When I got the news of Luke being named head coach of the Lakers I honestly jumped out of my seat. Basically the same reaction (well not quite, but you get the idea) as when Kobe erupted for 60 in his final game. It was exciting because Luke was the guy I thought for the longest time basically the entire season was gonna be our next head coach. The guy I thought would be the perfect fit for our young core. A guy I knew in my heart would never turn this opportunity down because I know he is a Laker at heart and it has probably hurt him as much as anyone seeing us struggle so much. Once a Laker always a Laker. He won championships here. He spent most of his career here and now he is the guy who has been chosen as the coach who is gonna lead us into a new era. For the last few years it just seems like the Lakers have been stuck in limbo. Last summer was really depressing with what we presented to LaMarcus Aldridge. I mean that presentation was just embarrassing. We had nothing to offer, but saying hey come play in LA because you'll be in Hollywood. Now we have actual basketball reasons for someone to wanna play here. We've been stuck in the past. As much as I love Kobe and always will the way we wasted an entire year because of the retirement tour was a travesty. The way we seemingly couldn't move on from Kobe was also one. Now that time is finally come. Long overdue, but it's hear nonetheless and that is really exciting. A new era of Lakers basketball and now we start the process of getting back to championship glory. I mean can you imagine how f***ing sweet it's gonna feel with how brutal the last few years have been when we're champions once again? I didn't think anything would beat Boston, but honestly that next title may beat it just because of the almighty struggles of the last three plus seasons. I have hope again. I believe again. It feels good. For so long it seems like we were just taking steps back with no real progress. Now the Lakers have clearly made a commitment to move on from the past. Now it's about right now. It's about improving this team and firing the worst coach in NBA history for Luke is a great step in that direction. It shows the Lakers are ready to move forward. No more messing around with guys who quite honestly have been failures as head coaches. Is there some risk involved? Sure, but we're the freaking Lakers we've taken risks all throughout history. I'm a die hard Lakers fan and I mean die hard. I have about a million jerseys. I live and breathe purple and gold and I want so badly for this team to get back to being a championship team. It just feels wrong with the Lakers being a bad team. The playoffs aren't worth watching. This team gave me such great joy early in my life. I want that feeling again and I feel like it'll be here. Not next year. Maybe not the year after, but I truly believe within four or five years we'll be back. Maybe even less than that. We have now the youngest head coach in the NBA at just 36 years old. That tells me this team is trending upwards because they're moving on from old school guys who quite honestly aren't very good anyway and taking a chance on a young coach with great potential. The best thing is we're gonna be exciting to watch again. We're gonna have a coach that will actually let us push the pace and get up and down with our youth and athleticism. Will let the young kids play through mistakes. We'll have way more ball and man movement and precision passing and just more overall fluidity. Just imagine how dangerous D'Angelo can be when he's actually allowed to orchestrate things with his amazing court vision and play making skills. Clarkson has already shown he can play off the ball. No more of the post iso's for Randle. We'll get him more on the move where he won't have to hold the ball for 10 seconds. Defensively obviously we need to upgrade personnel, but I fully expect Luke to hire his assistants and have a scheme next year and sit down with these guys and actually teach them the importance of team defense. We looked so clueless on defense throughout this season. I look for some much improved communication. We'll be unselfish offensively, we'll move the ball, we'll have more pace and rhythm to our offense and we won't have as many mental break downs defensively. We'll actually have some freaking set plays. Better spacing. More easy baskets. Less turnovers because of less dribbling. I cannot put into words how excited I am for 2016-2017. A new era. A new beginning. A new chapter beings in the Lakers legacy.
I see him running the lakers the same as Pat Riley did in the 80's. He's gonna stay here for a long time. So excited!
We have hope again, more than we ever had the past couple years combined. I say in several years when we win it all again, we'll look back and see it all begin in the 2016 off season.
While I'm happy Boron is gone and we've hired a younger modern coach, I'm not jumping through the roof yet. This team still has a long way to go to rebuild. I'm hoping that we at least see something similar to the 90's Lakeshow squads. Entertaining teams that may not win a championship, but still compete and play hard every night.
A team that fights, plays with passion, knows their playbook, knows their system, a team that will man up, and play with some grit.... Oh wait.
Well, I don't know about how good we will be, that depends on free agency and trades, the development of our young core, how good of a coach Luke is, all that stuff. Your thread title remains valid though, this is absolutely the start of a new era. Kobe is gone, and the coach connecting the franchise to the 80's and stuck in the past is gone. We are a young team with a very young coach, it is indeed a whole new world of Laker basketball we are about to enter, good or bad.
I'm joining the very excited crowd. The only way I could be more so is if Jeanie dropped her basketballs. I like that we are instantly transformed into a viable spot for free agents again. With our youth, a player's coach and plenty of money to spend we are in an enviable position. Laker haters start hating now I can just smile. It is only a matter of time and not likely a whole lot of that. I very much enjoy the rebuild process, watching the team grow, players and coaches developing. Right now I'm going to kick back and enjoy it all. It is going to be nice to watch games next season without my retinas burning and blood pressure rising. The right coach for the right team at the right time. Perfect. One thing I would like to do would be to get a gallon of Clorox and sanitize this website of anything Byron related.
