donnieme wrote:Too harsh on Vogel. If the only problem with the team was offensive coaching they wouldn't look as bad as they do in the games Lebron played. He accounts for a high number of dud possessions. The margins would be different. They wouldn't even be struggling in games where Lebron and AD go off. This is new to the Lakers. Vogel was a terrible offensive coach in 20 and 21 and won games without breaking 100 points.
The problem is a dysfunctional roster with fancy names that give less than the sum of previous teams parts. Caruso and Matthews for all their unimpressive production just might be a higher impact duo for Lebron/AD/Vogel and title contenders in general than Carmelo, Westbrook (played really well against the knicks tonight but still not worth 50m in the Lakers setup) etc.
How am I too harsh on Vogel?
The shift from an defensive-first roster to an offensively slanted one is a direct response to multi-year offensive underperformance. An underperformance due to his crappy coaching. Now he no longer has the safety blanket of an elite defensive roster to cover up his crappy offense and he's floundering.
Its not his fault. He is who he is. The organization should've paired him with a strong offensive assistant when they hired him. They didn't and have tried ill-faited roster moves to compensate for that mistake.
Im honestly surprised that people don't see how talented an offensive team this is. They're not perfect and the fit's not great but to me the talent is real and obvious. Its just being wasted by subpar coaching.