Much has been made of the age of the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster that includes LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard, and Wayne Ellington, all of which are at least 32 years old. Head coach Frank Vogel will have to figure out the best way to utilize all these players and bring them together to win an NBA Championship.
While there are a couple of younger players such as Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn and of course Anthony Davis, the overall belief is that the Lakers have an old roster by NBA standards and that could hurt them. But Vogel believes the opposite.
“Age does equal experience,” the Lakers head coach said. “IQ and intelligence help you win, and in terms of motivation, the motivation for us is that trophy, not what people are saying. This group is highly driven to get back on top and I don’t really think about anything about what anybody’s saying about our age. But I do agree that the experience will be necessary and help us win.”
There are positives and negatives to being an older player in the league. As Vogel noted, experience, IQ and intelligence are things that you gain the longer you’re in the league and those things can undoubtedly help a team win.
The motivation is also there for these players to win a championship as many of them have never done so and older players who have accomplished so much already, are often more willing to sacrifice individually. Sacrifice has been the keyword of this offseason for the Lakers and something everyone seems to be on board with which will be crucial to their success.
Vogel has his work cut out for him this season in bringing all of these veterans together to accomplish one goal. Figuring out the best way to use these vets while also not overworking them and being sure they are at their peak for the playoffs won’t be easy, but it is a challenge Vogel is surely embracing.
Handy believes Lakers must figure out how to play together and sacrifice
The expectations for this team are high despite the advanced age as many believe the Lakers are the favorites to come out of the Western Conference. But assistant coach Phil Handy knows this team still has a lot of growth to do.
Handy recently made it clear that while this roster looks great on paper, they still must figure out how to play together as a team and will need to sacrifice to make it work.
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