Acclaimed Sports Author Compares Coaching Current Lakers Lineup To Managing Corporations

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has gotten his share of criticism, especially with the team struggling to live up to expectations.

Although he got some success a couple of NBA seasons ago, things were not expected to get any easier.

Vogel holds the distinction of delivering an NBA title to the Lakers with LeBron James and Anthony Davis at the helm.

They did fall short last season, but their chances this season were seen better following the coming of Russell Westbrook.

However, the Lakers have struggled and fingers are being pointed.

Vogel has not been spared from that although decorated book author Roland Lazenby still considers the 48-year-old a good coach.

“Frank Vogel is a good coach. He knows what he’s doing but when you’re managing… joining along with titanic figures like this, it’s not like you’re able to say ‘LeBron, I want this’ or ‘Okay Russell, you gotta do this…if you are a high school coach, you can say stuff like that,” Lazenby stated when he appeared on the Sports Bytes PH podcast hosted by Brian Yalung and Aldrin Magnaye.

However, the 69-year-old author shared something interesting that the late Chuck Daly told him about managing players.

“The great Chuck Daly, he said, managing or coaching a pro basketball team is like managing 12 corporations. LeBron James is a really big corporation. Russell Westbrook is not a small corporation,” he stated.

True enough, Vogel is in a position that has drawn a lot of attention.

While he does have an NBA ring to show, it remains that handling the souped-up Lakers quintet is something only a select number of people can handle.

Just some weeks ago, Vogel addressed the criticism he is facing.

Like a professional, he did not comment on whether this was unfair or justified. Instead, he prefers to shield himself from the negativity and focus on the task of leading the Lakers to victories.

“It’s not up to me,” Vogel said as quoted by NBA.com. “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. Really just focused on the job.”

James backed this up, admitting that criticism comes with the job.

“Frank is a strong-minded guy. He has a great coaching staff. And we as his players have to do a better job of going out and producing on the floor. We’re a team and an organization that doesn’t mind some adversity, that doesn’t mind people saying things about us, obviously, because it comes with the territory,” the four-time NBA champion stressed.