Wow what a night yesterday while watching the Miami / Charlotte game when the news rolled across that Luke had been hired. But with just what happened to be going on and having to leave and not much chance to put into words my emotions, my only comment so far on this was a very happy 5 Woots in largest case red letters with exclamation points. I can't think of anything better to do right now than share this read below that ROFY sent me in a PM Thursday afternoon a little over a day before the hire. Twice in 2 days leading up I had made reference to the unparalleled in the history of the game body of legendary basketball influences that have shaped Luke's life since the first time he became aware of what a basketball was. He said I was going to like it. After I finished it I told him I nearly got goose bumps reading it. Credit to BleedP&G on Lakersground. It's long but it explains all you need to know about the new coach and leader of the Los Angeles Lakers. Thanks again ROFY! One note off topic. If you were a Dodger fan during that magic 1988 season with our last World Series championship, I came across a similar "quality" read to what's below yesterday on the circumstances surrounding Gibby's epic home run Game 1 against Oakland, of similar length (long) which the link was not working properly for, so I copied the whole thing on Other Sports under the Dodgers. In L.A. as a sports fan my whole life, I came to believe of everything that had ever thrilled me, that was the number one moment. Until Kobe Bryant played the last game of his career. Number 2 now for Gibby is not a bad place to be. Yes it is the beginning of a new era for Lakers Basketball. ROFY Long read; worth it, though. posted by BleedP&G on LG. Before really researching, I had Ollie at the top followed by Messina. Having done a lot of reading and listening to opinions on here, I am now fully onboard with Walton. I feel his potential is to be a great to alltime great coach. His upside as a coach is a modern version of Phil Jackson without all the manipulative sideshow. That is insane upside for a coach. My TL;DR is he has a philosophy shaped by some of the deepest roots in basketball, uncommon basketball intelligence, a calm, collected, collaborative temperament, and the experience to be a very unique talent. For those concerned about experience, both Jackson and Kerr took the approach of having an offensive and defensive "coordinator", so I am confident that Luke would look to bring top talent assistants in (defense being the key piece. I have come to the conclusion that the Lakers have to take a shot. If you enjoy pointlessly long posts, here are some of the bits that I came across in my reading. Basketball Philosophy The thing that really stood out to me is how he has a philosophy about the game that goes beyond mere tactical stuff and really examines how to best approach the game as a whole. His roots in the game are really unparalleled, going back to Wooden and Auerbach via his father, Lute Olson, Tex Winter, Phil Jackson, and now elements of Pop via Steve Kerr. You could not dream up a greater group to learn from and he seems thoroughly dedicated to evolving all he has learned into his own approach. I don't think he has simply seen the modern system with GSW, I get the impression that he is thinking through what is next. You can see it in how he speaks about the game: Quote: “I think it’s a natural progression,” Walton said. “It’s probably been developing in me before I even realized I wanted to be a coach just from the coaches I played under. But since I’ve gotten into this coaching business, I kind have spent more thinking about it and trying to pick up as much as I can from different people.” sacbee.com Quote: "Tex, he was huge on the fundamentals of the game, the basic plays, things that are very important to our team's success," Walton explained after a practice during the Finals. "Obviously, we play a flashy brand of basketball, but we work on Tex's basic drills. Steve and I get these guys to do them every single day in practice." vice.com Quote: "We believe in giving them the freedom and responsibility of making the right play, even if a play call is on. If something else is open before we get to the end of that play, we want our guys to attack. We don’t want our guys to be like robots out there." businessinsider.com While I don't fully agree with this quote, it does highlight just how insane his combination of influences is. Quote: But the NBA coaching tree is what impresses me more. And the branch Luke Walton built his little temporary interim nest on is what I like to call it the Lute Olson/Gregg Popovich/Phil Jackson with a sprinkle of Mike D’Antoni Miracle Grow arm. So it’s like the triangle offense which a total of three people understand (Walton being one of them, Phil Jackson the second and Tex Winter, the crazy/reclusive inventor the third) combined with D’Antoni’s Seven Seconds Or Less philosophy which is get the ball up the court and get a shot off in fewer than seven seconds so the defense can’t set up. And that’s insane. It’s like playing f'n speed chess against Kasparov or getting into a Rubik’s Cube-off with a Google intern who got robot hands installed.deathofthepressbox.com Intelligence and Decision Making Under Fire Not only does he have pedigree and the masters education in the game, he is well known as being incredibly smart. His stint as head coach showed that he can translate that intelligence and knowledge to real time decisions in the heat of the moment. Quote: “He’s extremely smart. He always saw the game in combinations and sequences. … I kind of just chuckle a little bit at it, because I see he’s thinking in threes. Most coaches think in combinations of twos, but he’s thinking in threes. This pass leads to that pass is going to lead to that one. And I remember sitting in the locker room and going over this stuff with him.” Kobe - nba.nbcsports.com Quote: "Luke is one of these people who was born with an innate understanding of the game of basketball, and