One former Los Angeles Lakers player came to the defense of Frank Vogel amid rumors the coach is on the hot seat.
The Lakers have a .500 record this season and received criticism from franchise legend Magic Johnson after a blowout loss to Denver on Saturday.
A recent report said that if the Lakers followed up that loss with something similar, it could have resulted in Vogel’s firing.
But Danny Green, who won a championship on Vogel’s Lakers in the 2019-2020 season and now plays for Philly, believes firing the coach would be foolish. Instead, he thinks the problem is due to poor roster construction.
“Coach Vogel man, I liked Coach, he was great,” Green said of Vogel on his “Inside the Green Room” show. “And this is one of the reasons why I don’t want to coach. He’s been dealt – I don’t want to say a bad hand – but it’s a situation where it’s hard to figure out, especially with injuries, Covid. He hasn’t had some of his best players in the lineup, and he’s getting blamed for a lot of things that I don’t think are his fault at all.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Poor stretches – I mean, they do what they do. It’s their business. They make up their mind. They figure out where they want to move to, but I think Frank– Coach Vogel is a great coach.”
Green also put some of the blame on the players over their performances.
“You can’t make guys make shots. You can’t make guys not turn the ball over. You can’t make guys play defense. Those are three major things that you need to win a basketball game,” Green said.
Green’s comments reflect what most people seem to recognize. The Lakers were mocked in the offseason for building a team full of aging players. Adding the high-priced Russell Westbrook to the mix didn’t appear to work. And the roster has been all over the place due to injuries and COVID.
The same coach who won the championship a year and a half ago is the problem? That’s hard to believe, especially when you consider the Lakers lost five games in a row without him recently. But, as they say, you can’t fire the entire team, so it’s easier to just fire the coach when things aren’t going well.
Photo: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
