Ex-Coach Luke Walton Discussion

After thinking about it while contemplating harikiri after our latest loss, I'm not sure Luke is entirely to blame here. I think part of the issue is the mounting injuries with guys out. We can't seem to catch a break here. And lest you think I'm making an excuse, I'm not as every coach has to deal with injuries. However, our kiddies are not good enough to compete without a transcendent talent such as LeBron. Each of them has serious flaws in their games that veteran teams exploit with regularity. We now get to see what it is like not having LeBron, Rondo, and McGee out on the floor. Here are the flaws I see that no amount of coaching is going to cure overnight...

Lonzo - the least flawed in my opinion although his shooting is horrible. His elite passing and defense gets completely overshadowed by his shooting and horrible shot selection although it has gotten better as of late. Clearly the best player out of the kids.

Kuz - bad to horrid defense, horrible turnovers, dumb fouls, rebounding, etc. I've never seen a guy get stripped as much as he does. Shot selection is piss poor when he goes into hero mode. The positives are that he scores the easiest out of all the youngsters but when you give up more than you score that's a problem.

Ingram - average to below average on everything. Turnovers, missed free throws, lack of rebounds and dumb fouls are annoying. Not finishing at the rim drives me absolutely nuts. His defense is good at times as his length bothers the opposition but any sort of physical contact and the dude is moved out of the way.

Hart - doesn't get enough burn and makes some dumb errors but not as much as others. He needs to control himself... he's a little emotional. I actually think he could be great with the starters because he plays very sound defense, can get to the rim and knows how to finish and is a threat to shoot the three.

Zubac - defense and more defense and rebounding. I think that will come with time. He seems like he isn't in shape to me plus he looks super soft in his upper body. His lower body with those tree trunks for legs gives him a great base. If the kid actually tried to get stronger, he would be a beast. I actually like his offensive game. Not much to complain about although his last outing was not good. I think much of that has to do with having LeBron and/or Rondo on the floor to get him the ball in good position.

No amount of regular season coaching is going to change the flaws. Where I think Luke shines is that his guys believe in him. Maybe he needs better assistants. I remember Phil being an excellent coach when it comes to the players but he wasn't really an Xs and Os guy as he would routinely get outcoached by Pop, Larry Brown, Riley, etc. Phil had excellent assistants in Tex and others. So, maybe that's what the Lakers need to do... find really good assistants to support him. Luke can relate to the modern day player much like Phil did in his day. Maybe that's the solution...

 

Luke is to blame but he's not the one s***ting his pants in the 4th Q.
f*** building thru the draft and relying on kids, we need another all star asap.

 

Toklat's your huckleberry. But that guy is crazy he's always optimistic. Be very afraid.

 

My point exactly. Took the words right out my mouth.

 

can someone ask luke what offense we run? cause i see no plays, system, or easy buckets unless its a pnr dunk for the bigs. if they cant run they can't score efficiently

 

in post gm presser he says the guys practice their ft before every practice....maybe they're practicing like shaq practices his fts?

 

I don't get why he didn't mix things up in the 4th. Yes, Kuz is out, but why not try Zu and Svi when they looked decent for you in the 3rd? Instead, we have to bear though watching BI do a garbage impression of Kobe.

 

OKC halfcourt D is too good for our team without Lebron .

However Luke and his coach staff aren't good at all at optmizing our players strength/talents on the offensive end.

I'd look for a more competent offensive assistant ( AND a shooting coach) more than a head coach change.

Luke is fine on a macro level ...

 

Luke has frustrated me too but I can’t really knock him tonight.

I agree that we win this with just one of Rondo, James, or Kuz.

 

barn can i ask you what type of offense Luke runs? yes we are 3 man down now but even with them the half court O is s***

 

fastbreak offense

 

It’s the kind of offense that’s easy to game plan against once you are in the playoffs or facing a decent coach.

Unless you can overwhelm the opposition with talent and speed, we have a low ability to execute in the half court.

 

We missed a lot of looks last night that could easily be makes on another night, but the fact remains that we have no system on offense. I was very vocal that I wasn't worried about the offense in the first 20 games, but that was assuming the offense would gradually improve. However, the half court offense is embarrassingly bad and I'm tired of multiple guys being put in the wrong positions on offense. I mentioned it in the Lonzo thread, but BI and Zo are both being put in the entirely wrong roles on offense. It's so glaring and obvious that I refuse to give up on either kid until they have someone that uses them properly.

I have a hard time believing that B Shaw could be any worse at this point. It's not just the losses that frustrate me, but HOW and WHY we're losing these games is so pathetic, yet predictable.

 

Luke the HC is pretty much like Luke the player, medicore-avg at best

 

I just don't get why this team abandons running the plays the run during the game and resort to iso ball down the stretch, even when Lebron is playing.

I get the pressure is there, but the best teams can still execute the same game plan at any time.

Also, the Thunder were literally the worst outside shooting team in the league and we didn't give the zone a try? Come on Luke.

 

So tired of seeing f****** outside weave. Boron ran it too. What does it accomplish besides wasting time having to run full speed at angle away from the basket and then at some point someone has to turn the motion toward the hoop or shoot it. WTF ever happened to someone (tall with at least a nascent back to basket game) .... LeBron, BI, Kuz setting up a lot more often in the high post QUICKLY and cutters moving off of him toward the basket or then make an offensive move? All three of those guys have spin moves and fall away shots.

Or standing 30 f****** feet from the rim and calling for your big to run out there to pick for you. Really .... weave and that?