Jason Kidd Cheering for Lakers Counterpart, Former Boss Frank Vogel

Kidd brought many of lessons learned in Los Angeles under Vogel to Dallas

The Los Angeles Lakers were considered championship contenders entering the season. Well, they're currently 27-34 and are ninth in the Western Conference.

The Lakers' latest loss, 109-104 to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, has turned the heat on coach Frank Vogel even higher. There has been growing speculation about the franchise moving on from coach Vogel given the team's underachievement. 

“I’ve been watching the (Lakers) games,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “I’m cheering for him ... I think at the end of the day he’s going to come out of this better as a coach, but as a team, too.”

Whether that's likely, there's still time for Vogel and the Lakers to turn it around. If LeBron James and Co. can get healthy before the playoffs, the Lakers can make some noise.

“The goal here in LA is to win a championship,” Kidd said before Tuesday's game. “Frank is up to that task. He’s proven it (and) he’s going to work through this.”

Kidd said he learned plenty from Vogel during his time as a Lakers assistant coach, crediting him for getting the team to play hard. (The current Lakers have been criticized for not doing so on national TV).

“I took a lot from Frank,” Kidd said. “We had — the two previous seasons – the No. 1 defense."

That's the blueprint Kidd is using in Dallas.

“The big thing is this (Mavs') group has played extremely hard on the defensive end at a very high level so that we can get stops," Kidd said. "We’re active, and you saw that in that last game against Golden State in the fourth quarter. We were active and we executed the game plan.”

Kidd also appreciated Vogel's ability to make players accountable. That's why Kidd didn't have an issue with calling out the superstar Luka Doncic earlier this season for complaining to referees instead of getting back on defense. 

“The other thing I picked up from Frank is just being honest,” Kidd said. “Players don’t want to hear the truth, but they’ll respect you if you tell them what’s going on and be honest with them even if they don’t like it.”