Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel admitted that JR Smith’s familiarity with LeBron James was one of the reasons the team hired him.
Smith played three years alongside James in the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was part of the 2016 championship-winning team that unbelievably came back from behind against Golden State Warriors in the final.
“Their familiarity with LeBron and the way we build our team, obviously around LeBron, have a lot in common with the things they did in Cleveland. That is definitely a factor in what we believe JR can bring to the team in what is going to be very little time to acclimatize. ” Vogel said according to a video obtained from The Lakers Review on Twitter.
Many might remember Smith from an incident when he infuriated LeBron James after failing to attempt a shot at defining moments in the 2018 NBA Finals. But there is much more to his game. During his years in the Cavaliers, Smith has made significant contributions to his triples in the playoff games.
Vogel expected Smith and Dion Waiters to quickly settle with Los Angeles Lakers
After joining the Lakers last year as his head coach, Vogel quickly turned things around for the team. After acquiring Anthony Davis to accompany LeBron James, Vogel’s men immediately became candidates for the title. Before the league suspension, they were at the top of the Western Conference with 49 wins. They had the best record in the league after the Milwaukee Bucks.
Vogel believed that the Lakers played with a simple system that shouldn’t be difficult for newcomers to adopt. He expected Smith and Dion Waiter, another recent acquisition, to settle as fast as the players did at the start of the season.
Frank Vogel on “acclimatization” JR Smith (and Dion Waiters) courtesy of @Lakers: pic.twitter.com/8uFpXYtL98
– The Lakers Review (@TheLakersReview) July 2, 2020
“I think there will be plenty of time. We have a simple system that we hope can be detected fairly quickly. Our boys picked it up pretty fast to start the season. And we hope it will be the same for Dion and JR ” Vogel said.
