Wesley Matthews had some coaches in his day. Some of the best include Jerry Sloan, Nate McMillan, Rick Carlisle and Mike Budenholzer.
It was a surprising compliment, then, when the 34-year-old quoted Frank Vogel with a superlative just a month after his tenure with the Lakers.
“He’s probably the best communicator as a coach I’ve had this season,” said Matthews. “He communicates very well about what is happening in his education, whatever he is thinking. So, it gives you comfort. ”
The Lakers have the good grace of having what is deeply considered one of the strongest lineups in the NBA, but for Vogel, it is a challenge. With more goal weapons than they had last year and a lot of experience, it is the task of second year coaches to balance a rotation that can increase to 10 or 11 players.
There was not much continuity for the Lakers in the first 10 games, during which they are 7-3, and they only had their regular season starter available in six of those matches. Only three players (Dennis Schröder, Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker) in the rotation have on average more minutes than they played last season.
But Vogel found ways to get players minutes. Since signing an extension, Kuzma has obtained four initial nods as a standard substitute when LeBron James or Anthony Davis are not available to play. On Friday night, he started Matthews to get a better match-up from Zach LaVine and then put Markieff Morris on the starting lineup, because he was the only opponent in a handful of games.
“He underwent a small change in a matter of minutes and didn’t have a chance to explode and get a big race,” said Vogel. “Obviously, he was a big contributor to us last year in a championship. So, without AD, it’s an opportunity to get a few long minutes, because he is someone we believe in and he performed very well tonight. ”
This was also a strong point of Vogel’s last season: he juggled to close line-ups every night, which changed according to who was the best. He managed to keep longtime holder Dwight Howard busy in a bank role and appeased Avery Bradley and JaVale McGee with starting roles during the regular season. Generally, players reported positive feedback on how Vogel explains his role to them, even game by game.
Matthews fought early, losing his first eight attempts in the 3 point range. He has since gone 16 out of 33 from bottom and has scored at least four points out of 3 in three of his last six games. Part of that was adjusting to his role as a bank, said Matthews, but Vogel facilitated that process.
“When you know when you are going to come in, when you are going to leave, you can usually start preparing and you can start watching the game a little differently,” said Matthews. “He’s a great communicator so far with me and it really helps my curve here.”
Vogel is also not above the occasional curved ball: in the third quarter, he replaced Jared Dudley for seven minutes. The 35-year-old is most commonly seen as a valuable presence in the locker room and secondary voice, but the Lakers outperformed the Bulls by five points when he checked the game, and he helped stop Thaddeus Young, who was posting minor attackers and scoring in painting.
These unexpected seasons have the side effect of energizing the team. Several of the veterans were happy to see Dudley check the game for significant minutes.
“Are you talking about Duds? He’s always ready, ”said Matthews. “Duds is one of those guys, he is ready for any moment. He energizes himself on the bench. When his name is called, he is ready. He will be in the right place. ”
Injury report:
The Lakers listed LeBron James (left ankle sprain), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (left ankle sprain) and Anthony Davis (right adductor strain) as questionable for Sunday’s game in Houston. Vogel said on Friday that Caldwell-Pope hoped to be back after an absence from four games on Sunday. Davis was close to playing on Friday, but the team was cautious after he felt a pinch on the right side.