Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

Discussion in 'NBA Discussion' started by YoungThundercat, Apr 29, 2016.

  1. Savory Griddles

    Savory Griddles Moderator Staff Member

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    Murray would piss himself if the Lakers signed Metta World Peace to a 10 day contract 2 hours before gametime. Metta just sits at half court and stares at Murray for all the warmups. Murray never escapes Metta's gaze. Murray would go 0-3 from the field and fake an injury so he could go back to the locker room.
     
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  2. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    Just put Bullius on Murray from the opening tip. That would put that punk in his place.
     
  3. sirronstuff

    sirronstuff - Lakers Legend -

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    Luke will end up with several COY awards during his career.

    He’s only 4 years older than LLLLL, and he’s just beginning his career. He’ll be fine.
     
  4. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I've been thoroughly impressed since he moved Julius into the starting lineup. He's got the team inspired and working hard. He's playing their style of ball.

    Maybe more importantly for a coach, he's finding creative ways to put his players in positions to score. Not just players he's had for the year in Brook Lopez and Julius Randle, but a guy he just got in Isaiah Thomas is being put in regular positions to succeed.

    Seeing that LeBron love is also very telling...
     
  5. Battle Tested20

    Battle Tested20 Moderator Staff Member

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    Whether we want to admit it or not Luke becoming our head coach last year is one of the best things to have happened to Randle for the start of his young career. Yes, he is hard on him more so than others at times. But Luke sees true greatness in him.





     
  6. Punk-101

    Punk-101 - Lakers Starter -

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    So, was Luke playing the long game, benching Julius in the beginning of the year to motivate him? Or did it take Luke longer to figure out what us fans saw from day 1?
     
  7. TIME

    TIME Administrator Staff Member

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    I'm guessing here, but I think it was a combo of three factors.

    Long game: looking to motivate him into consistent all out effort
    Uncertainty of the FO commitment to keep him
    Logjam at the 4-5 spots with Lopez, Nance, and an early red hot Kuz

    Now, Randle has sustained the effort element, so that's no longer an issue. The FO must have by now signaled their desire to keep him. And the logjam was resolved with the Cavs trade.
     
  8. Battle Tested20

    Battle Tested20 Moderator Staff Member

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    There is much more than meets the eye is what I would say to this. There are things that are discussed between player and coach when no one else is there on the practice floor or video room when the coaches huddle around to talk.

    We fans only see a glimpse into this life and relationship and much of it is what is reported in the media or what we see on social media.
     
  9. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    I think Luke did what he genuinely thought was best for the team at the time. Even if he was playing the long game, Julius would have developed regardless of the treatment. He's a self-motivated kid.

    What I'm certain of is that it cost us games. We'd be in mix for the 8th seed had Julius started from the jump.
     
  10. Battle Tested20

    Battle Tested20 Moderator Staff Member

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    On Josh Hart:

    Luke said he's in great spirits and told him to lay off the pain pills because he's smiling too much for being hurt.

    hahaha
     
  11. Kenzo

    Kenzo - Lakers All Star -

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    Luke learned from Phil. What he did with Julius was planned from the start.
     
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  12. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    I don’t know if I believe that Luke did this with Randle intentionally as a plan, but I also don’t believe we’d have been this good from the start by simply starting Randle all along. Randle was not good to start the season, he was so not good I was actually saying we were better with him not playing at all, that he hadn’t learned a thing from his mistakes, and that he’d never get it mentally. He was careless as ever, he was missing gimmes and being blocked at the rim, he wasn’t doing the little things like defense and setting screens. I think Luke genuinely started Nance because he did the little things. I think that unintentionally forced Randle to humble himself a little, start playing like a monster on defense, work harder on the little stuff like screens and movement without the ball while being the main focus off the bench, and I think we are seeing the benefits now. I don’t think this was the plan, I think we’re lucky it worked out this way, it’s a combo of maybe Luke not believing in Randle, and then Randle working his a** off to improve. Then Nance got traded, Randle didn’t and was safe here, and that seemed to be the final load off his mind.
     
  13. gcclaker

    gcclaker Moderator Staff Member

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    Jackson did the same thing to Horace Grant and Kukoc... Not really planned but strategic.
     
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  14. vasashi17

    vasashi17 LB's Resident Capologist

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    Yep, I agree with nearly all of what @Weezy said, except the intent in the design of motivating Jules to become a better overall player and teammate. That is such a Phil Jax thing to do that I'm pretty sure Luke had every intent in pushing Jules to the limit. We all know that Luke still talks to Chief Zen, so I do think starting Lance/Kuz over Jules was a way to get the bull angry and motivated. "I don't care if you worked on your body over the summer and are scoring at will...if you don't fly around on defense, your a** is on the bench backing up a guy that will."

