Frank Vogel seemed like an uninspiring choice. He was perfect for the Lakers.
The Lakers, one victory from glory, are full of stories that could be made into these dramatic, Hollywood-worthy redemption tales, but Vogel’s comeback may be the most authentic. James created #WashedKing on social media for motivation, embellishing the reaction to his disappointing first year in Los Angeles last season. Davis was all kinds of clumsy in forcing a trade out of New Orleans last year. But those are just bumps along the path of stardom; there was no real failure for either player.
Vogel, on the other hand, was discarded as a winner in 2018. The Orlando Magic fired him after he went 54-110 as its head coach. Vogel, who had a solid run with the Indiana Pacers, was now a twice-canned coach with a 304-291 career record, and you had to wonder whether he would get a job above assistant coach ever again.
When Los Angeles hired him in May 2019, Vogel was mocked as a secondary choice, the one coach with something of a name who was willing to accept a rather short, three-year contract. Tyronn Lue didn’t want to do that. Monty Williams, who landed in Phoenix, also wasn’t comfortable with the Lakers’ situation. Juwan Howard received an interview, and Kidd warranted a wide-ranging conversation. Ultimately, the franchise decided — seemingly settled — on Vogel.
And at his introductory news conference, the focus wasn’t on the new coach. It was on top executive Rob Pelinka, who had to answer questions about former team president Magic Johnson’s explosive accusations that portrayed Pelinka as a backstabber. Vogel’s opportunity to make a first impression had been crushed. But he smiled anyway.
“It’s a little different, definitely different than I expected and different than I’ve ever been a part of,” Vogel said that day. “But I understand the line of questioning. You just roll with the punches.”
He has taken that candor and refreshing self-awareness into the job. The franchise was as fractured as it gets when he arrived, but this is a quality team now. Vogel quickly earned the respect of his two stars.
He brought a defensive edge and physical mentality to a team that had been soft and aimless during a six-year playoff drought. He turned James into a full-time point guard. He worked around an inorganic roster with noticeable holes to build a sensible rotation that accentuates the Lakers’ height, long arms and mobility. He also handled tragedy and disruption well, first during the mourning of Kobe Bryant’s death, then in guiding the team through a pandemic that forced an unprecedented hiatus before an unfamiliar, sequestered season resumption at Disney World.
The Lakers didn’t need a big personality to coach all of their big personalities. They needed a glue guy. They needed a serious-minded basketball coach, a low-key dude who loves the grind of studying the game and brings smart strategies to the practice court to engage players with high basketball IQs.
“He shoots it straight to us,” Davis said of Vogel. “You know, he wants to win. We want to win. He comes to me and ’Bron with a lot of questions and ideas, and we give him our opinion on certain things, but we trust him. He spends hours and hours watching film and breaking down games and breaking schemes down to try to figure out what’s the best solution for us, what’s the best recipe for us to be successful, and he puts the right players on the floor at the right time.”
At times during his career, James has been perceived as difficult to coach. But the label isn’t quite accurate. He’s not a coach-killer, but he does challenge them with his mind and advanced understanding of the game. In any sport, a superstar sees the game differently, and a good coach can fuel such a gifted player. A bad coach will inhibit him. James is predisposed to trusting his legendary instincts and questioning different tactics, but it’s not always about defiance. He is mostly curious, probing and trying to satisfy an insatiable thirst to play at an impossible standard.
Vogel uses the word “partnership” to describe his relationship with James. But the superstar still respects the authority of his coach.
“I’m just happy to be on the floor to kind of be his coach on the floor and just command to my teammates the same message that he’s given to me and be an extension of his mind,” James said. “It’s been great.”
While James has praised plenty of coaches publicly, he hasn’t often stated a desire to be an extension of their minds. That is the highest compliment he can give: He is willing to tuck himself into Vogel’s basketball philosophy, to fold his extraordinary basketball mind into one that sees the game a little differently. Several coaches have gotten obedience out of James. But this level of trust? It’s rare. James is engaged because Vogel is capable of engaging him.
For the Lakers, it looks like a formula for their first championship in a decade. With a three-games-to-one lead over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, they are one step away. They will take it together, and in front will be Vogel, who has proved to be much greater than an uninspiring, recycled coach.
