Dysfunctional drama is threatening to destroy the Lakers season, at the moment. There are leaks about coaches, players and management right now that paint a really sad picture. I’m not sure if the Lakers will be able to recover from this either. I’ve seen this kind of thing destroy so many teams in my lifetime. It’s really sad to see, and very hard to watch as a fan.
Right now the Lakers are trash, on the court, because of all this dysfunction. They have too many cooks in the kitchen, and serious communication problems.
Winning is hard enough to do when a team is focused and on the same page, in this league. The margin for winning and losing is razor thin. Adding infighting to that already difficult equation is a recipe for disaster. This is not a good look.
Rambis Has Been Interfering Allegedly
A few days ago a report leaked that Kurt Rambis had a meeting with Frank Vogel and David Fizdale to discuss how to turn things around. He then apparently showed up to the Lakers pre-game meeting on Monday. Previously he had only attended such meetings virtually. That’s an important point, because that is the kind of bad management move that will almost always make employees mad. Why wasn’t Kurt there in person before this, and why did he feel the need to exert his influence then? Only he’s knows those answers, unfortunately.
The interference he was doing involved suggesting that the Lakers should utilize their big men, DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard more often. This is extra infuriating given the issues they’ve had all season with those big men in the lineup. The advanced stats and the eye test BOTH have proven that the Lakers do better when they play small ball, and just use those guys situationally. So, his reasoning seems awfully flawed to this fan here. I just don’t get it.
It also puts Frank Vogel in a terrible position. Kurt is essentially one of his bosses. That’s a crappy dynamic for any coach to be caught up in. I really feel for Frank on this issue. That must make coming into work a real drag somedays.
Vogel Unfairly Scapegoated Russ Against Indiana
To add more to the already crumbling team, Frank did something against Indiana that may have completely destroyed his relationship with Russell Westbrook. He not only benched him in the final four minutes of the game, he even took the disrespect a step further, in his postgame press conference. When asked about why Russ was benched he replied “Playing the guys that I thought were going to win the game”. That’s pretty brutal, and I really don’t see how saying something like that helps this team. It only hurts it.
To make matters worse there was also a report on Thursday morning that Vogel got approval from management for that benching. The leaked story says that Russ was supposed to keep Caris LeVert from going to his right, according to the scouting report, but he messed up and didn’t in a very critical moment. I doubt Russ did that out of defiance. It sounds more like there are communication issues, and probably too many people in Russ’ ear.
You can’t make this stuff up, people. This is some pretty supreme dysfunction.
I’m really worried this just threw a grenade into any title hopes the Lakers had this season. I’m not sure how this fix this, and I don’t think Lakers management knows how to either. This season may be shot. Just putting it to you straight.
I am also a Cowboy fan, so I know all too well how dysfunction can destroy a once great franchise. It feels like I am having a Deja Vu moment right now. I don’t like this one bit.
