"I don’t know who could've coached this team the way it was put together" – Shannon Sharpe believes Frank Vogel is not fully at fault for LA Lakers’ struggles
The LA Lakers are seemingly on the brink of firing coach Frank Vogel.
On Fox Sports' "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," former NFL star Shannon Sharpe voiced his support for Vogel, saying he was given an untenable situation. Sharpe said:
"It's not his fault. I don't know who could've coached this team the way it was put together. And whoever put this team together bears a lot of responsibility. Look, I don't like Frank Vogel's lineups, his rotations, I don't like that. I think he does a terrible job of that."
Sharpe blamed the Lakers for the roster they constructed. Sharpe said:
"I want to know what coach could have this team where they thought it would be given the pieces that he was given to work with. Do you understand the pieces they have together do not work, they do not fit?"
.@ShannonSharpe on whether Frank Vogel's job is in jeopardy:
"Yes, but it's not his fault. I don't know who could've coached this team the way it was put together. I want to know what coach could have this team where they thought it would be." https://t.co/dRQdV7aEpL
Should the Lakers fire Frank Vogel?
The LA Lakers (22-22) find themselves seventh in the highly competitive Western Conference. That is not where they envisaged themselves to be in January. LeBron James and his teammates are seven games behind the fourth-place Utah Jazz (29-15) and have almost given up on home-court advantage for the postseason.
Coach Frank Vogel has been blamed for the Lakers' current predicament. Vogel, who made his name for being a defensive mastermind, has the Lakers 18th in the league in defensive ratings. Vogel got the job in the summer of 2019 because of his defensive acumen.
The Lakers are 9-10. They are:
24th in net rating
25th in offensive rating
20th in defensive rating
28th in points allowed
29th in turnovers per game
20th in threes per game
They have trailed by 25+ points in 1/3 of their games this season. https://t.co/WjyPWqcO8i
What doesn't help Vogel is the roster assembled by the front office, which includes general manager Rob Pelinka. Vogel is tasked with producing a defensive team with the league's oldest roster. Not only that, most of the Lakers were not good defensively at the peak of their powers, let alone over the age of 30.
The notable exception, of course, is center Dwight Howard, but he's far past his prime. He was the Defensive Player of the Year for three straight seasons, but that was 2008-11. He was a five-time All-Defensive team member, but that was 2007-12. And he led the league in blocks twice, but that was 2008-10. He's now 36 years old, in his 18th season and playing a career-low 15.1 minutes per game.
These players just don't have the legs to keep up with a good, young opposing team with perimeter threats. On top of that, the Lakers are missing Anthony Davis, their best defensive player, and Kendrick Nunn, one of their best perimeter defenders.
While changing coaches seems like the only thing the Lakers can do right now, with hopes of changing the season's direction, there's no clear candidate guaranteed to do a better job than Vogel.