Players have praised his eagerness to …

Players have praised his eagerness to teach—and how he goes about doing it. James has completely bought in. The assistant coaches have fallen in line. Any early season list for Coach of the Year has to have Vogel’s name at the top of it. “There’s a great attention to detail [with Vogel],” Lakers GM Rob Pelinka told SI.com in the preseason. “And I also quickly learned that he’s a collaborative thinker, but then a decisive decision-maker. I think sometimes collaborators can overthink things too much and then not be able to make a decision, but he takes input and then he’s decisive with his decision. And I think we wanted to have a more structured, accountable philosophy with the basketball here, and he fit that.”