Both Vlade and Walton likely safe for next season!

ockingsfan

ockingsfan

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Here is an article that says both Vlade and Walton are likely safe for next season.

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/04/2...ac-luke-walton-for-next-season/?partner=Yahoo

Seeing that there is so much uncertainty for this and next season, I think it is fair to allow both Vlade and Walton to give it another full season, before Vivek makes the final decision after next year.

The Kings were playing a lot better after the All-Star break, so hopefully, they will continue to progress towards the playoffs next year.

The key for the team to grow will be the teams ability to retain some of the players that helped them improve after the all-star break, i.e. Harry, Bazemore and Bogdan and keep them in the mix.
 
I find you using the ! or exclamation mark odd.

Why would anyone be excited about this?

I can understand give them more time, but excitement? Really?
 
I’m cannot be excited about Vlade keeping his job.

OTOH, I think I like Walton.
 
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For what it is worth... Not so much on Luke's future, but (speculatively) on his present, Steve Kerr said this in another piece:

"The suspension came at an interesting time, and it really made a difference, depending on where your team stood in the standings," Kerr said. "So I've talked to some of my fellow coaches who are coaching teams that are right in the thick of the playoff hunt. They're trying desperately to stay in touch with their team, some of them are even doing group workouts on Zoom with their training staff, and they're trying to find hoops for their players to shoot at where they're able to do so.
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It doesn't say it's Walton, but they worked together, and the Kings were in a playoff hunt, so perhaps he is the one chasing down spare hoops and running zoom workouts...
 
Iced Espresso said:
I find you using the ! or exclamation mark odd.

Why would anyone be excited about this?

I can understand give them more time, but excitement? Really?
Click to expand...

Maybe because the team was doing well, things were starting to come together, etc? I personally thought the whole title was somewhat problematic, but not for the same reasons as you obviously...
 
Well, the Kings were 13-7 in their last 20 games. Only 3.5 games out of the playoffs with 18 games left.

If the season wasn't suspended by COVID 19, the Kings would had been right there in the mix to make the playoffs.

Although I was ready for a new GM prior to the All-Star break, the Kings made a 180 turn around the break. If they would had finished the season on a 12-6 run and 40 wins, there would had been a 50-50 chance they could had made the playoffs, since they had the tie-breaker with the Grizzlies.

Personally, I think it is fair of the Kings to give Vlade and Luke one more season (seeing the improvement post All-Star break) and see if they can make the playoffs next season. If they can't make the playoffs next year, then Vlade and maybe Luke will likely be gone.

Sometimes stability and familiarity with a system can be the difference between a young team struggling or making the playoffs. Things were starting to click when the season was suspended and I see the Kings taking off next season.
 
Whether or not it works out well, I think it really is the only possible move that makes sense. There has not been any semblance of an opportunity to evaluate our team's ability as a unit.

Do you know how many games our core, which I'm identifying as Fox, Buddy, Bogi, and Bagley, played together this year?


Four games


That's just absurd. This entire team was built around those four being competitive playing together. How can you break it up after four games, which by the way were on the following dates:

10/23
12/17
1/18
1/20

In other words, because of a plethora of injuries, the longest streak of games in a row that our core played together in was 2. Again, absurd.

For all we know, we have a championship contender on our hands (recognize: hyperbole) that never got to play together. Add in a new coach and mostly brand new rotational players around our core, and you can understand the struggles this year. I hope giving them another offseason, training camp, and next season to click and reconcile Luke's system with our personnel will generate results. I hope. If not, then I think it is fair to consider other GM and coaching options.
 
Turgenev said:
For what it is worth... Not so much on Luke's future, but (speculatively) on his present, Steve Kerr said this in another piece:

It doesn't say it's Walton, but they worked together, and the Kings were in a playoff hunt, so perhaps he is the one chasing down spare hoops and running zoom workouts...
Click to expand...
For what it's worth, regardless of if this is true or not, that's some good detective work there, Turgenev. :D;)
 
The thing is we started to see the type of system Walton really wanted to run post trades when we replaced the vets we signed in the off-season to play defense and stay out of Swipa, Buddy, and Bogi’s ways with vets who could play defense (in the cases of Holmes and Len at absurdly effective All-Defensive Team rates) and stay out of Swipa’s way. (It also helps that De’Aaron and Bogi finally started to look healthy after an entire season of injuries affecting both at seemingly the same time).

