Los Angeles Lakers are struggling to gather wins at this point of the season. Despite Frank Vogel has remained in the team’s bench despite the Lakers’ disappointing season so far.
Vogel’s defense first-mentality was at least an awkward fit with players like Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony in the team.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Lakers will have already fired Vogel if there was a better option in the coaching market.
Several reports suggested that Vogel was on the verge of getting fired mid-January, but the Lakers selected to retain the veteran coach for the time being.
Despite that, the LA franchise is in a free-fall, losing seven of its last eight games, fighting for its playoff lives.
There is always a notion that a coach replacement could change the momentum, with the last season’s Atlanta Hawks being the latest example of that.
A struggling Hawks’ team fired Lloyd Pierce in the middle of the season and promote Nate McMillan, who led the franchise to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel looks on during a game against the Boston Celtics on Nov. 19. Vogel will not coach Sunday against the Chicago Bulls (Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)
However, Woj explained why the Lakers did not take this approach regarding the current head coaching staff, but on the latest episode of “The Woj Pod,” he had more meaningful information regarding the future of Frank Vogel.
(h/t to silverscreenandroll)
Woj: “They would like to get through this season with Frank Vogel… It was day-by-day at one point, and I think we would both agree that if Jason Kidd was still on this staff, they would have made a coaching change…”
McMenamin: “Absolutely.”
Woj: “…at some point. And I think you give David Fizdale a lot of credit for this: He’s been a very loyal assistant to Frank Vogel. He has been shoulder to shoulder with him. He came in here to do that, he’s done that.”
The Lakers will need to ramp up their activity going forward, but for the looks of it Frank Vogel will need to achieve something special to remain with the organization.
The Lakers are at 27-35, 2.5 games ahead of the 11th seeded Blazers. If the losses continue to mount up, then, the Lakers could find themselves out of the playoff picture.
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