    Nance statistically is better than Jules on defense this year, so that led to him earning the starting spot. Jules knew in order to crack the starting lineup, he had to really highlight his defensive energy, plus add the pressures of being in a contract year, and the bull went full on rage when he got his time on the court. Still, Luke was hard on him and that led to quick yanks back to the bench...but I'm sure you're all aware that you're normally hardest on the one's where you see the most potential that you can help them realize. Luke is doing exactly that, but then the injuries happened, the schedule tightened up and we went on a losing streak. The team had a closed door meeting and I think that led to even Nance going to Luke to say, Jules deserves the start and I'll come off the bench.

    Jules has even alluded to wanting to be more "coachable" cause he knows just how much of a better player he's become from being short-leashed by Luke.

    It appears that Luke's next project is Kuz.

    Also the narrative that we would have won more if Jules started the season is highly dubious. First off, we needed to figure out how to play with each other, since the roster overhaul led to many new faces figuring out how to play with each other. Being super young, strength of schedule, dealing with injuries and an abridged training camp added to those early season growing pains. Then consider that throwing Jules into the starter spot without him really earning it not only is a disservice to the players who do earn it, but is also a disservice to Jules' own player development.

    If we had roughly 3 more wins and were in legit contention to earn the 8th seed, I believe Luke is Coach of the Year and that discussion would be much louder.

    That being said, I'm interested to see how both Jules and Luke approach Denver tomorrow. If we don't come out and make an example out of them, I truly believe our slim playoff hopes are gone and I don't have much invested in a team that isn't playoff bound. So I'll reconvene with y'all during the summer.

    Btw: slick mention of Luke by LaBron....especially with all the noise that he would want Luke replaced by Fitz if he was to consider coming here.
     
  15. fabfourlakers

    fabfourlakers - Lakers Starter -

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    I wanna believe this but...Julius had been doing those things all year man. The difference was playing time. Yes, he had his mishaps here and there but 8 minutes in a game at one point? That's inexcusable. Also, even when he was playing WELL, we were benching him. That's the part I didn't get.

    The dude came into camp in the best shape of his life and his reward was getting benched and playing 18 minutes a game (yes, at one point, he was at this average on MPG).

    I think it was a combination of having too many guys at his position (Nance, Lopez, Kuzma), the front office not being sure about Randle, and Luke also not believing in Randle. What changed? That players only meeting in January. THAT is what sparked the change. Since then, the Lakers have been on an absolute tear and they've been led by none other than Julius Randle.
     
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  16. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    We just disagree then. Randle was really bad in preseason, and to start the regular season. He was pouting, he wasn’t defending and still not doing the fundamentals. The only things he’d clearly improved on was his body, and his shooting. But even then at the time it was like what for, if you’re not going to use that new slimmed down body to play all out. Go back and find the posts on him to start the season, people wanted him traded, he was bad, but he turned it around big time.
     
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  17. gcclaker

    gcclaker Moderator Staff Member

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    Pick and roll...force the switch. Get his mouthy a** down low. Run him through hard screens. Shame that Bogut isn't here to lay him out.
     
  18. fabfourlakers

    fabfourlakers - Lakers Starter -

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    I remember the Gametime discussions man. I said that benching Julius only will work if we're WINNING. The minute we start LOSING though? It's going to become a problem. And it was.

    I just feel like Julius did nothing to deserve getting benched to begin with. I love Nance, but he's not a starter in this league. Julius is and he was arguably our best player the year before. We didn't give him the opportunity to improve upon that until second half of the season, and now we're seeing what we probably could have seen much earlier in the season given the opportunity.

    At the end of the day, I'm very happy with Luke as a coach. if he's going to get credit for it, then he obviously did something right with Julius. As a fan, i'm only calling it how I see it. But obiouvsly we don't see the practices and what the coaches see from film, etc. Luke and Randle have a great relationship and it's very similar to Luke and Draymond. I really hope they continue to build that relationship and that Luke fights hard to keep Randle on the roster.
     
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  19. vasashi17

    vasashi17 LB's Resident Capologist

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    If Jules was the best player of the team last year, that means he "led" us to a last placed defensive team. How do you get your "leader" to right that ship? You coach him!

    Bench his a** till he gets it. Tough love to make sure he understands the untapped potential he has.

    Now that Jules is getting it, the leash comes off and Kuz is next.
     
  20. fabfourlakers

    fabfourlakers - Lakers Starter -

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    Yeah well you bench him for someone who is clearly better and I don't think Nance was clearly better!

    But anyway, there's two ways to look at it now and I'm just glad that he's beasting it and we're winning and he's making it a tough choice for the front office.
     

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