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Do you remember Paul the octopus? Otherwise, let me explain: this octopus was rewarded with a name because it could correctly choose the winner of the World Cup matches by hitting one of its tentacles on the flag of a team. At the time of his death (RIP, my boy), Paul the Octopus had correctly predicted 12 games out of 14, which is probably the equivalent of Joe Dimaggio's 56 series of successes for prognostic octopuses.
To my knowledge, the Los Angeles Lakers do not use Octopus, but that did not stop them from getting to the bottom of things with Paul in their coaching quest. Their organism with multiple appendages, led by Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, some Rambises and probably some others let the ink flow, then floated aimlessly in the direction of a bus until they landed. Welcome to L.A., Frank Vogel!
Of course, an imperfect process does not always guarantee a bad result. The Lakers are well aware: despite five years of lottery and repeated failures in the management of business assets and the development of young talent, LeBron James still signed last summer. Even if we do not know, finding a Vogel-style head coach, even though he was originally called Tyronn Lue's assistant, is another victory. Vogel's defensive resume stands out from other retreaders – Lue, J. B. Bickerstaff, Jason Kidd – and his strengths as a coach and personality align well with what the Lakers need to get out of this mess.
The best thing Vogel brings to the table is that his players have joined and joined. Only two coaches have led their teams to five consecutive top-10 victories in terms of defensive efficiency over the last decade: Gregg Popovich with the Spurs and Vogel with the Pacers.
Vogel teams are always difficult to face, even if they have their warts. LeBron knows. In 2013, the Pacers pushed the boundaries of LeBron's Miami Heat to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals. This series gave birth to about a million memes, but also to the expression "verticality" and the abandonment of the pick-and-roll cover, which is preferable to take advantage of a great man protector of the rim. Vogel's defenses played a leading role in changing the foul play.
Coaches do not tend to get the validation required for real job security without winning a ring, and after five and a half seasons, the Pacers have finally taken a different direction. They immediately lost 12 defensive spots once Vogel left. Giving one of the biggest teams in its history a solid performance and posting two consecutive seasons with the best defense is no mean feat, a performance that should probably outweigh any attempt to win a modest record from 304-291 as a head coach. The Pacers were not loaded with independent players or super-efficient offensive players under Vogel – you're trying to clear the pitch with Lance Stephenson, David West and Roy Hibbert – but they had an identity. The Lakers, even with James at the helm, were outstanding at all levels.
Vogel's biggest mistake may have been not to wait after being released by the Pacers. Vogel jumped directly to Orlando for the 2016-17 season, while his master plan was to acquire two centers (Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo) on their already crowded front yard. Vogel realized at the time of his hiring that the NBA was changing and he should adjust. He remained faithful to the established tradition of new coaches, who said his team would play fast, as the Magic finished in the top 10 in terms of percentage decisive points in both seasons. Anyway, Orlando was always bad, because there's really only a lot you can do when you're writing your best job for Jonathon Simmons instead of Paul George. You could say that the losers started using Vogel, while he was going through a very very aging Obama process. During his last season in Orlando, Vogel had to start 16 different players, and four of those players were completely out of the league at the end of the season.
Vogel should not have a free pass for what happened in Orlando. There are legitimate concerns about whether or not it can build a modern attack based less on sets with multiple screens far away from the ball and more focused on creating and maintaining spacing. Let's say Kidd is his best assistant – the Littlefinger at Vogel's Ned Stark, for example – he is far from sure that Vogel's staff is properly exploiting LeBron's pass capacity. If you subscribe to the idea that the spacing is offensive and that the offensive is spacing – which certainly seems to be the case in Milwaukee after the departure of Kidd – Vogel will need real shooters to do Shine some of his five series, especially as LeBron's patience for someone else's ideas seems to be getting shorter by the day.
In the end, LeBron's commitment is more important than anything else. He spent most of last season losing interest in the defense as everything seemed to be going south, and even such a talented player as Vogel can not rely on the defense to play four on a regular basis. Vogel can be challenging and easy to play, but even a fairly consistent spin would be a big improvement over what Luke Walton did last season. Vogel provides an immediate upgrade in many areas, but this work is fraught with pitfalls: a one-stop-shop that lacks structure after Magic Johnson is back in the NBA Twitter's Perd Hapley, a total lack of reliable culture – from the list, of the need to appease the highest of the high maintenance superstars and the possibility that you have been only the third choice of Linda Rambis.
The hiring process was disastrous, but after fighting with Lue and Monty Williams, the Lakers were lucky to have a good coach when they landed at Vogel. Maybe the third time is the charm for both.
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