Kings hire Luke Walton

Coach Luke Walton. What's your initial reaction?

  • Great

  • Pretty happy

  • Unsure

  • Not real happy

  • Bummed


Results are only viewable after voting.

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#31
Hey SLAB? Check out that podcast. I think it will definitely ease your mind.

I am really very, very, very, very happy about this move. A young hungry motivated coach for a young hungry motivated team. It is a match smiled upon by the Great God Naismith himself.
I’ll check it out later tonight for sure!
 
#35
The way that it went down makes it even sweeter; we fired our coach the day before Walton was let go and hired Walton the day after he was let go XD

Screw you 7akers!

Vlade, and our FO, look like Jedi Knights as far as the national media is concerned. Now is the time to stoke the hottest and brightest 7akers dumpster fire that the world has ever seen!
 
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#37
Well since you asked and you didn't specify which Walton........here you are:

When the old guard of College announcers retires; mainly Walton, Vitale and Bill Raferty, the games, the broadcasts, will take a significant step back. A great deal of wisdom will be lost. The broadcasts will become more cookie-cutter type of deals, lacking style and character.

Bill is a poet and he's brilliant, I am always glad to see his broadcasts. Doesnt always do his homework but he is old-school CAMPY, and he can ad lib out of his mistakes like a cat with 9 lives.. People don't really get the old-school Campy --- like John Houston --- style these dyas, flys over heads. Bill is great tho he is like a Don Quixote type of figure. or Falstaff for you Shakespearean types.

I do contend this though, and I've seen tons and tons of Waltons broadcasts, that some of the fighting with Dave Pasche is in fact scripted....

I never got how people hated on Bills broadcasts though, he always seems to me like the type of dude in personality who I'd probably have a fist fight with, but then we'd be better off for it and laugh it off...

His allegiance to John Wooden is awesome too. Bill, if you listen closely, in some type of way is still just a big kid/fan out there on the mic who's favorite player is Bill Russell,. and thats just something so many people have lost long ago, especially in todays sports media biz in 2019....
 
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pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#38
I think this is quite different than when we hired Joerger as when we made that hire, despite it moving quickly, we had already been spurned by 3-4 other candidates publicly, and apparently according to the rumors of some, Walton himself less publicly. Joerger was not relieved of his duties immediately in Memphis, and so he showed up as a surprise candidate out of the blue late in the game and we jumped on him.

In this case we actually had the first official vacancy of the offseason and multiple candidates were rumored to be interested.
 
#39
Pretty happy with this hire as this could have been Kidd or Mark Jackson. Messina was really the only other coach I liked, but it says a lot that this deal got done this quickly and that Luke wants to be here.
 

Krunker

Northernmost Kings Fan
#40
I'd rather we have kept Joerger and worked out whatever personal issues there were, but if Walton can bring some of that Kerr/Jackson magic along and connect with the young guys with his laid-back style then it could be a good match.
 
#42
The way that it went down makes it even sweeter; we fired our coach the day before Walton was let go and hired Walton the day after he was let go XD

Screw you 7akers!

Vlade, and our FO, look like Jedi Knights as far as the national media is concerned. Now is the time to stoke the hottest and brightest 7akers dumpster fire that the world has ever seen!
How does hiring the Lakers leftover coach sock it to them?
 
#43
Horrible hire imo. Reeks of Vivek imo. This is like drafting Nik Stauskas to be the next Klay Thompson. He wants to be the Warriors so bad so he had a perfectly capable coach who way over produced fired and hired Steve Kerrs secretary because of his W's fetish. The Lakers clusterf**k of a FO hired Walton to run the team... If that doesn't throw red flags i dont know what does.
 
#44
And as far as Lukes Experience, anyone could have led that Warriors team to success. Even Steve Kerr is overrated imo. If had been coaching the Kings, Kerrs ass would have been fired just like the rest of them. We should have never let go of Mike Malone and same goes for Joeger. I hope Dave truly wanted to leave and we did him a favor because any other excuse is inexcusable.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#45
This whole firing then hiring is so weird. When we hired Joerger, I was so excited to get a good coach who wanted to be here to help turn this around. And we needed someone to get us out of the spiraling mess of being the Kangz.

Now, we fire the guy who gets us out of Kangz mode with the Kings best year in over a decade and with so much promise going forward. Excuse me for not being terribly excited about the hire. I’ve supported Vlade for his many moves in the last few years. My purple tinted glasses are off at the moment. This hire had effing better be right.
 
#51
And as far as Lukes Experience, anyone could have led that Warriors team to success. Even Steve Kerr is overrated imo. If had been coaching the Kings, Kerrs ass would have been fired just like the rest of them. We should have never let go of Mike Malone and same goes for Joeger. I hope Dave truly wanted to leave and we did him a favor because any other excuse is inexcusable.
Luke Walton is a players coach. He had those young lakers looking nice before LeBum came to town. We’ve got crazy talent on this team an no egotistical head cases. He just needs to play them in their natural positions and let them loose. I think he’s a solid hire. Also, Luke was not fired over performance, Lebron put a gun to the head of Lakers FO in order to bring in one of his puppets.

As far as Joerger goes.. he was a good (but not great) coach imo. His BS rotations and bizzarely timed substitutions directly resulted in several losses this year. We gave away so many games. It felt like every other night was a backbreaking loss that we should have won. Look, this team definitely overachieved and DJ did a nice job but I feel like we saw what he could do. I don’t want to blow another year with this young core and decide to go another direction after next season. Let’s see what Coach Walton can do now...
 
