What’s the story behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ fascination with Andre Drummond ? Do Pelinka and Vogel really believe Drummond at center is the best strategy to take advantage of LeBron James and Anthony Davis?
The Andre Drummond experiment up to this point has been a bust as every key stat clearly demonstrate the Lakers are a better team on offense and defense with Marc Gasol or Anthony Davis at center than the Big Penguin. Frank Vogel continues to ignore the stats that say Davis and James play, shoot, and defend better without Drummond and claims Andre just needs more minutes to learn how to play alongside the Lakers’ superstars.
You can almost see the wheels working in the background as Pelinka and Vogel continue to believe Drummond not only could help the Lakers win the championship this year but might also re-sign with the team long term. Their obsession with a possible James, Davis, and Drummond Big Three has apparently blinded them to Andre’s poor footwork, subpar court presence, low post inefficiency, and inescapable poor fit next to LeBron and AD.
Meanwhile, Frank Vogel has become increasingly defensive about Andre Drummond’s performance, pointing out Andre has not had the benefit of camp and the regular season to develop chemistry for the scheme to work. That’s an argument better made during the regular season than the start of the first round of the playoffs while the Lakers try to re-integrate superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis back from long injuries into the rotation.
What drives me crazy is Vogel not realizing traditional centers change how the Lakers play offense and defense. Andre’s lack of offensive spacing and lack of defensive mobility limits the team’s play at both ends of the court. The Lakers established a gold standard of what to expect during last year’s successful championship run with Anthony Davis playing more than 50% of his time at the five. That’s a proven winning formula you can’t discard.
So what’s really going on here? Do the Lakers really believe Drummond at the five is a championship scheme? Did Andre receive a promise he would be the starter in the playoffs when he signed his free agent contract? Alternatively, have the Lakers decided to dramatically reduce Anthony’s minutes at the five to accommodate his preference for playing power forward? That’s a move they clearly made during the regular season.
Or is the obsession with Drummond just an example of an old school coach like Frank Vogel stubbornly refusing to give up the idea of traditional low post center being the best scheme to anchor the team’s offense and defense. It’s hard to fathom what’s going through Frank Vogel’s mind right now as the Lakers trail the Phoenix Suns 0–1 and could be in danger of suffering a devastating first round loss rather then repeating as champions.
Unfortunately, the time has run out and Frank Vogel needs to abandon his obsession with Andre Drummond and either start Anthony Davis or Marc Gasol at center immediately or risk losing the opportunity to win #18.
So will Frank Vogel make any changes to the Lakers starting lineup and rotations this game? I’m not expecting anything but the same starting lineup as Frank gives Drummond one more chance to show he can be the third wheel with LeBron and AD.
Reading all the comments, Vogel was even willing to criticize how Anthony Davis played when he was at the five against the Suns as part of his campaign to support Andre Drummond’s play. There’s something else going on here that has to do with promised made to Drummond when he signed as a free agent. He was obviously promised he would start and the Lakers are fearful that benching him will upset team chemistry and guarantee Drummond would not re-sign with the Lakers at a discounted price this summer.
If AD and LeBron show up, we will win regardless of what Frank does about Drummond. How long Frank can continue to delude himself about Andre’s fit will undoubtedly determine whether the Lakers repeat as champs or crash and burn with a disgraceful and embarrassing first round exit. Vogel betting and risking the NBA championship, LeBron’s Laker Legacy, and his own coaching future for a deluded pipe dream that Andre Drummond is the answer. Everybody already knows Dre is not the answer.