Walton was running the second slowest offense in the league until Vivek had to get in his ear to pick up the pace. Players shuffling in and out has nothing to do with it. Running the second slowest offense with Fox as your QB makes zero sense. Running the second slowest offense with CoJo as your PG makes good sense. Gearing your offense away from your star player and toward a backup PG is insanely stupid IMO.
I don't think the Lakers have anything to do with it. What did Walton accomplish to earn himself such a long term deal here? His resume was as weak as it gets and Vlade acted as if he had found a gold mine when he hired him.
I thought Joerger playing ZBo ball during Fox's rookie year was a fireable offense as well. An entire year was wasted on that. Fox could have came out of the gate more like Ja Morant, but instead he wasn't able to use nearly any of the tools that got him to the NBA and a lot of development time was wasted there. Second year, Joerger played to his strengths and all the sudden the wins started piling up. Maybe the same will happen with Walton but my question is, why are we throwing away entire seasons on what amounts to nothing other than coaches being stubborn with their philosophies?
It's insane to me that in the year 2020, coaches still think that their own "system" matters and need their own "players" to fit into it. The best coaches are adaptable to the talent they have and make adjustments based on the talent they have.
First half last year, the Kings established a true team identity. We may not have been the best team in the league, but we for sure were one of the toughest outs on a nightly basis. Team was going to come at you for 48 minutes and you weren't ready to run, we'd run you out of the building by the 4th quarter.
Like you said, being at the bottom of the league in pace is damn near a fire able offense with the core we have. First, second and third option for this core should be run the damn ball and don't let up at any point.
And we saw it in the 2nd quarter of that Grizzlies game a few weeks ago with Fox/Buddy/Bogi/Barnes/Holmes and they were just absolutely blazing up and down the court. Defensive intensity was there and we just never let up on the gas pedal at any point. That was the same energy the team played with in the first half of last year and we need to rediscover that if this core is ever going to be a playoff contender.