Kings hire Luke Walton

Coach Luke Walton. What's your initial reaction?

  • Great

  • Pretty happy

  • Unsure

  • Not real happy

  • Bummed


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Entity

Hall of Famer
I don’t think Joerger was some great innovative coach. He was a slow paced coach at Memphis. He brought that here at first with cousins and koufos. Then last year with zbo. This years style was completely different than anything he had done and it was because of the personnel he had. It’s not to far fetched to say Joerger was out of his element. Now with Walton. This is exactly what he wants to do. This is his style and what he has worked on developing. On paper it looks like a match made. Time will tell on how much better it will be. But I certainly don’t believe it will be worse.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
I am a huge believer in it’s the players and not the coach. But when you have a coach and the players on the same page it works better. Not sure everybody was on same page as Joerger. Getting Walton this early great. Hard to get on same page until you buy the book. We purchased the book quickly
 
Has anyone taken a close look at that laker roster?

My god with Lebron out its
I am not sure on this. If as it has been reported Walton was Vlade's 1st choice 3 years ago but he had no interest in the Kings job, then its not far fetched to think that Vlade got rid off his 2nd choice so he can get his 1st.

I don't believe for a second that Joerger was sacked without Vlade knowing full well that Walton is available. Vlade and Walton were team mates. Walton has been a dead man walking from the moment LeBron signed with the Lakers and it got even more apparent after the All-Star game when Vlade himself said he started thinking about a possible change.

The conspiracy theory of me joining the dots together goes a bit like this:
- Vlade's 1st choice has always been Walton who had no interest in the job in 2016
- Next in line for Vlade was Marc Jackson who was favourite to get the job until Joerger quit on Memphis. Vlade pounced and got Joerger as his 2nd choice
- Williams and Joerger did not get along from the start but it escalated when allegedly Williams leaked to the media. Vlade HATED this
- Joerger then kicked Williams out of the practice (again Vlade would not have liked this).
- Vlade was not a fan of it but thought Joerger was doing a great job and you don't always get everything perfect.
- Communications to Walton are made through "back channels" to gauge his interest in taking the Kings job given that he is a dead man walking in LA.
- Walton flags his interest
- Vlade sacks Joerger
- Walton mutually agrees to part ways with Lakers
- Vlade signs Walton to 4 year deal.

Bottom line, I am not convinced that Joerger gets the sack if Walton is unavailable. Maybe I am wrong but its just the feeling I get.
You make a plausible case BUT id argue that Joeger was gone regardless. We will never know
 
If this isn’t a playoff team next season then Vlade’s feet need to be held to the fire. Not a fan of his four year extension. They both should have been let go if anything.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Without lebron thst looks like the worst roster in the west to me. Terrible
In hindsight it's amazing that anyone had the Lakers young core rated above the Kings young core because Kuzma (a scoring tweener who doesn't really do much else), Ingram (all the talent in the world but seemingly possessing the competitive drive of Donte Greene; probably the Lakers best prospect pending injury recovery), Hart (an okay backup point guard), and Lonzo (a ball mover who plays good defense but also possesses the shooting stroke and offensive repertoire of a guy who's lost all feeling in his arms) doesn't have the ceiling of a De'Aaron (studly two way game changing PG prospect who is the fastest player in the league and has top PG in the league potential), Bagley (rapidly evolving basketball terminator who plays both ends of the floor, literally turned himself into a 3 point shooter during the season, and took the Giannis comparisons to heart as he's started to develop his ball handling skills at the end of the season), Buddy (literally holds the record for threes in the first three seasons of a career. Game-breaking shooter who is unguardable when hot), and Giles (formally the best prospect from his draft class before injuries stole four years of his basketball life. The injuries appear to have gotten better) core no matter how you look at it. And to put the horrible collection of off-ball handicapped players like Rondo, Beasley, and Lance above them on the roster only aggravated matters.
 
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Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
You’re the same dude who said Doug Christie should be coach. Can’t take you seriously.
At least I gave a damn name and put my reasons behind that choice out for everyone to see.

Thus far, you've had nothing but bad things to say about the choice, refused to reveal who you'd want instead of Walton, shouted down anyone who dared to disagree with you, and not so subtly claimed that Vlade, who speaks like four different languages and has served as an international diplomat among other jobs, is mentally handicapped.
 
I know we all love to speculate on how good of a coach Walton is and how well he might fit, but the fact that Walton was Vlade's #1 guy 3 years ago and the fact that Vlade almost instantaneously fired Joerger and hired Walton, after the season that Joerger put together, is very telling. Not to mention that the collective opinion that NBA folk (not fans -- especially not dumb 7akers fans) have of him is very good.
 
