Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

I agree. Luke makes some mistakes I don’t understand at all. But at the same time we are nearly 500, top 10 in defensive efficiency and doing way better than a lot of people thought we would over all.

No idea what’s going on with him and Randle though.

Still let Luke grow as a coach just like our 2nd year players. He’s not doing bad at all.

 

I get giving Luke more time. Young coach has to grow. I'm just fed up with his treatment of Randle. It simply doesn't make sense. That I can't be patient with any more. Nance is out for 2 months. Randle is beasting. Kuz is doing great but he's a rookie and shouldn't be playing 40 minutes a game. Play Randle and play him now. 20 minutes a game is absurd when he's playing this well and we need bodies. Walton's stubbornness is really odd. I've never seen him do anything like this before. Is this his call or the FO?

 

That lineup, if given more time, has the most intriguing blend of skills by a wide margin on our team. They can switch everything and are all very quick athletes that should be able to cover ground on help. Every single one of them can pick up the ball and run. I desperately want to look into this lineup more.

It's also the lineup that would be most interesting for prospective additions. A lineup like that with maybe George in KCP's spot and/or LeBron in Randle's is pretty devastating.

 

To be fair, the record is still pretty great even with this side story drama going on so the draft pick/anti-tank side still works.

 

Agreed Doc. DLO I understood because of his immaturity and inconsistency. This one I don't get. Randle's in the best shape of his life, improved his game and is obviously trying to earn a contract with good reason as he has a young family that depends on him. He is bringing massive energy when he comes into the game and is a major reason we are close to .500. It could be argued even that if he had played down the stretch in a couple of games now we would be OVER .500.

 

That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying if a month before the season started someone told us "the Lakers will be 5-6 to start the year", the vast majority of us would assume Luke was doing a great job and things were going really well. That's an overachieving record and so it'll be used a weapon by Luke to justify his minutes for Randle. I don't agree with the minutes for Randle. I think he should be playing more.

If we traded Randle for nothing, then yes it would be a hit.

I agree that they're really pushing all their chips into that pot, but this is a different situation than Mitch and Jim. I still have faith in the 2018 plan just based on what we've got on the floor as attractive young pieces in Kuzma, Ingram, and especially Ball who would be a star player's dream come true (low usage rate, high efficiency, great talent? score!). If they fail, I'll be the first to bury them, but so far things are going roughly as well as the FO would like it to go. Randle is an interesting piece, but the real problem is Deng. If they can find a way out of Deng's deal, the game changes dramatically this summer.

 

Get Brewer off the F****** court and play Randle more. That is all.

I'm not worried about Luke and the future. I like the areas that we have improved in. Just some of the rotations are really out of wack right now.

 

Luke: Hold my beer.

Proceeds to insert both into the game at the same time.

 

I don't mind Ingram initiating more (if we sign either George or LeBron, that's going to turn into a weapon), but what the f*** is Blue doing in an NBA game?

Can we find a worse version of Brewer?