Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

Wait what? How can you make the claim that Luke will never be on Stevens level? Based on what evidence? There's no evidence at all to make this claim. Luke made massive strides with a very different team than Stevens has. When given a team with great talent, Luke had an amazing record up in Golden State.

Stevens's first year in Boston he won just 25 games. His second season he won 40 games. Is that really so different from what Luke did going 26 wins to 35 wins? Boston went from 27th in offensive rating and 18th in defensive rating Stevens's first year to 18th in offensive rating and 12th in defensive rating his second year. The Lakers were 24th in offensive rating and 30th in defensive rating his first year. We jumped to 23rd in offensive rating and 12th in defensive rating. Again, is that terribly different?

Stevens is a better coach right now, but he had years more experience in college and has been at this NBA coaching job already for 5 years. There's no way anyone can make a distinctive call on whether or not Luke will ever be anything as a head coach. He's doing fine.

As for how only Ingram has a shot to be better than Tatum, that's equally preposterous.

You say all their young players have a step on ours and then you cherry pick their best player. Does Jaylen Brown have a significant step up on Ingram? Their stats are extremely similar except Ingram is a way better passer than Jaylen. Tatum's numbers are nearly identical to Kuzma's with the exception of Tatum being a better defender, but Kuzma scored more points. Third year Rozier isn't close to Lonzo Ball's rookie season. Smart in his 4th year was slightly better than Hart in his first. Their young guys are good, but their faults are hidden by the All-Stars in front of them, something we're trying to duplicate this summer.

I don't know how you or @svtzr can claim any of this as fact. It's clearly opinion if you hold their youngsters and coach up on some pedestal above our own.

 

I agree that Luke is a good coach, but he isn't on Stevens level, nor will he be, IMO. Stevens only competition for the best coach in the league is Pops. I agree that stability plays a role in that, but the dude lost his second best player in the first game of the season and lost his best player for the end of the season and playoffs. That messes a lot with stability. His system and the way he gets his players to buy in is why they're in the conference finals. Take Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart and put them on other teams, I doubt they are near as effective.

 

I'm not disagreeing that Stevens is great. He's absolutely a fantastic coach.

I just don't see how anyone can say definitively that Luke cannot reach his level. There's simply not enough evidence to make that claim.

 

I didn't say definitively. I said IMO. My opinion is anything but definitive.

 

I missed the IMO.

But I meant more in general than just you. Two people in this thread just made that claim definitively and I don't get that.

 

You lost me here.

Never is way too strong of a stance to have on Luke and the success he could one day reach given his years coaching. You known the great Coach K of Duke... his first 3 years of coaching at Duke were quite underwhelming to say the least:



He almost lost his job, but I'd say he turned out great. Now before you tell me that's college and its different in the NBA. I would just argue that success is never a straight line no matter where you coach. What has worked for Brad Stevens and the experience, which does matter, that he had at Butler mattered. Luke is his own man with his own strengths and weaknesses. The future is bright with him at the helm given that we surround him with the proper talent. I'd say they are both great communicators who has a gift for relationship building. Where Brad has the leg up IMO right now is on the fly coaching adjustments because Luke just hasn't had the number of coaching years under his belt that Brad has to build that strength up. But in due time he will.

 

Also it doesn’t matter how much we see Stevens and think he’s a good coach, I guarantee there were and probably still are some C bag fans calling for his resignation, saying he’s not as good as they thought and all kinds of silliness because that’s what fans do.

I remember in the Jackson years, winning championships and constant complaints about his rotations and such.

My point is it might look rosy from the outside, but there still are going to be complaints because no coach is perfect.

 

It also doesnt mean Luke wont. You cant definitively say either way, but based on the evidence, Luke is doing very well.

 

If we want to continue this trend, which I think we should in order to be successful long term, Randle is a must have on this team.