EL SEGUNDO – The first half of the 2019-20 NBA season is officially in the books for the Los Angeles Lakers. The revamped squad led by Anthony Davis and LeBron James has exceeded expectations thus far as they've only lost eight of the 41 games played.

With the Lakers leading the way in the Western Conference with a record of 33-8, head coach Frank Vogel was posed with a question about how he feels about the team's success up to this point after practice on Friday. Vogel was asked to give a letter for his team at this point in the season, and he did just that saying the following.

“I would say probably a B plus,” Vogel on a letter grade for the team thus far. “Off the top of my head. We did a good job of taking care of business. We won at a high rate, but we still have a long way to go in terms of our execution pieces and growing in the second half of the season.”

The Lakers may have suffered some disappointing losses to the Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, and twice to the L.A. Clippers, but it is hard to argue that they aren't a better team than expected at this point. This team is by no means perfect some things needing to be fixed, but they finished the first half of the season strong winning nine of their last 10 games before heading on a lengthy five-game road trip.

The second half of the season will test the Lakers right away. The team will go up against some playoff-caliber teams during this upcoming five-game road trip with key matchups against the Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia 76ers. Then they'll head home to face the Clippers for a third time at the Staples Center on Jan. 28.

It'll be an interesting stretch for Vogel's squad as they try to continue to impose their will on the rest of the league before finally ending the playoff drought.