With the Lakers now out of the race for the Playoffs, some tongues are starting to come loose on the Los Angeles side. Latest trending topic: The tumultuous relationship between Russell Westbrook and Frank Vogel. A problem that obviously did not arise yesterday.
If something goes wrong, you usually have two options. Either we try to find solutions, or we explain that it’s so-and-so wrong. When it comes to the Lakers, the second option is often the most used. On holiday after their loss to the Suns, the Angelinos now have plenty of time to analyze the (many) problems that have ruined their season. Is it the fault of the injuries? Is it the coach that is involved? Staff building? We could probably say a little bit of everything, but the fans already have a good scapegoat in Russell Westbrook. The former Thunder marsupilami disappointed much this year, to the point of being whistled by his own audience. Not complementary to his Big 3 acolytes, unable to weigh without the ball, Brodie has been the most critical of the general public and the latest revelations of the Los Angeles Times will not help to restore the image. In a lengthy paper, insiders Dan Woike and Broderick Turner go behind the scenes of the Lakers season. Through the revelations of an anonymous staff member, we mainly learn a few anecdotes about the training camp at the beginning of the season. spoiler, Frank Vogel and Russell Westbrook’s relationship didn’t start in the best way†
“Russ (Westbrook) has never respected Frank (Vogel) since day one. At one point Frank said who gets the rebound [défensif, ndlr] could step onto the field, which is the way of doing things in the NBA these days. Russ said, “No, I’m the playmaker. Give me the ball.” Everyone’s running.” Frank told him, “No, we’ve got Talen (Horton-Tucker), we’ve got Austin (Reaves). We have Malik. We have LeBron. We have AD. They can all get the ball up. But to him it was like, “No, I’m the playmaker. Give me that ball.” Everyone gets out of the way. †
Atmosphere, atmosphere… Of course that didn’t bode well for the rest of the events and it happened. Despite this refusal to obey from the leader, the coach has often striven to defend his player from criticism. Finally, until January… Then, no more velvet gloves, we moved on to a new policy with a Russell Westbrook that got more and more cash-strapped, all with a few sincere statements from his coach† The answer was not long in coming with a Brodie explaining he had back pain from his time on the couch† Not enough to change the local guru’s mind, who could have chosen a completely different strategy. From there, almost imagine a sixth man role for the West Beast? Some within the franchise wanted it, but Vogel never tried the experiment, probably because he wanted to avoid a major fire in the locker room. We know the rest and the two men probably won’t have time to pick up the pieces. The coach will be announced on departure, Brodie also knows nothing about his future Californian† So the game against Denver could well be the last chance to see the two men in the same colors. After that, it’s (probably) time to go their separate ways.
Frank Vogel and Russell Westbrook don’t vacation together and their tumultuous relationship wasn’t born yesterday. A different language was already being spoken than at the training camp, no wonder the season went live.
Text source: Los Angeles Times / Dan Woike and Broderick Turner
