Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

Me too. I think it would help him a lot.

 

This is true, but man, we still stink at it right now.

 

God no.

 

I would disagree. We can let LeBron ISO at the top of the key, with the whole defense watching him, and force him to create from nothing, or we could get him a clean look at an open shot/cut to the rim, which was completely possible.

Pop has two decent ISO guys in DeRozan and Gay. But he chose to actually run a play to get an open look rather than take the easy route out and isolate them from beyond the top of the key. Why can't Luke do the same? It's not blind hatred. Just stating of the facts.

 

LOL .... just found this and like it and used for a Vash post on Randle's leaving. Might as well use it again while cued up on my copy / inset trigger. Besides looks like fun wherever this guy is. "Sliding" downhill is always fun, long as you know how to stop.

 

Luke has been very poor at designing out of bounds plays. You can look back at how efficient we are scoring on those actions, vs. a team like Boston, and it's not even a comparison.

You're right, he's not a Reggie Miller style player. But there are ways to design a situation that allows him to create more intelligently. For example look at this play:



Watch how the screen and curl actions here distract the help defense and have them spread the floor. James can catch it in the pinch post here for an easy 1 on 1 score. Even if the Pacers had Hibbert in for rim protection, he would've been dragged out to the corner by Bosh. Again this is an ISO, but intelligently crafted.

Now let's look at last night's play:



Watch where LeBron catches it, almost near half court. By the time he gets to the 3 point line, the defense has enough time to adjust and block off the driving lanes. You can see Hart's man smartly shading off him, for example, denying that route. Mills completely ignores Ball and stops the drive to the middle, leaving only a contested long 2, the least efficient shot in the game. There wasn't much coaching going on here.

Now you're right, we can find examples of LeBron isolating and creating something out of nothing. He's just that good. But especially as he's getting older, and with a lack of shooters on this team to space the court so well for him, why not make his life as easy as possible?

It might seem like I'm nitpicking here. But really I'm looking at the totality of Luke's offensive coaching. No plays, no system, and poor out of bounds and end of game execution. I think we need a coaching change, or at the very least some smart assistants.

 

I thought you might bring that up. Here's how that's different, and preferable in many ways.

I'll set aside the fact that we didn't have a timeout. But generally, teams nowadays like to allow a good player to shoot the game winner in transition, because it prevents the defense from getting set and the opposing coach from having an opportunity to gameplan how to stop the star. In this situation, you can see the Spurs defense wasn't really "set" and just barely gets together by the time LeBron is shooting the ball. Whereas in the OT play, I pointed out how they were blocking his lanes to the rim after probably being coached to do that by Pop.

But really, all you have to do is watch a video like this and see how many opportunities we are missing. I NEVER see us run plays like this

 

I liked that he played Svi and Williams. We almost pulled it out. In fact, more advanced basketball minds say, "they expected this kind of start..."

However, I still find fault in things he fails to see; either way, we need that W in Phoenix.

 

You don't think JVG would be a good/great defensive assistant?

 

I think he’s very much on the hot seat. He needs to show he’s capable of getting us to the next level.

 

I thought you wanted him as the head coach. Even I would not replace Puke with JVG... and I'd probably let Rondo coach if it was up to me.

 

Nah man, i was thinking defensive coordinator only.

 

Oh, absolutely. He wouldn't do it though.

 

I dont have much faith in Luke either but man are we gona look so bad to the general public if we fire him too