Tweet
Walton!
Im pretty stoked on this hire. We'll see how it turns out
Im pretty stoked on this hire. We'll see how it turns out
-
Hashtag thepowderblues -
Me too, man. No sure thing, but I like it.Originally posted by oneinchpunch View Post
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk"...of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."Comment
-
Heisler: My top 3 for Lakers coach — Luke Walton, Luke Walton and Luke Walton
Now to see if the Lakers can still tell which way is up.
Byron Scott never had a chance, wasn’t the problem but had to go anyway.
Now to see if they can hire someone who won’t be as overmatched as Scott was, even if he won’t have much better talent than Scott did.
The Lakers have a distinguished — or, at least, long — list of candidates: Luke Walton, Jeff Van Gundy, David Blatt, Ettore Messina, Jay Wright, Kevin Ollie and John Calipari.
My top three: 1) Luke, 2) Luke, and 3) Luke.
No one else should count unless Walton turns the Lakers down.
It’s not that Luke was 39-4 running the Warriors with Steve Kerr out.
This isn’t about miracles. As Lakers coach, Luke’s record after his first 43 games would be closer to 4-39 than 39-4.
This is about the fit: Luke with the team he played eight seasons for; Luke with Jerry Buss’ Showtime philosophy; Luke with Jeanie Buss, who lives to fulfill her father’s vision ... and Luke with Phil Jackson, who could be running the Lakers in a year.
If problems abound for the Lakers, one dwarfs the rest:
Do you still know who you are?
They did once. They were a flashy, high-scoring team that won championships.
If need be, Jerry Buss was OK with slowing down in Jackson’s triangle offense if Phil could win him five titles.
Since Phil left in 2011, the Lakers have been like everyone else, alternating between what they just had and no longer wanted.
2011: Lakers hire defense-oriented Mike Brown, who lasts one season plus five games.
2012: Lakers spurn Jackson to hire offense-oriented Mike D’Antoni, who rose to fame with division rival Phoenix, to restore Showtime. Local fans start chanting Phil’s name almost from the day D’Antoni arrives. Worse, the team with Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol, which would have been perfect for Jackson’s triangle offense, is awful in D’Antoni’s spread-court offense with Steve Nash going down and Gasol obliged to go stand in the corner.
2014: Lakers hire Scott, who’s Laker Family. By year two local fans could care less for whom Scott played.
You could see this day coming months ago. I wrote my first Byron/Luke speculation in January.
Walton would bring the Warriors’ offense — which, Kerr notes, he got from D’Antoni’s — which is Showtime on rocket fuel.
This time it would be a good fit with no great bigs on the Laker roster and none on the horizon. (If they have hopes regarding LSU’s 6-10 Ben Simmons, he’s more like Lamar Odom than a center.)
Luke would be someone management could stand behind, whoever that is.
Jeanie is in charge but isn’t a basketball person — and she knows it. That’s why she will surely bring back Jackson if he’s available in a year when he has an out in his Knicks contract.
Before Jackson took the New York job, Jeanie told FoxSports Radio she asked her brothers and sisters, who are all co-owners, if Phil could “play a role with the Lakers because it would make me better at my job ...
“My brother [Jim] made it clear that he and Mitch didn’t need another voice in the front office.”
Of course, Jeanie has plans for Jim, too, taking his off-hand vow to step down if the team wasn’t back “in two or three years” to mean the Lakers have to contend for the Western Conference finals next season, or else.
As for Jackson and Walton, Phil has called Luke “my surrogate son.”
If all that sounds perfect for the Lakers, here’s something that isn’t.
Bill Walton told a Phoenix TV guy he would tell his son, “Stay where he is. Head-coaching jobs are open for a reason. What he has right now, it doesn’t get any better than that. Money cannot buy what they have on the Warriors right now.”
Of course, Luke will make his own decision, said his father.
Asked if his son would listen to his advice, Bill said, “Did you listen to your father?”
If not Luke, I like Van Gundy, who’s a defensive coach but a great one with a big-market personality who’s telling teams he could turn it up on offense.
Ollie would be No. 3 for me.
I think the search should — and has — started with Luke.
Now to see if anything can go right in Lakerdom, other than bidding Kobe Bryant and the good old days adieu.Hashtag thepowderbluesComment
-
Well, at least the top 3...Comment
-
Lakers get the #2. No change from the draft probabilities.Comment
-
And still protected.Comment
-
I wouldn't be surprised if they are up there for a top three next year.Comment
-
Hopefully they will draft someone who is prepared for a teammate like D'Angelo Russell.Comment
-
Hopefully D'Angelo Russell comes good. Not holding my breath, but we can hope.Comment
-
Should be an eventful offseason. Have the $ for 2 max contracts but who, other than Derozen, would want to play for a team that won't contend for a few years? And Derozen isn't a good fit. Whiteside?
Maybe they trade the pick and Randle for a player?Hashtag thepowderbluesComment
-
I want Ezeli as starting Center.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk"...of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."Comment
-
Comment