The way the team was playing in February and March was playoff-worthy and considering the immense amount of sheer bad luck that struck the team at the beginning of the season (De’Andre Ayton somehow injuring our three most important players in the span of a single minute during the season opener before immediately being suspended for using PEDs, De’Aaron spraining his ankle in the midst of a stretch of games where he was single handedly winning games for the Kings, Bogi carrying the team on his back and then immediately also getting injured, Holmes playing like a stud then also getting injured, Dedmon magically forgetting how to shoot despite being one of the better stretch shooting centers in the league for half a decade, a once a century pandemic wiping out the season literally on the night of the most important game in recent Kings history) it would frankly be stupid to decide to hit the reset button yet again this off-season.
 
Anyone thinking Walton was in any danger is not thinking clearly. The team just fired another somewhat successful coach because they really wanted Walton instead. And he hasn’t even coached ONE full season yet. And the KINGS have been through more coaches in recent years then practically anyone else.

They can’t afford to have Walton on such a short leash.

Even if Vlade gets fired, I’d bet anything the next GM to be hired would be someone that would profess to being good with seeing where the team goes under Walton. It’d be part of the interview and hiring process.
 
KingsFanSince85 said:
Anyone thinking Walton was in any danger is not thinking clearly. The team just fired another somewhat successful coach because they really wanted Walton instead. And he hasn’t even coached ONE full season yet. And the KINGS have been through more coaches in recent years then practically anyone else.

They can’t afford to have Walton on such a short leash.

Even if Vlade gets fired, I’d bet anything the next GM to be hired would be someone that would profess to being good with seeing where the team goes under Walton. It’d be part of the interview and hiring process.
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I don’t know about that how often does a new GM keep the same coach, he might immediately but the minute Walton struggles he’d be gone
 
Joshoua said:
I don’t know about that how often does a new GM keep the same coach, he might immediately but the minute Walton struggles he’d be gone
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That’s why I believe the GM search would be for someone that closely aligns with Walton’s philosophy.

In other words, Walton is the type of coach that prospective GM would seek out in the first place.
 
KingsFanSince85 said:
That’s why I believe the GM search would be for someone that closely aligns with Walton’s philosophy.

In other words, Walton is the type of coach that prospective GM would seek out in the first place.
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I don’t get that, hiring a coach to fit the GM is inheard of. Both will be gone though I don’t see how Walton succeeds but vlade is canned if Walton succeds it means vlade did something right.

what are the top names that are available anyways besides Hinkie cause that’s not happening
 
Joshoua said:
I don’t get that, hiring a coach to fit the GM is inheard of. Both will be gone though I don’t see how Walton succeeds but vlade is canned if Walton succeds it means vlade did something right.

what are the top names that are available anyways besides Hinkie cause that’s not happening
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They can’t continue firing coaches. Period.

The madness needs to end at some point. So if that means Vlade has to stay longer, then he has to stay.

But as I’ve said, I don’t believe that’s the only answer. Vlade has made more than enough errors to be fired. But that doesn’t mean the coach and the system needs to go too. After all, Vlade’s draft choices and trades aren’t Walton’s fault.

I tend to agree that a lot of times when a GM is fired the replacement tends to fire and hire a new coach. But that’s been far from a sure thing. Lots of examples can be cited. And because of the KINGS unique situation, I firmly believe they’d look to hire a GM that would be on board with playing things out with Walton.

The type of team Vivek wants aligns with hiring a GM that likely would prefer a coach like Walton anyway.

That’s my point.

If you choose to spin it as hiring a GM to fit the current coach and believe that’s unheard of, that’s up to you. But that’s not exactly what I’m saying.
 
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KingsFanSince85 said:
They can’t continue firing coaches. Period.

The madness needs to end at some point. So if that means Vlade has to stay longer, then he has to stay.

But as I’ve said, I don’t believe that’s the only answer. Vlade has made more than enough errors to be fired. But that doesn’t mean the coach and the system needs to go too. After all, Vlade’s draft choices and trades aren’t Walton’s fault.

I tend to agree that a lot of times when a GM is fired the replacement tends to fire and hire a new coach. But that’s been far from a sure thing. Lots of examples can be cited. And because of the KINGS unique situation, I firmly believe they’d look to hire a GM that would be on board with playing things out with Walton.

The type of team Vivek wants aligns with hiring a GM that likely would prefer a coach like Walton anyway.

That’s my point.

If you choose to spin it as hiring a GM to fit the current coach and believe that’s unheard of, that’s up to you. But that’s not exactly what I’m saying.
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I’m with you I want Walton to stay and I want Vlade to stay as well. As much as I didn’t like his one decision I hope he is resigned and we keep him and Walton for 3+ years
 
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