The Los Angeles Lakers have not enjoyed the hottest start to the 2021-22 season. The Lakers began the season by losing two straight to two potential playoff opponents in the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.
After rallying back with two consecutive wins against the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers had perhaps their ugliest loss of the season on Wednesday night to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Lakers were up by 26 against the previously 0-4 Thunder who are more concerned with getting the first overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. At that point it seemed safe to turn off the game… it wasn’t. The Thunder rallied, defeating the Lakers 123-115.
Quite frankly, it was embarrassing and you can’t blame any Laker fan for being frustrated with the team’s performance thus far. This slow start with an extremely ugly loss has already started a pretty serious conversation about the team; should Frank Vogel be on the hot seat?
There are no reports about there being any internal hot-seat pressure (yet), but these things often start with the fanbase and trickle into the organization with continued bad performances.
While it is easy to get wrapped up in the poor start to the season, we have to look at the big picture.
No, Frank Vogel should not be on the hot seat for the Los Angeles Lakers.
I get that this is a really bad start and I get that the team fell short in the playoffs last season. I even understand if people are going to criticize Frank Vogel’s rotation as they have been somewhat questionable at times.
Let’s not forget that this is the same head coach who just over a calendar year ago led the Los Angeles Lakers to their first title in a decade. Vogel nailed the playoff rotations in 2020, pulling all the right strings and playing the right players in the right matchups.
The rotation might not look great right now but Vogel is playing with a short deck. Not only was LeBron James inactive against the Thunder on Wednesday night but the Lakers are missing four legitimate rotation players.
Talen Horton-Tucker, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington and Kendrick Nun all have not played yet this season. While those are not huge names, all four were projected to play a big role in this rotation. That is essentially the entire second unit that has not played yet this season.
That has forced the Lakers to give bigger minutes to guys who weren’t projected to play much this season. Kent Bazemore is playing 28 minutes a game, Austin Reaves is playing 19.5, Rajon Rondo is playing 17.5 and Avery Bradley is playing 12. None of those players were expected to get that much playing time.
This is also a team that is still trying to gel. Sure, that job is on the head coach, but you cannot expect a completely new basketball team to gel in just five regular-season and eight preseason games. There are only three players from last year’s team that are still on the roster.
And last but not least: we are only five games into the season. If things like this continue then yes, it will be a problem. But there is a good chance that the Lakers turn it around and you don’t even remember this Thunder loss or the fact that the Lakers started 2-3.
The Brooklyn Nets are 2-3, the Clippers are 1-3, the Suns are 1-3. Slow starts happen and I understand that someone has to take the blame in the eyes of the fans but sometimes these things just happen.
Frank Vogel’s job on the Los Angeles Lakers is more than safe for now.