Lakers: Frank Vogel Provides His Perspective on Difficult Season

The Lakers head coach spoke to The Athletic about the challenges that LA failed to conquer this year.

Normally, teams would have to wait for the dust to settle to start examining why they fell short of expectations. The Lakers have the benefit of being able to dissect their dreadful season even before the final regular season game of the year. In an exclusive interview with Bill Oram of The Athletic, head coach Frank Vogel outlined the hurdles that his team was not able to clear.

In case you haven't heard, or somehow forgot, the Lakers superstars, Anthony Davis and LeBron James, struggled with injuries. The triumvirate of Russell Westbrook, AD, and LeBron played just 21 games together. Vogel noted the uphill battle LA faced with player availability all year. 

“Every game, you’re fighting against the current of healthier teams or teams that have more continuity...or teams that are just better. Meaning your margin for error is very slim.”

He also noted the team's inability to win games when it was just Westbrook, one of the two superstars, and the rest of the roster. 

“We did not win at a high rate with Russ and another star and the rest of our role players. Whether it was Russ and AD with Bron out or Russ and Bron with AD out, we just haven’t won in those situations.”

Another intriguing quote was Vogel addressing the constant rumors of his impending firing. 

“It’s not easy to shut it out. It’s not fun to have those reports hanging over your head or seeing it everywhere you look, especially so early in the season (and) after what we’ve been able to accomplish here."

That being said, the Lakers head coach stated that the "pressure of expectation" was not surprising. 

Even though Vogel's coaching alone wasn't why the Lakers didn't meet those expectations, it's almost a certainty at this point that he'll be the one paying the price. Multiple reports have stated that the Lakers plan on firing Vogel this offseason.

The Lakers future is undecided, but it sounds like they've already decided that Vogel won't be part of it.