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Frank Vogel

How Changing the Style of Play When Going Small Could Transform Lakers!

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I really like these lineups. Talk about a deep and talented offensive and defensive team. WOW!

This is right starting mix based on resume and salaries. Hard to argue with it. Surrounding two superstars LeBron and AD with 3 players who shot over 38% from deep is the first true modern starrting linep the Lakers have ever had.Two superstars and three great role player.

Five shooters, Three elite playmakers. Our best passing center ever? LeBron James. Anthony Davis. The 5-man combination of space creators, playmakers, and defenders is scary good.

I always hated it when the coach deliberately replaced a players who should start with one that shouldn’t just to get firepower to the bench.

Or to maintain a two big starting linep. And Gasol is a major upgrade at center in many ways, BBIQ, playmaking, shooting. The JaVa;le McGee starting center experiment that became unplayable.

You should start the four players who score double-diget points and get paid double-diget salaries. Almost stupid not to.

Especially when you look at the firepower and defense AC, Wes, Lyle, and Keef bring to help Trezz defend. And surrounding Trez with four shooters to creat space to attack.

Why Playoff Rondo Could Be the Real Deal & Answer to the Lakers’ Prayers

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There’s no Lakers’ player more controversial or polarizing to the team’s fans and pundits than 34-year old point guard Rajon Rondo and no basketball urban myth more chimerical and illusive than the legend of Playoff Rondo.

Yet that’s exactly what we just witnessed as Playoff Rondo posted 10 points, 9 assists, 5 steals, and 3 rebounds with just 1 turnover to help the Lakers beat the Rockets 117–109 in just his second game in the Bubble Playoffs. Considering Rajon had missed the Lakers’ eight regular season seeding games and five first round playoff games due to thumb and back injuries, watching him come out and rock Playoff Rondo was totally unexpected.

On the other hand, maybe we should have had faith in legend of Playoff Rondo. After all, the last time he had a chance to play in the NBA playoffs was in 2018 when he led the underdog Pelicans to a sweep of the Blazers. Rondo averaged 11.3 points, 13.3 assists, and 7.5 rebounds in 35.4 minutes while shooting 48.7% from the field, 42.9% from deep, and 80.0% from the line and posting an impressive plus/minus of 10.5 and net rating of 13.7.

Playoff Rondo’s performance against the Blazers in 2018 was not just an isolated performance as Rajon’s career playoff stats have always outpaced his regular season stars, confirming he plays best in the heat of the playoffs.
Rondo’s career regular season averages are 10.2 points, 8.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.7 steals in 31.0 minutes while his career playoff stats are 13.9 points, 9.3 assists, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.9 steals in 37.4 minutes.

But the legend of Playoff Rondo is more than a statistical aberration. It has to do with the swag and confidence he inspires when he’s on the court and the way he efficiently runs the offense and smoothly distributes the ball. While hypercritical fans and pundits may bemoan his stats and analytics, Rajon has earned the full trust and complete confidence of Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel and superstar duo LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The Lakers won last night’s pivotal game against the Rocket largely because Playoff Rondo showed up. His +28 plus/minus and +46.7 net rating not only led the Lakers but he was part of the team’s four best 5-player lineups. While the Rockets are likely to continue disrespecting his gravity behind the 3-point line, there’s little question Playoff Rondo is a huge difference maker on the floor with LeBron James or when the King is resting on the bench.

JaVale McGee’s unfortunate injury and the way the Lakers played when going small with Rondo in the lineup may have opened the door to Vogel finally making a change in the Lakers’ starting lineup for Tuesday’s game. Frank has been reluctant to change his starting lineup but JaVale’s injury and Rajon’s play may have given him the opportunity to make a change that could empower the Laker by starting Playoff Rondo at point guard.

One thing Vogel cannot discount is how Rondo takes pressure off of LeBron James to be both a primary scorer and playmaker for the Lakers. Rondo running the offense unleashes LeBron to be in full-time attack mode.

And that’s exactly what the Lakers need to get past the Houston Rockets.

Why the Bubble Lakers Are in Serious Danger of Becoming the Bubble Bucks

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After the Houston Rockets’ Game 1 Round 2 upset of the Los Angeles Lakers, there are renewed calls for Frank Vogel to change his starting lineup but what he actually needs to do is change the style his team is playing.

Heading into the playoffs, the concern was the Lakers’ ability to contain the Rockets’ small ball offense. While the Lakers still need to adjust defensively, their real problem in Game 1 was beating the Rockets’ small ball defense. The smaller, tougher Rocket’s defenders were essentially able to bully and outplay the taller Lakers’ players in the paint at both ends of the court, winning points-in-the-paint and tying them in the battle of the boards.

