Managing a super team is not everyone’s cup of tea. That’s getting more and more evident as the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling to win games. The purple and gold are currently 8-7 in their first 15 games of the season and hold the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
While it is true that the Lakers have almost a completely new roster compared to the previous season, there are still some expectations from the ball club. Moreover, not having LeBron James for most of the game so far hasn’t helped their case either.
When it comes to getting the blame for this underwhelming start, fans and pundits have directed their backlash towards the players. But one might wonder when Lakers head coach Frank Vogel will start sharing some of the criticism as well.
Former NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas recently tore apart Vogel’s decision-making and inability to be more flexible with his players.
“You’re looking at this roster now, and you’re like, ‘What are you doing?’… How do you not know how to play a player? Isn’t that your job as a coach to be flexible?… And that’s why some coaches are just not good because they don’t actually understand what talent is, how that talent is played, how to utilize that talent.
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Some might say that injuries have played a vital role in the Lakers’ bumpy start to the season. But for that argument, Arenas had the perfect reply.
“The players that are playing are still good players compared to everybody else… You still don’t even know how to play Westbrook the correct way. You still ain’t using him the way he needs to be used. What was training camp for then? That’s what a coach is supposed to do,.”
On paper, the Lakers team looks scary, but when playing together they haven’t had much success yet. In their most recent defeat against the Bulls, only Talen Horton-Tucker looked in great form, who by the way is the reason the Lakers didn’t bring back Alex Caruso.
While Caruso is having a great time with the Bulls, the same cannot be said for THT and the Lakers, at least for now.
