Frank Vogel talks about the excitement of coaching LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the opportunity that Dwight Howard has to revive his career and the wide open Western Conference playoff race in a lengthy interview with Steve Aschburner of NBA.com.
Few coaches going into a new situation have ever faced as much pressure to win right away as Vogel will. The trade that brought Davis from New Orleans has pushed the Lakers into a favorite’s role, and the sense of urgency for James has grown after missing the playoffs last year.
Vogel is also entering a situation where he clearly wasn’t the first choice for the job. He was only hired after negotiations with Tyronn Lue collapsed, and he was asked to bring along former NBA coaches Jason Kidd and Lionel Hollins as assistants. Still, he’s eager for the chance to mentor what could be a historically great duo in James and Davis.
“Talent-wise, they’re the two best players I’ll ever have had the opportunity to coach,” Vogel said. “That brings a lot of fun, a lot of excitement to what we’re able to do on the court. It brings a lot of challenges too. You have to make sure you’re managing them the right way and putting them in the right positions to feel good about their roles and what’s happening around them. There are challenges involved with that. So I’m looking forward to how that all is going to play out.”
Vogel touches on several other subjects, including:
Howard’s return to L.A.:
“I think he’s excited about this opportunity with the Lakers. It’s very different from the first time he came through. Then, he was a mega-star coming in with two other mega-stars [Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash]. This time around, he’s had a few teams where they haven’t had great success. And he’s at a different point, age-wise, in his career. So he’s excited just to be part of something, in any way he can help. He knows it’s going to be more of a role player type of role.”
Whether Davis will see more time at power forward or center:
“To me, he’s effective in both positions. But I don’t think it’s wise when your mindset is to be at your best going into the playoffs, to have him banging with centers for 82 games full-time. Does that mean he’s never going to do it in the regular season? No, of course he’s going to play some center in the regular season. But we want to make sure we keep the end goal in sight and getting him to April, for that playoff run, the right way.”
The rivalry with the Clippers:
“They have a terrific team and a terrific coach, and their front office is doing really well. But we can’t focus on their location. We still have to focus on ourselves and the task at hand. Not just worry about what’s happening crosstown. There are a lot of teams capable of winning the West, so we’ll be focused on our process.”
Well he better be ready because if he’s not there was no point in hiring him
If we can get the same coach that led Indy to being a legit Eastern Conference contender than this could be great. If we get Orlando Vogel…
Shouldnt that headline read “LeBron ready to coach Vogel and AD”?
lol pretty much .
Now that he got rid of Magic, we all know that LeBron is the one running things in LA. Everyone else just does what he says.
Then explain why Magic and him were chilling at his house when free agency started? Oh wait you cant cause you’re just a troll
Is that a beard James harden wears?
I’m so glad he’s ready to coach those two players since apparently they are the only players on the roster. The team is more value than two knuckleheads that like to slobber all over each other.
Your reading comprehension needs some work…he says that coaching superstars takes a little bit of a different approach, which is definitely true and the fact that he can identify that and be prepared to take on that challenge is promising…he will also be coaching the rest of the team but obviously LeBron and AD are generational players…thanks for trolling though
Would have been an issue otherwise.
The real question is
“ How long before Frank Vogel is fired by LeBaby “