Benching traditional back-to-basket centers is only part of the solution to matching up with the Rockets’ crafty small ball lineup. Starting and playing Anthony Davis or Markieff Morris at center will help the Lakers defensively. But pounding the ball inside to Anthony Davis against PJ Tucker is exactly what the Rockets want. You don’t beat them just by going small on offense. You actually need to play small, which means without a traditional center.

While the Rockets offense is revolutionary, their strategy on defense uses simple time-tested traditional tactics of packing the paint, keeping their opponents from getting to the rim, and forcing them to shoot long jumpers. Starting Anthony Davis at center and isolating him in the post against the smaller PJ Tucker is fools’ gold. It only clogs the lane, prevents LeBron from getting to the rim, and ultimately helps the Rocket’s defensive strategy.

What the Lakers need to do to beat Houston’s switch-everything defense is abandon trying to take advantage of their height in the post and instead spread the defense to open the floor for LeBron and AD to attack the rim. The way to beat Houston’s defense is to unpack the paint and eliminate any rim protection by playing 5-out sets positioning five players who can effectively shoot the three and attack the basket behind the 3-point line.

Players who could be good fits for 5-out sets include starters LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Danny Green plus reserves Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, Markieff Morris, and Dion Waiters. Frank Vogel would be smart to consider playing an eight-player rotation of those players against the Houston Rockets. They could match up on defense and enable the Lakers to spread the floor and attack the paint on offense.

You’ll notice that I did not include Rajon Rondo in that eight-player rotation because he lacks the 3-point gravity necessary to keep his defender from sagging off him to clog up the middle and is a liability on the defensive end. Besides a respectful loyalty to JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard for their contributions to winning the West, Vogel needs to understand this is not the right series for Rondo or McGee or Howard to play. Not against the Rockets.

While the Lakers also lost Game 1 to the Blazers, what’s scary about losing the first game against the Rockets is how they beat LA at their own game. They didn’t dominate by raining threes. They played smarter basketball. Like Mike Budenholzer, whose refusal to make changes has the Bubble Bucks on the verge of being swept by the Heat, Frank Vogel’s reluctance to adjust his lineups or style of play may end up costing the Bubble Lakers.

Right now, the Lakers aren’t in great danger but if Vogel continues to rely on his usual lineups and rotations and the Lakers lose Game 2 to the Rockets and go down 0–2, the odds of them winning the series plummet to just 7%. While that’s not the 0% odds facing the Bucks, it’s not where the Lakers want to be 2 games into the series, which means Vogel needs to get serious and make major adjustments before Sunday’s Game 2 against Houston.

The changes Frank needs to make are simple. On offense, he needs to bench McGee and Howard, give their roles and minutes to Kuzma, Caruso, Morris, and Waiters, and spread the floor with 5-out sets to free LeBron and AD. Defensively, he should consider playing a triangle and two zone to double Harden at the half-court line, commit defenders to prevent easy corner threes, and keep Anthony Davis in the middle for rim protection.

The bottom line is LeBron James and Anthony Davis are being outplayed by James Harden and Russell Westbrook but a big part of the blame is due to Frank Vogel stubbornly refusing to change his lineups and strategies.

Could Kyle Kuzma Be the Shooting Guard of the Future for the Lakers?

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Finding a spot in the Lakers’ starting lineup for Kyle Kuzma has always been a tough challenge since he plays the same small forward and power forward positions the team’s two superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis play.

The problem is Kyle Kuzma would be a starter on almost every other team in the NBA other than the Lakers and deserves to be paid accordingly, which is why the discussions about his future have all focused on trades. The hard reality in today’s salary capped NBA is there is no way the Lakers are going to pay a starter level salary for a player to come off the bench to backup max-contract superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

What makes the situation even more frustrating is Kuzma has revamped his game to become a true starter-level player. He’s fixed his broken shot and dramatically improved his defense, playmaking, and decision making. Critics used to write off Kuz as another one-dimensional scorer on a losing team and question whether he could hold up as starter on a championship team. It’s a small sample size so far but Kuz has been changing minds.

The challenge for the Lakers right now is to figure out how to fit Kyle Kuzma into the starting lineup now that he’s shown he has the maturity and skill sets to play with and complement both LeBron James and Anthony Davis. LeBron has said the Lakers will need Kuzma to be their third star in the playoffs to win the championship and Vogel has promised he will play ‘big’ minutes in the playoffs but so far he’s only averaged 24.7 minutes per game.

The truth is it’s impossible for Kyle Kuzma to get starter level minutes off the bench on the Lakers because he’s not a one-dimensional player like Lou Williams or Jamal Crawford whose primary focus is just making buckets. Frank Vogel needs to make some hard decisions as the playoffs progress because Kuzma needs to start or at the least get more rather than fewer minutes in the playoffs if the Lakers are going to win the championship.

