Getty Head coach Frank Vogel of the Orlando Magic looks on during a game against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena on February 13, 2017 in Miami, Florida.
The Los Angeles Lakers finally decided to publically announce Frank Vogel as head coach shortly after an explosive interview from Magic Johnson on ESPN earlier this morning. While the press conference was supposed to be on Vogel, the majority of the questions were geared towards the turmoil in the front office and made for a, shall we say, interesting press conference.
Lakers Frank Vogel Has ‘A Strong Plan’ For How to Rebuild
“I’ve got a strong plan about how we’re going to play as a basketball team.” – Frank Vogel
Vogel would go on to talk in depth about how the league has transitioned into much more of a three-point shooting league. He cited his time in Orlando as a good learning experience for adapting to the modern NBA but mostly kept things fairly vague in terms of pure X’s and O’s.
Asked Frank Vogel if his approach has evolved from Indiana days through Orlando: “There’s been a major evolution stylistically about the way I want to play.” He cited analytics and the 3-point line as changes; still believes defending inside at the rim to out is key.
However, Vogel made a point to say that he wanted to emphasize interior defense as he feels that is still the key to victory in the NBA (shout out Roy Hibbert on his Pacers teams) and the Lakers are in desperate need of a rim protector at the moment. Given how much weight Vogel puts into this, expect the Lakers to look for a springy rim-protector in the draft or free agency.
One of the first things Vogel said was how he would hold players accountable.
“They’re going to be coached with the truth,” he said.
Vogel also oddly went out of his way to mention early on was that he planned to “coach players with the truth” and mentioned accountability a number of times.
So What Is Frank Vogel’s Plan for the Los Angeles Lakers?
Vogel repeatedly stressed the word accountability and talked about the modern NBA but didn’t do much to explain how he would really put his plan into motion. While the Lakers are obviously unable to be entirely transparent on their moves with the draft and free agency coming up, nobody really gave any answers that were inspiring or would calm the nerves of any Laker fans about potential doubt moving forward.
At the very least, we can try and expect Vogel to be creative with Laker lineups and rotations. Running out some interesting experiments in Orlando, Vogel seems to have struggled with the shift of the NBA out of the mid-range and behind the three-point line. To his credit, Vogel does inherit a versatile roster with talented youngsters (and LeBron James) so barring injury, they should at least have the talent to put together a winning campaign.
Given Vogel’s repeated stressing of the term “modern NBA” expect the Lakers’ offseason plan to not deviate a whole ton as they look to pick up shooting and defense in the draft/free agency.