Joerger played Giles and Bagley together quite a bit this year and I'm sure he would have ramped it up even further next year if they continued to play well together. With Luke, I have no clue now. I'm all for putting whoever gives them the best shot to win on the court. The way the roster is constructed right now, playing those two guys together quite a bit seems to be the best thing for the future. The roster will change by next October so who knows what will happen but the last thing the Kings need to do is go small to try and score more points. They need defense and rebounding much more than scoring these days.
Vlade didn't hire the guy without interviewing him first. I'd be rather shocked if he didn't share the same concerns. Vlade isn't one to bite
his tongue
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
In hindsight it's amazing that anyone had the Lakers young core rated above the Kings young core because Kuzma (a scoring tweener who doesn't really do much else), Ingram (all the talent in the world but seemingly possessing the competitive drive of Donte Greene; probably the Lakers best prospect pending injury recovery), Hart (an okay backup point guard), and Lonzo (a ball mover who plays good defense but also possesses the shooting stroke and offensive repertoire of a guy who's lost all feeling in his arms) doesn't have the ceiling of a De'Aaron (studly two way game changing PG prospect who is the fastest player in the league and has top PG in the league potential), Bagley (rapidly evolving basketball terminator who plays both ends of the floor, literally turned himself into a 3 point shooter during the season, and took the Giannis comparisons to heart as he's started to develop his ball handling skills at the end of the season), Buddy (literally holds the record for threes in the first three seasons of a career. Game-breaking shooter who is unguardable when hot), and Giles (formally the best prospect from his draft class before injuries stole four years of his basketball life. The injuries appear to have gotten better) core no matter how you look at it. And to put the horrible collection of off-ball handicapped players like Rondo, Beasley, and Lance above them on the roster only aggravated matters.
To be fair and also to be worried a bit, Joerger and his staff were masterful at developing the young players. It’s possible that Walton and his staff underdeveloped those players. Maybe the organizations had different directives and that complicated things. What I know is you can’t be the players buddy when developing and Joergers way, although painful and frustrating at times, looks to be way more effective. He made them earn it. He should have been allowed to see it through.
 
I actually like this move for the Kings. Walton like Mike Malone brings the element where players will want to run thru a wall for him. Never saw that with Dave. Getting the backing of your players is a real x-factor in this league. I can see a more cohesive team, especially defensively next season.

Dave was a real dumbass with a number of his rotations.

That being said, firing the best coach here since Adelman is one ballsy move and doesn't allow for an adaptation period. Luke has to immediately continue the upward trajectory.

Red head Napes said this is a 50 win team next year. That was his bar while Dave was coach. Given he's Vlade's mouthpiece that pretty much sets the expectations. One can argue if that's what Napes says were the expectations for Dave next season then 50 wins is the minimum expectation for Luke.

Given I wouldn't be surprised if Napes butters Vlade's toast and pours his orange juice every morning, that's close to a public expectation coming from the FO.
 
You don't even know how many games will be required to get to the playoffs. You don't know what the off-season moves are going to be from the Kings or from the competing teams in the western conference. You also don't what's going to happen with injuries. The Kings could get 46 wins next year and still be out of the playoffs.

If "the best coach we've had by a large margin" (Adelman & Malone fans might disagree) doesn't see eye to eye with the GM, you get rid of the "best coach." It doesn't matter whether he's good or not. It's bye bye, it's been great, you've improved our win total, and by the way, you're fired. The relationship between the GM and the coach is essential to the future of your team. If Joerger is good and Walton is good you dump Joerger, pronto, because you as the GM can't work with him because you have different ideas on the team, it's future, how to improve going forward, how to work together, etc. Again, it doesn't matter if Joerger was a good coach if Divac and he couldn't work together in a sympatico relationship. It's irrelevant.
Really like your post. Just wish you had thrown in one or two “with the possible exception of...”
 
Ballsy move.

I'm glad Brandon Williams is gone. I thought Joeger should've been here longer--if anything, because of the development of the kids under his watch.

But whatever you may think of Vlade and his GM'ing abilities, it's becoming pretty clear that this is how he operates. It's the Vlade Pivot:

1. Trade 1/4 of the team plus a draft pick and swaps for cap space. Fail (although not quite as bad as most seem to think). He made a bet that he could reshape the culture overnight. It didn't work.

2. Trade the #8 pick for 2 picks and Bogdan. The two picks sucked. Bogdan was a hit and better than anyone we could've gotten at #8. Win.

3. Trade Boogie for Buddy, Giles, & Justin Jackson. Plus sucking enough to get the #5 (Fox; #3 swapped into the #5). Win.

4. Fire Joeger for Luke Walton. Time will tell, but, in hindsight, I get the reasoning. It's the Kings' ceiling.
 
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It is a legitimate point that Walton has a great basketball pedigree. He grew up with great coaches and great influences and as a college player.
On the other hand, several people on this forum could have a winning record if they were given the Golden State Warriors and their all-star roster to coach.
Only time will tell.
 
I've been on the Oprah show when I was 11. Does that make me a TV guru? Anyway. Bad hire. He will be fired at the end of the day. Screenshot this. There is nothing of substance that points to this was a good hire. At all.
I'm not one to call out how to be a fan but when someone would rather be "right" more than their teams' or its players/coach's success is very telling. I'm hoping you meant to say "u believe this is a bad hire and he might get fired in the end, but you hope you are wrong and he takes us to the playoffs next year and the finals soon after."