The logical solution is for the Lakers to move Anthony Davis to the five to replace JaVale McGee and start Kyle Kuzma at the four, which Vogel has been reluctant to do because of Davis’ stated preference to play the four. Kuzma’s recent excellent defense against elite scoring guards like James Harden, Jamal Murray, and Damian Lillard, however, may have created another opportunity to work his way into the Lakers’ starting lineup.

In today’s positionless NBA , the position a player can defend has become the position he can play and Kuzma’s improving ability to defend twos could possibly open a door for him to become the Lakers’ future shooting guard. Playing the two, the 6′ 8″ Kuzma could easily evolve into the third star the Lakers need to play alongside James and Davis. He’d be a tantalizing vision for the Lakers to embrace and matchup nightmare for opponents to fear.

Danny Green’s decline and subpar play has not only opened a door for Kyle Kuzma to start or take over major minutes at shooting guard in the playoffs but also raised speculation Kuz could become the Lakers’ future at the two. The looming presence of the small ball crazy Houston Rockets as the Lakers’ likely next playoff opponent should be the perfect opportunity for coach Frank Vogel to start Kuzma or at least let him play true starter minutes

There’s little question now Kuzma can produce if given the opportunity and starter minutes. He was the Lakers’ best 3-point shooter and had the team’s third best net rating in the bubble and second best net rating in the playoffs. Kuz started 68 games last season and averaged 18.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 33.2 minutes. This season, he started 9 games this season and averaged 20.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 32.4 minutes.

It’s time for Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel to end his stubborn reluctance to making changes in his starting lineup and embrace the opportunities coming up to give Kyle Kuzma a chance to show what he can do as a starter.

Lakers Hone Championship Blueprint With Anthony Davis Playing the Five!

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Anthony Davis only played center for 17 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 3 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers last night but for the second game in row the Lakers dominated play and won when AD played the five.

The Lakers outscored the Blazers by 16 points in the 17 minutes Anthony Davis played the five, which is the reason they were able to win the game 116–108 and come back to take a 2–1 lead in the first round of the series. Four of five of the Lakers’ lineups that played over 1 minute and posted the highest net ratings last night featured Anthony Davis playing center, more confirmation AD at the five is unquestionably the Lakers’ best lineup.

Here’s are the Lakers’ 5-player lineups with AD at center from NBA.Com:

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Here’s a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of AD’s four stints at center:

Davis first moved to the five with 5:11 remaining in the first quarter and the Blazers leading 20–14 and helped the Lakers cut the Blazers lead to 25–29. AD struggled the entire quarter, only scoring on 3 of 7 free throw attempts. Anthony’s uncharacteristic poor free throw shooting must have been contagious as the Lakers missed a golden opportunity to get off to a good start by only making 8 out of 15 free throw attempts in the first quarter.

Anthony started playing the five with 3:36 left in the second quarter and helped the Lakers reduce a 6-point 43-49 deficit when he entered the game to a 53-54 deficit before sitting down with only 13 seconds left in the half. Unfortunately, the Blazers’ McCollum hit a 3-point jumper at the buzzer to give Portland a 57-53 lead at halftime. Davis ended up with a disappointing first half scoring just 6 points although posting 5 boards and 3 assists.

Anthony Davis’ dominating stretch at the five came in the Lakers 40-point third quarter when Vogel took out JaVale McGee and moved AD to center with 4:35 remaining in the third and the Lakers leading the Blazers 77–76. Over the final 4 minutes and 35 seconds, Davis scored 7 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and anchored a stifling defense as the Lakers outscored the Blazers by 8 points to take a 93–86 lead at the end of the third quarter.

AD’s final stint at the five came with 3:25 left in the fourth quarter when Frank Vogel pulled Dwight Howard and moved Anthony Davis to the five with the Lakers still holding onto a 7-point 105–98 lead over the Blazers. Davis finished a strong fourth quarter with 12 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block as the Lakers repelled the Blazers’ desperate efforts to close the lead and clinched their second straight win to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

As the Lakers rediscover their mojo, it’s becoming obvious they should be playing Anthony Davis more at the five as it’s their best lineup. They may not want to start AD at the five but he clearly needs more minutes there. The Lakers have played Davis at center for only 48 minutes total in the 3 games against the Blazers or just 16 of the 36 minutes per game he’s played. The Lakers need to increase that number each round of the playoffs.

In fact, the Lakers would be smart to begin ramping up AD’s minutes at the five for the remainder of this series because they’ll need a heavy dose of it when they meet the small ball crazy Houston Rockets in the second round. The Lakers are going to need Anthony Davis to play center for 25 to 30 minutes per game to matchup against the Rockets so it makes sense for him to begin upping his minutes at the five for the rest of the Portland series.

The further the Lakers progress in the playoffs, the tougher the challenge becomes and the more they’re going to need AD to play the five if they want to have a legitimate chance at winning their 17th NBA championship.