Lakers: Reporter Says LA's Issues Aren't Frank Vogel's Fault
The Lakers are sitting at 13-12, good enough for sixth in the Western Conference. This is not the super-team that Laker fans were hoping for, so naturally, the question marks have been coming. Blaming Lakers head coach Frank Vogel is the first place everyone went, because naturally 'blame the coach' is trope number one when a team isn't performing how people expect them to.
Recently, Bill Oram from TheAthletic.com spoke with Fred Roggin and Rodney Peete on the Roggin and Rodney show. Oram's nuanced take of the situation was a welcomed take, as he was quick to defend Frank Vogel.
"I mean to me it's personnel driven. I think that you fire the coach as a Band-Aid, maybe, as a little bit of a distraction from what's really going on. You hope you get a little bit of an energy bump from new leadership but it doesn't change what really are the structural problems. But the structural problems are a lot harder to address than making a move with the head coach, who only has another year left on his deal because you gave him a crappy extension in the offseason."
The structural/personnel problems Oram is referring to are not easy to address. The roster is likely the issue, given that the players who are currently in purple and gold are an odd fit. Westbrook's arrival in LA was met with a lot of question marks and doubt. He isn't a great shooter and he needs the ball in his hands to be productive, which cancels out LeBron James. As far as Westbrook, Oram was blunt about the fact that LA has Westbrook for better or worse.
"You can't trade Russell Westbrook. I mean there's no one out there who thinks that there is anyone who's going to take on Russell Westbrook again, and you don't have a really tradable contract. You've got a bunch of guys on minimum deals..."
Oram did mention that Talen Horton-Tucker is the most tradeable player the Lakers have, but unfortunately, he has not played that well as of late. His ceiling is still high, but the potential has to be realized.
Whatever the case, the general consensus is that blaming Frank Vogel or canning him would not do much to change the Lakers. The players just need to perform better.
