NBA: Grading first-year head coaches for the 2019-20 season

Frank Vogel, Los Angeles Lakers

Just before the hiatus was implemented, you could make the argument that the Los Angeles Lakers were playing some of their best basketball of the season. They were winners of 11 of their last 13 and had just beaten the Milwaukee Bucks and LA Clippers in back-to-back games. LeBron James was making his way up the NBA MVP voting ladder and the team was looking more and more like the contenders many expected them to be before the season.

Overall, the Lakers were well on their way to finishing the regular season as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference (5.5 games ahead of the second seed) and were just two games back of the No. 1 overall seed Bucks.

Even though the Lakers were likely going to be judged by what they did in the postseason, first-year (with Los Angeles) head coach Frank Vogel did a swell job of not making this season about himself. More often than not, especially when it comes to coaching a LeBron-led team, not being a story at all during the season is an accomplishment in itself.

Without a postseason result, it’s hard to frame any negative argument against Vogel’s first year as the Lakers’ coach.

Grade: A