Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

That, as well as the fact most of us predicted we'd win somewhere between 29-35 games. Doubling our wins from last season. We're right on track for that range, so why should we be mad?

This is a growth year, just like most of us predicted.

 

I'm critical of Luke, but I'm not sure that a forty point loss to the Spurs is the place to lambaste him. Blowing leads to subpar teams? Sure.

 

Spurs, Warriors and Cavs.... In order to beat those teams in a game, we need ALL three of these things to happen:

1: Hot Lakers shooting night

2: Energy and focus

3: The opponent needs to be looking past us, or not be up for the game

Between the Spurs, Warriors and Cavs, I would expect us to have the worst game against the Spurs actually because they're just too disciplined. They will never commit the mistake of #3 when playing us.

We might be able to catch the Warriors or Cavs napping and looking past us, and steal a game or two (which we did from the Warriors), but the Spurs are just too well coached. They don't look past opponents and have off games because they underestimated the competition.

 

Naw, they're not going to be playing the Spurs, Warriors or Cavs every game.

I'll tell you what... if we lose by 40 to the Pistons tomorrow, or any of the garbage teams, you'll have a good point, and I'll be just as upset as you, but to lose by 40 to the elite, I almost expect it from this Lakers team at this point.

It's a process over multiple years, and I feel confident that 40pt losses won't be happening two years from now.

 

The interior defense is why it's worth it to take a shot at a kid like Noel. We have no one on the team that's really a rim protector. Robinson is maybe the closest and the kid is a sack of rocks out there.

We need fire. You're born with it and you have it, or you don't get it and you won't. Russell's mentality is not suited for this. I'm not saying trade him, but he's not going to lead us anywhere. Randle is the closest, but he's inconsistent and I don't think he has the mentality of a leader. Ingram is too quiet although he's the one best suited for it. Right now the ones on our team that play with the most heart are the worst players and that's always a bad thing.

We don't have a kid that actually wants to win that badly. We don't have a kid willing to put it on the line to get a W no matter what and you need that to push the other kids forward. Otherwise we're going to be stumbling along in the dark for a while, maybe years, until these kids want it bad enough or we get new kids in here.

I don't put that on Luke. His schemes look fine to me. Eventually I'll get on him for not inspiring these kids enough to want to do the right things, but that takes a lot of time.

 

This is definitely not Luke's fault. We need that one leader on the court, and it seems our young guys are not ready for the role - and some of them are simply not the type (which I totally understand). Maybe we can get someone in the offseason.

 

He sure did.