The Lakes Turn Cold This Spring

News broke late last night that Frank Vogel will be fired as the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, and will be informed Monday.

The Lakers' season ended Sunday night with a 146-141 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets. It was a feel good win, and a great end of the season moment when Mac McClung sealed the game with a reverse dunk, but the joy ended pretty quickly when reporters asked Coach Vogel about the reports of him being fired.

"I haven't been told shit," he replied candidly.

And that is the end of Frank's story, but could very much be the cause of why it all went south in the first place. The Lakers made too many decisions, this writer assumes, without his approval.

They gave him an aging roster. As a coach who is a defensive specialist, it is important to have a roster of guys that work hard and are young, fast, and athletic. That is the exact opposite of what GM Rob Pelinka equipped him with this season.

Just two years ago the Lakers won the NBA championship inside the bubble. Many would put an asterisk on the championship win because of the circumstances they won under, but every team in Florida that year played under the same circumstances and the best team won.

That roster was overhauled shortly after the win to what the roster currently looks like. And the record showed just how poorly Rob Pelinka constructed it.

The championship team had three things that allowed Lebron James and Anthony Davis to bring a championship back to Los Angeles - shooting, youth, length.

Youth and length is a recipe for success for a Frank Vogel defense, and shooting is all a team needs to surround two of the game's best players in Davis and James.

Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, KCP, Markieff Morris, Quinn Cook were all young, or young enough to pack a punch defensively when needed.

Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee were able to defend the paint, along with Anthony Davis. Avery Bradley and Danny Green, Caruso, KCP, Rondo all had a defense first mentality giving Vogel a roster to switch everything and attack the offense and protect the paint.

Every player mentioned (even Dwight and JaVale hit 3s that season) were able to catch and shoot three-point shots to spread the defense for Lebron and Anthony Davis to operate. There wasn't a need for offensive creativity.

However, the team was dismantled for more "star" power instead of riding on that same recipe.

Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee walked and Pelinka brought in Marc Gasol and Andrew Drummond - both "stars" in their own right, but did not give the Lakers the same needed skills the two former big men gave.

Marc Gasol is a great passer, but that just takes the ball out of Lebron's hands and his interior defense isn't as great as it was. Plus, he was on the downhill part of his career.

Andre Drummond is a great rebounder, but his interior defense wasn't as great as the athletic and lengthy JaVale, and he clogged the paint too mich - the one place James and Davis continually want to get to.

They brought in Dennis Schroder, which was great on paper, but Dennis underperofmred and wasn't brought back - which was actually a good decision to let him walk.

However, that is when it all went wrong and Rob Pelinka is to blame. Not Frank Vogel and not Lebron James.

They shipped out all of their youth and athleticism for aging players that did not fit Frank Vogel's model.

The first big blunder was letting guard Alex Caruso walk and sign with the Chicago Bulls. While his stats will never pile up, he brought energy, defense, shot making, and played crunch time minutes for their championship team.

They then continued chasing former "stars" signing Dwight Howard (after letting him go 2 seasons prior) and DeAndre Jordan, who hadn't had a good season since leaving the Clippers.

Rajon Rondo was brought back, Kent Bazemore, Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony were all brought in - making the average age of the Lakers over 30, which was the only team in the NBA to have that high of an average age.

But to cap it all off - trading Kyle Kuzma, KCP, Montrezl Harrel and draft picks to the Wizards for an aging Russel Westbrook was the final nail in the coffin.

It is easy to look back after the fact, but this was never going to work. Westbrook needs the ball and can't shoot. Lebron needs the ball and needs people around him to shoot.

But more importantly than what the Lakers brought in, was what they shipped out. Kyle Kuzma was not going to develop into a start playing with James and Davis - but he could have been a third option if developed properly (which he showed on the Wizards he could). KCP brought defense and shooting. Harrel would have been a good backup scoring center to east some of the burden scoring.

Frank Vogel should not have been fired. Rob Pelinka should not be fired (he hasn't been and probably won't be).

This should have been an offseason of rebuilding quickly. This writer does not have all of the answers, but there are three things the Lakers need that every basketball fan can see - they need shooting, youth, and length.

Teams that are succeeding in the NBA have 4-5 players on the court at all times that can knock down three point shots. They have 4-5 players on the court at all times that can switch defensively because of their length and athleticism. They don't all have 4-5 players on the court at the same time that are young, or just coming into the league, but they have a future. It is important to mix youth with veterans, but the Lakers don't have youth. They don't have a future.

Rob Pelinka had a tough job this offseason to fix a roster that doesn't work. And he just made his job tougher by now trying to find a coach to fix a roster that doesn't work. Hopefully, in firing Frank Vogel, Pelinka learned how quickly a job can be taken away from you and will do everything he can to keep his this offseason.