much time? Am I giving full play to the strength of the players? Did we have the right game plan... When something hurts us, do I make good enough adjustments? What offensive routines have we adopted, and is our defense bad? I evaluated all these things, and I was my own biggest critic. For me, these are the things that make me a successful coach in this league. ”
Realistically speaking, Vogel's spirit of post-match introspection is worth learning. But the Lakers' appearance this season really doesn't see what changes Vogel has made after reflecting. Maybe After Vogel asked these questions again, the answer was that he had already done it, and the Lakers were just unlucky.
Vogel believes that the Lakers' poor record is because James and Thick Brow brother rarely play together: "This season is a very unlucky season. We were very unlucky in trying to get Zhan Mei to play together. That's the kind of thing you can't control, in short, it's just unlucky. ”
On this point, there are actually technical statistics. Since the Lakers won the championship, James and Thick Brow have played 48 games together, only playing 1147 minutes together. Injuries have a really big impact on the Lakers, especially Anthony Davis' injury. Before Anthony Davis joined, the Lakers couldn't get in the playoffs. After Anthony Davis joined, the Lakers were immediately the championship.
I think injuries have a certain luck factor, but it's not all bad luck. The head coach's platooning and control of the players' playing time are one of the reasons. If Vogel had used Howard more often and let the thick eyebrow brother top the No. 5 position less often, it might have allowed the thick eyebrow brother to avoid injury.