he's respected," Myers said. Said Green: "Sometimes you may be thinking something that everybody else may not see. But if you go to Luke and talk to him, he knows exactly what you're talking about. "I think it's one of those things that you just can't teach. Like he's that type of basketball smart." mercurynews.com Quote: “As an assistant, it’s kind of fun to sit there and watch and see what you think could be an advantage to recommend to Steve at the next timeout,” he said. “As a head coach, you are watching everything that is happening. You are looking to see what subs are coming and what you have to do matchup-wise, and then you get to a timeout and have two minutes to figure out what you want to run and who to put in. That’s probably been the most challenging just because you have to make so many decisions so quickly.” All you need to know is that Walton made Rivers look silly with one play call. sfexaminer.com Team and Culture Building Temperament Quote: "Players expect honesty, and as long as we have a relationship and they feel that I'm not trying to get anything over on them, I can be laid-back, and then I can still pull them aside and tell them that they're messing up, that they need to do something better. They respect it, and they respond to it. mercurynews.com Quote: “There's no ego to anything he does. He's very relaxed and has a great way of getting his point across,” Lee said. “He could sit here and talk about his championships rings that none of us have. He doesn't brag about all his accomplishments. I think you can see a lot of Phil's attitude and his teachings in the way Luke coaches.” latimes.com Quote: Walton says that both Olson and Jackson would never lose their cool when they would get upset. It’s a key component of what he’s learned and implemented on Kerr’s staff, the result being a team that is fully bought in, fully invested in each other’s success. “One of the things that was pretty common with the best coaches that I played for was that it was a collaborative effort,” Kerr said at the time. “I think players appreciate that, and they see strength when coaches do that, rather than weakness. Because nobody has all the answers and you want to empower all your players.” wtop.com Quote: “His overall view of the way coaching should be done and taking in the human element of what’s going on here,” Walton said of what he's learned. “I think that’s been incredible for me to see and learn from. A lot of people think, this is sports, guys are being paid millions of dollars, so you bring them in every day and grind them and make them into the best top-shape athlete they can be. But the reality of it is these guys have families, there’s pressure, there’s stress that goes, so Steve does a great job of making practice fun and making it competitive. coachingsearch.com Quote: “There are two things he does,” Pastner said. “He’s got a great knowledge of the game and that’s important because players know when you know what you are talking about or not. But he’s also got a great temperament He doesn’t get too high or two low. He’s got a competitive desire to him but he keeps it very calm and relaxed.” theguardian.com There is another quote in that article about his ability to recruit as well Quote: He also recruited. Pastner assigned him the task of trying to lure forward Alex Poythress to Memphis. This wasn’t a simple job given that Poythress was a top 20 recruit and eventually wound up with Calipari at Kentucky. But Walton worked well with Poythress, not by selling but by talking, telling the player about life in the NBA and the things he needed to do to make himself better.
If we get that Top 3 pick, send Walton to the draft akin to breaking a bottle of champagne on a new ship.
I got just a little misty reading about how much of Tex Winter Luke absorbed along with Kerr, Phil, Lute, and of course the master, John Wooden through his Dad's influence.
Kerr did the same thing with Olson, Jackson and Popovich. The common thread with both individuals is how grounded they are as people. I read the Kerr piece about how he refused to let basketball define him but used its opportunities to grow as a man. Sometimes it is not about a person being themselves but taking various influences then using them to form your own. Walton has a considerable litany of sources to have drawn from. I can see Poppa Bill slipping many of Wooden's sayings in his son's pockets again.
First off, I am loving this thread Lakers2015! Second, wow, what a difference a week makes!!!!! :Headbang::Headbang::Headbang: I had almost resigned myself to the fact that at the very least we wouldn't deal with Byron until we found out the pick and possibly free agency to see if we were going to embrace another year of tanking with the master tank commander. And if we had to face another miserable year of Byron at the helm I was seriously contemplating boycotting watching games which would have really destroyed me. I mean I sat through this year's crap show and everything, but the possibility of watching Boron mistreat the youngsters for another full year was killing me inside. I was thrilled that we kicked him to the curb. But the Luke Walton hiring is a truly inspired one in my book. I think it could be argued that he was third best candidate of the top three in terms of resume. However, it was clear that he is really the best FIT. In terms of getting a coach who we can develop just as he develops our young core, Luke seems just right. The perfect candidate. I think Luke's coaching instincts are great. If our FO and he can surround him with capable and loyal assistants we will be in terrific shape going forward. This hiring is refreshing - it feels like a perfect match at just the right time. I feel like it's such a positive move for us and brings us back into relevance right when we desperately need it, in time for the draft and free agency. Whew! So good to be a Laker fan now after a pretty dark period. I like our direction moving forward and I haven't felt that way in quite a while.
