Let's be honest Barns: Luke was a promising young player in Phil's system. He was smart, had great basketball body (although he was never athletic, but he was strong, for sure) and at one point he even led the league in 3pt %. But his back problems make him extremely slow and when jumping to grab a rebound, he looked like he was wearing cement shoes. At the end of his career he was so slow that he would take awkward shots and would consistently hit the side of the backboard. All in all - he was god-awful. But his basketball smarts are top notch and he has the ability to be one of the best young coaches in this league. I think he's perfect for this team.
Not sure why anyone would be against Luke to be honest. None of the candidates were proven in the NBA. He has tons of potential and has always possessed a high hoops IQ. He had a great team with Golden State but he absolutely showed coaching ability in those games. We're in good hands folks. Step away from the ledge...
The whole thing is clear now. They waited to fire Byron because they weren't sure Luke would take the offer. Once they knew he would, that was a wrap. So if nothing else everyone should be happy because had he not been willing to come we would probably still have Byron.
Man I still cannot believe this s***. I was scared to death we were gonna bring back Byron another season. Just thrilled we've stopped hiring retreads and are actually hiring a young, modern day basketball coach. Shows me they're committed to building a winner and getting with the times as well. No more old school guys. Get a guy who will be able to identify with the kids, but also will actually work with them and know how to reach them. Luke is a brilliant basketball mind. He obviously has taken after Phil to some extent, but he also is his own coach. Truly believe that. He's influenced by the greatest coach ever and will take some things he learned like how important man movement is, but he'll still install his own system and own principles when it comes to the game. I've said all along this was destiny. Luke is that guy for this franchise. He understands what it means to be a Laker. He's gonna lead us back to the promise land. It'll take some time, but I believe he's committed, determined, and it's a dream come true for him. Just a great day to be a Lakers fan. Optimism has returned. No doubt about it. We already had a great young core that progressed despite an awful coach. Now they have a real coach who is gonna develop them and put them in position to reach their potential. From what we've seen of Julius and D'Angelo with Byron imagine how scary they'll be in a few years with Luke. He's gonna teach them how to really play at this level. He's gonna mold all that talent, skill, athleticism into unselfish players who will also become leaders. Free agents will wanna play with Luke. They'll wanna play with a guy who already has proven he can coach. Don't care what anyone says to coach such a great team and for most guys it would be overwhelming and do such an excellent job was impressive. 39-4. I mean cmon you can't discount that. Watching those games you rarely ever saw Golden State get out of character, almost always stellar defensively and playing so unselfishly and having such a crisp well executing offense. Luke had something to do with that. This is a great hire. I really believe we'll look at this day much the same we look at the day we hired Phil Jackson.
Let us all reflect on the first few pages of the original BS thread and temper our expectations regarding Luke for now http://lakersball.com/threads/the-official-byron-scott-coach-thread-2014-2015.133/
I'm going to guess that the Lakers knew B0ron was a goner by the middle of this season. With that in mind, I would also guess they did some pretty extensive homework on him for a while. You don't hire a coach after one interview without interviewing anyone else unless that is the #1 guy you wanted for a while and you have faith in him. He has nothing but praise from his players, from Kerr, Lute Olsen, his father, he learned under Phil and Tex, there is great potential here. I understand being upset not getting the coaching hire you wanted, but I think we need to have a little faith and patience here. The Lakers had Luke here as a player more recently than B0ron, they had him here as an analyst, they know the guy well. If Luke turns into another B0ron situation I will gladly eat my words, but I just don't see it. B0ron would not have taken the Warriors to a 39-4 record or whatever it was, he would have found ways to sabotage that well oiled machine and f*** it up. Luke is adaptable, he's not rigid like B0ron. I even read the other day that he was the one that listened to his request and gave Draymond Green more freedom to be a playmaker and have the ball more, something Kerr was reluctant to do, and that one move alone seems to have paid off quite a bit for the Warriors. We need to relax and let this play out. We are in a complete rebuild, hiring Luke is a low risk, high reward situation, because we have nowhere to go but up right now. If we win less than 17 games next season I'll be shocked as hell.
I was at the local Mexican restaurant in my hometown and when I saw the news come across the TV screen, I threw my arms up in celebration and let out a big "LUUUUUUUKE" right then and there. I don't care how many folks thought I was an idiot lol Finally, we get the hire right. Luke is the guy I wanted all along. Young coach, young team, and they can grow together. Throw in his Laker legacy and basketball pedigree and you have a perfect storm. This is just what we needed, the future looks so much brighter now. Who knew a week could make so much difference? LUUUUUUUUKE!
Dammit @CaCHooKa Man In all honesty if any of us are expecting the playoffs this year just temper those expectations. This is going to be a work in progress. I just want growth. I want 30-35 wins next season. I want a real basketball product. I want us to develop a culture. We need to change our basketball philosophy. This doesn't happen over time. It took the Warriors 3-4 years. Please be patient with Luke, Lakersball. As long as we see progress, be happy. He's not going to be perfect. He's going to make mistakes. And he's going to improve. We will not turn around overnight. He's 36 and coaching the most glorified franchise in sports. Kobe was 37 when he retired from playing the game. Just some context. Patience is a virtue. NB4 "Fluke"
It's just mind boggling how people refuse to give Luke credit for Golden State. All their best players give Luke credit. He clearly earned their respect. He clearly did a good job managing that team. I mean do people not know how hard it is? Such a young guy having to coach a team coming off a championship and to be able to keep them engaged each and every night was really impressive to me. Hearing a lot of his timeouts he wasn't just sitting there saying good job guys he was instructing them, getting on them, pushing them, and making sure they would continue to move the ball, execute, and make good decisions.
All depends on what we do in the summer. Lots of money to spend. A hell of a lot more attractive then we were before firing Byron. Keep the pick. Using it to acquire an All Star. Then we're back in business. Even if not I'm perfectly fine with rebuilding.
Like I always say, I promise someone on here would be upset if we signed Jordan in his prime. No pleasing some of you guys.
