Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

Better late than never but I wonder what our record would be if the Randle-Lopez was in the starting lineup since game 1 of the regular season .

 

This would never have happened if that were true ....

 

Terrible decision at the start of the season but I'm with Luke now all the way lol

 

I never doubted Luke

www.fireluke.com

 

as much as i'm a nance defender, i would like to hear why randle wasn't given a chance to start from the beginning (and said as much early in the season). wonder if luke will ever address it.

 

contract year, we can't have one player overachieve lol

 

Here I go playing devil's advocate again...

Look at the schedule fam...we opened the season with tougher opponents on the slate. Our first loss against a team we shoulda won against was on Nov. 17, when we played the Suns at home. And we all know how Dec. went.

Nance was actually the dude that set up our lofty defensive efficiency numbers when we were in the top 5 early on in the season. He goes out from Nov. 3rd to the 22nd and we end up losing to not only the Suns, but also Sac (as another "winnable game").

Randle at starter begin with 5 straight losses... But Zo, BI, BLo were out and Kuz was hobbled. Then we go 8-2 in our last 10 with Randle starting, but the opponents are Atl, Sac, SA, Dal, Indy, NY, C bags, Chi. Other than SA (who's without Kawhi), Indy (whose an 8th seed in the lEast) and Boston (who were on a 3 game losing streak when they faced us), those other teams had losing records and hence are classified under the "winnable game" category.

Then add to that how in our last 10, we had two homes stands that enclosed a short road trip (3 games) along with everybody getting healthier and building chemistry (compared to being newbies to each other to start the year)... And yeah, it kinda explains our recent success.

It's not like Randle is getting 30+ minutes as a starter either (26 as a starter vs 22 as a reserve). In fact, in the last 15 games Jules has started, he's had only 4 games where he's played 30+ minutes.

Anyways, the minutes restriction seems more business related (paired along with JC & Jules both leading LA in usage %age ie more scoring opportunities in spite of limited minutes which essentially drives up their trade value)... But overall Luke has done great in getting the most out of Randle imho.

 

Wow, that's misleading. We are 8 - 10 for several reasons, main being that we played some lame-a** teams (including very injured Spurs and Boston). Additionally, the stupid hippie finally decided to do the following:

1. insert Randle into the starting lineup
2. limit Lopez minutes if not effective
3. run JC as a SG, not PG
4. let Caruso play
5. stop with robosubs

Which what many who criticized Puke were claiming all along, from like Game 4 of the season.

As for "lost the team" -- I, personally, have never stated that. Lavar did

 

You're over the top with your Luke hate IMO. But as well none of us have any idea how much of Randle not being allowed even any trial starts during the 1st half of the season almost was coming from the FO. Contrary to what you maintain, even with some of his potential faults, Luke is not a stupid person.

 

Guys....

Clearly December is because Luke sucks and was not at all impacted by the hard schedule.

But January and the winning streak is only because the schedule is easy.

Now I understand! Can’t you see it?

 

I was pretty harsh on Luke earlier in the season. Regardless of schedule or injuries to opponents, when’s the last time we went 8-2 over a 10 game stretch? If you can’t give credit when credit is due, you lose credibility. I hope Luke continues making me eat my words.

 

Oh no, my credibility on a fan forum!!!!

Come on guys, it’s not that hard. I was replying to Savory sarcastic comment.

It works both ways.

Yes, December schedule contributed to our record as did injuries.

However my, and others, gripe with Puke started earlier than that. I mentioned some of the points, there were more.

Him implementing MANY IF NOT ALL of those points coincided with our winning. And team meeting. Yes the schedule got easy, but correlation is there and hence Savory comment wasn’t justified.

EDIT:

Besides, many of the problems, like his JR treatment had nothing to do with the schedule. And we lost many of the similarly winnable games during the harder part, AT LEAST IN PART due to Puke being a stubborn a**.

@therealdeal

Lopez average before his injury: 22 MPG (20 games)
Lopez average after returning from injury: 17 MPG (12 games)

Don't know if that's the only factor, but he sure does get subbed out more these days, and Kuz/Randle play more.

 

Yeah I was hard on Luke as well mainly due his rotations and unfair treatment of Randle. But his rotations have improved a ton, and lately Kuzma is on a short leash which validates the JR treatment and now I know it wasn't favoritism at play.

 

Except you completely ignore the likelihood Randle not getting even mercy f** ..... errrr .... "starts" may have been coming from the FO.