#52
I understand the reference. But you probably forgot that Cool Hand Luke went in defiance, tried all he could, and eventually broken at the end, right?
Luke was a decorated war vet incarcerated for busting up parking meters, seems to me like he was a bit of a victim of a broken system (like the Lakers), moreso than broken himself...

I dont think Cool Hand Luke was broken at the end at all, his buddy the dumb one, old dragline, he's the patsy, he's the true victim, he's the only one really broken, Luke in his final words said he's been ready, been waiting, which is how many people approach death i'd imagine, i dont think the point of the movie is that there's this line "we have a failure to communicate" and that the point is eventually they communicated to him, but it was too late, and he was already broken....... Thats a ridiculous interpretation honestly.

after all that already took place Luke went out with ablaze of glory, he saw his chance he had to bail, he did. and he got away, got his freedom.


"He was smiling... That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn't know it 'fore, they could tell right then that they weren't a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Old Luke, he was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker."
 
#53
Now, we fire the guy who gets us out of Kangz mode with the Kings best year in over a decade and with so much promise going forward. Excuse me for not being terribly excited about the hire. I’ve supported Vlade for his many moves in the last few years. My purple tinted glasses are off at the moment.
While I certainly understand your skepticism over Walton, as I too have no idea how good or bad or average a coach he might be, let me make this point to you about the team having their best season in over a decade. Was it the coach, or the major increase in talent?

Think about it. It’s not like DJ led a pre-DeMarcus Cousins trade roster to a 39 win record. I’m not saying he didn’t help, but the heavy lifting was done with the additions of Buddy Hield, De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica etc. all of which occurred the past 3 seasons.

Like Vlade, I felt this roster should have performed better. IDC that they were ‘projected’ by outsiders for 24 wins or that long suffering KINGS fans were ecstatic due to years of ineptness. This team has some very good players and emerging stars among its roster.

In short, I think some are giving DJ too much credit. He’s a good coach but that doesn’t mean he was the right coach or capable of squeezing the most out the hand he was dealt. IDK that Luke is that guy either but we’re about to find out.
 
#54
Out of ALL the candidates... Luke? And in like 24 hours from firing Dave... vlade acted.like this guy is Phil jackson... Hes literally done nothing since being Steve Kerr's "yes man". He couldn't even take lebron James to the playoffs. Vlade made some great draft picks. But his MULTIPLE recent decisions have made me skeptical that hes fit.
 
#55
Conspiracy theorist in me says that approach to Walton was made before Dave was officially sacked and Luke mutually agreed to part way with the Lakers.

I liked coach Jorger and I hope Luke Walton is an upgrade for this team. I sincerely hope that Divac/Walton combo is the new version of Petrie/Adelman for the Kings.
 
#56
Out of ALL the candidates... Luke? And in like 24 hours from firing Dave... vlade acted.like this guy is Phil jackson... Hes literally done nothing since being Steve Kerr's "yes man". He couldn't even take lebron James to the playoffs. Vlade made some great draft picks. But his MULTIPLE recent decisions have made me skeptical that hes fit.
I am far from happy about the events of last few days but let’s be fair, last season, the Lakers were seen in the same light as the Kings were this season. An exciting, young, up and coming team before Magic came in and blew up the young pieces to get LeBron and a bunch of washed up vets.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#57
I am far from happy about the events of last few days but let’s be fair, last season, the Lakers were seen in the same light as the Kings were this season. An exciting, young, up and coming team before Magic came in and blew up the young pieces to get LeBron and a bunch of washed up vets.
Then they were well above .500 pre-injury, then the chemistry was destroyed by not Luke Walton.

If “BUt loOk aT hiS LEBroN SeaSoN” is your main argument against Walton... I’ll just be blunt, it’s a crappy argument. Circumstances were so far beyond his control
 
#58
I would have liked to have seen them interview a few people and make a decision because they were confident after looking at several candidates that Luke was the right guy.
I understand your line of thinking here. But a couple points.

One, I like the decisiveness. And it’s because there’s a clear direction. That’s a good thing even if that direction doesn’t end up working out. It’s always best to fully commit once you’ve decided on a course. Vlade is doing that.

Two, I think due diligence was done 3 years ago. Vlade was confident in whom he felt was the best candidate back then but wasn’t able to land him. Kinda like how the KINGS decided upon Buddy Hield in the 2016 draft but he didn’t fall to them. But once the opportunity to land him in trade became available, they pounced. Same thing happened here IMO.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#59
I'm not sure "But Lakers fans say he's a bad coach!" is a good argument against hiring Luke at all.

Lakers fans wanted D'Lo's butt out of town and now he's a freaking all-star and still think Lonzo is better than De'Aaron. If they think Luke is a bad coach then there's a good chance that he's actually a freaking great coach.
 
#60
Joerger (in his last year here) and Walton have very similar coaching styles. They have the same strengths and the same weaknesses. Two things I think Walton has on Joerger is one, he won't cause drama and is more of a player's coach. No one said a peep or reacted to anything once Joerger was canned, but Buddy has already approved of this hire.

Secondly, I think he's a bit more receptive to the space part of pace-and-space. Despite having the dog**** shooters the Lakers had this year, they still were middle of the pack in 3PA. Joerger still went to the horns and high-post sets too often and this team didn't take the # of 3s that it should have.

Remains to be seen if his offense is actually better overall though, and everything else we complained about Joerger is true of Walton. I'm glad though that we dodged a bullet in Messina.