Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from a Brooklyn sweep in China!
By Ronald Agers
It seems that the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t really listening to Anthony Davis!
When Frank Vogel rolled out his small-ball lineup that placed Anthony Davis square in the middle at the center spot, it’s clear that the Lakers coaching staff is playing with fire here. Wasn’t there a comment from Anthony Davis about what position he wants to play?
"I like playing the four. I’m not even going to sugar coat it." AD says. He turned to Frank Vogel and put his hand on his shoulder, smiling. "If it comes down to it, coach, and you need me to play the five, I’ll play the five."
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 13, 2019
Okay, after watching the performance of Anthony Davis (Before the injury) in this game, what part of the statement above do you believe?
Obviously Davis thought Vogel was smart enough to decipher hidden messages in this comment. Frank Vogel should know by now that things said in a business suit is different than what is said during the grind of an NBA season.
Furthermore, why in the world would he attempt to put AD’s body through an unnecessary grind at center for an ENTIRE QUARTER when you have two on the bench? In a preseason game at that?
Since Vogel missed AD’s message, maybe he will notice this one courtesy of First Things First on FS1.
Remember, this show was before the Cousins injury. Feel free to pass this on to the coaching staff. Anthony Davis does not want to play a ton of minutes at center. Keep this up and Davis could end up somewhere he plays power forward full-time without worry.
I hear the Brooklyn Nets still can make moves with their salary cap. Get the picture?
Frank Vogel’s decision to use a 3 guard starting lineup was in reaction to the awful perimeter defense that gave up 20 shots from long distance. The decision made little difference considering the struggles continued to defend the perimeter. The Nets dropped 13 3-point shots out of 35 attempts.
The Lakers have two major defensive concerns that the Nets exposed in China. Teams are going to continue to pick on Dwight Howard on the defensive end. They’ll do one of two things.
- Opponents will park their center out at the 3 point line knowing Dwight will not come out and contest, preferring to stay in the paint.
- Opponents will just run the pick and roll time and time again forcing Howard to make a decision. In both games, Dwight Howard guessed wrong leading to alley-oop dunks.
The decision to keep both centers on the bench for an entire quarter will only be figured out with a conversation with Vogel. It looked like an overreaction. Davis and McGee are monster rim protectors. He needs to stick with it.
But his concerns about the Lakers “alleged” reliable defensive guards, mentioned in recent Lake Show Life postgame reports are starting to become clearer by each passing 3-point shot.
Frank Vogel earned his criticism. Sorry AD, you’re next.