Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

Another good behind the scenes read from Ding.

Two thoughts for Vash.

1. You and I went round and round about Randle's treatment a month or so ago and Ding is laying out here pretty much what was your take on why he was being dealt with the way he was. I will eat some crow again .... eeeesh ..... going for the more tender young ones this time.



Edit. I may just eat 2 instead of all 4 as that was a hasty thought. I still think after the work he put in over the summer in preparation to play PF as he always pretty much has .... they should have started him there, not Nance, alongside Lopez to start the season. Maybe we don't get in such a big hole from lack of scoring as often as we did early in the season. Zo's shots not dropping then either. Luke could have still used the tough love with him as needed without keeping him solely as a reserve off the bench.

2. Walton has so much intelligence passed along from his father who played for Wooden, Lute Olsen, Phil Jackson, Popovich thru Steve Kerr and Kerr himself .... and he has such an engaging persona that his players love him and he will be a strong force at the FA meetings sitting at the table along with Magic and Rob .... that HE is perfect for this team. Hopefully the next 20 years as sirron has said in the past. He's a star type like Riley was. In no way should the FO cave to any LBJ orchestrated horse**** to have his boy Fiz replace Luke as a condition for him coming to the team. He should be told NO we're not doing that.

 

@LTLakerFan IMHO getting into holes early in the season was do to the starting lineup learning how to play with each other. Our large roster overhaul, combined with an abridged training camp and a young a** team taking on the 3rd hardest schedule is all a recipe for the way we started and what precipitated into the 9 game losing streak with the injuries we faced.

The way Jules is playing now validates how Luke treated him to start the year. Also consider that Mintz came out and publicly praised the way Luke treated Jules and DLo and even Jules had come out and said that he wants to be more coachable.

Btw playing Jules at the 5 was brilliant cause in this NBA climate, that's exactly where our bully needs to be.



Nice article btw, thx for sharing Weez.

 

Very nice job, coach. You've proven me wrong. 28 wins - most since 2011-2012 with the youngest team in the NBA.

 

Patience with Luke is paying off.

 

I'm very happy with Luke as our coach. We were 11-27...very easy to give up on the season at that point and continue to lose.

But Luke rallied the guys and more importantly, he LISTENED to the feedback of the players regardiing Julius Randle.

And that is why we're 17-7 since that time. Our coach is not an incompetent moron like some of our coaches from the past...

So grateful to have Luke as our coach!!!

 

How many times you been certain about something negative and how many times you been wrong this year, Pop? Stop it you're embarrassing me.

 

Hey tell me about that C bag pick at 1 or 2 again ... that we're going to give them. Lonzo. Walton. Randle too .... I forget? What else ... I think there's moar!

Just busting your balls buddy. A great win and a great run we are on right now. Things definitely looking way the hell up.

 

LOL .... still with the turn of 2 centuries ago style? C'mon let's go!

 

LOL. Things are looking up, my friend; no need to fight.

 

How about Wear in that crunch time lineup... I don't expect to see him there often but I applaud Luke for putting trust in a guy who had good activity during the comeback.

As for the Luke & Randle thing, I almost feel as if the FO had to take Nance away from Luke in order to right this ship. I remember the fellas at Lakers Film Room saying Nance is a "Luke Walton player", and I totally agree with that. Aside from Luke favoring him; Nance is a rotation player, and if we ever wanted to see either him or Randle start fulfilling their potential, they had to be apart.

With that said Randle's potential is much higher as a go-to-scorer who has no problem handling the ball every so often. Way back I said he was going to be the biggest beneficiary after the DAR trade. And one of the biggest reasons why is because good' ol Luke isn't forcing him to play point anymore. He is not Draymond-lite, far from it. Randle is Z-Bo 2.0.

It's a big reason why I feel good about that trade, what good is DAR as a guard if Luke had to resort to playing Randle at point in that awful season? Injury prone, can't run the point and can't check 2-guards. The early Harden comparisons were just a nice way of saying DAR can't really run the point, just PnR. Good riddance. /bonusDARrant

 

OX would question "Randle is Z-Bo 2.0" And so would I. Why ....as OX said, "because he too has chocolate skin and is left handed?" He's nothing like Z-Bo. He's more like a younger LeBron with his speed and his strength at this point. Not as insane an athlete of course as Bron back then but he is pretty unique in that regard already and not even close to his prime.

 

He is left handed, uses his body well and can score out of the post. That is Z-Bo. He is 2.0 because he has much better athleticism like you mentioned.

Randle can handle the ball at times but he is nowhere near getting close to Lebron, Draymond or even Giannis or Odom handles. Part of being a good ball handler is making good decisions. He is NOT a ball handler... in any other era he'd be a PF, and hell of one at that. Give him the ball, let him barrel to the basket, and the game opens up for him. When he stopped bringing the ball up the court, a lot of people here stopped calling him stupid. Notice a trend?

 

The stupid head high dribble of his that he's so fond of starting his moves with doesn't help.

 

Ugh.

 

Zbo is a post player with limited athleticism. That's not Julius Randle.

They may look similar but Julius' greatest assets are 1) his ability to switch on defense, guarding 1 thru 5, 2) his ability to rebound AND start the break, 3) make plays for others, and finally 4) his ability to bully players down low (only similarity to Zbo imo). These attributes make him the near ideal PF/C (if he adds shooting, which ironically for this comparison is one of Zbo's strength) for Luke's system. You can't replace Julius with Zbo on this team and expect him to play a similar role. They are not even remotely similar.

I'd say Draymond is still the closest comparison.