Where's the Love for Coach Walton?

ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#1
#1
The Kings are 0.500 22 games into this season and only 1.0 game out of the playoffs and 1.5 games out of the 4th seed.

You can say what you want about what happened in the Bubble and the defensive breakdowns early on, but this team is looking mighty good and Coach Walton deserves some love for the job he has done so far this season. They started strong, had a bad defensive stretch and now they have turned things back around.

Instead of beating the Kings down and turning this team upside down when their defense sucked for a stretch, he let the players feel the pain and embarrassment and they eventually figured it out (along with the return of an injured Whiteside and some needed practice time) and they are now playing some playoff worthy basketball. He took the "Zen Master" approach of his mentor Phil Jackson and let the guys figure it out themselves, and now they have.

Early on, Walton preached that he wanted the young Kings team to learn to "read and react" their offense (similar to what is run by the GSW) to what teams are giving them. Last year and early on this season, the team struggled bad, but with the addition of a high basketball IQ rookie (Haliburton) and the new closing unit of Fox-Hali-HB-Holmes-Buddy, the Kings have been looking pretty tough in the 4th quarter. If the Kings can get a little better consistency from Marvin Bagley going forward, the Kings will have a pretty exciting young core of Fox-Hali-Holmes-Bagley-HB-Buddy.

I know it hasn't been pretty at times, but most people didn't see the Kings sniffing 0.500 and a run at the playoffs at this point of the season. We are just one game out of the playoffs and 1.5 games out of the 4th seed. So, I know a lot of people hate on Luke, but these players don't coach themselves. Let's give Luke some credit for the record and the teams good play so far this season. ;)
 
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whozit

whozit

Starter
#2
#2
ockingsfan said:
The Kings are 0.500 22 games into this season and only 1.0 game out of the playoffs and 1.5 games out of the 4th seed.

You can say what you want about what happened in the Bubble and the early defensive breakdowns early on, but this team is looking mighty good and Coach Walton deserves some love for the job he has done so far this season. They started strong, had a bad defensive stretch and now they have turned things back around.

Instead of beating the Kings down and turning this team upside down when their defense sucked for a stretch, he let the players feel the pain and embarrassment and they eventually figured it out (along with the return of an injured Whiteside and some needed practice time) and they are now playing some playoff worthy basketball. He took the "Zen Master" approach of his mentor Phil Jackson and let the guys figure it out themselves, and now they have.

Early on, Walton preached that he wanted the young Kings team to learn to "read and react" their offense (similar to what is run by the GSW) to what teams are giving them. Last year and early on this season, the team struggled bad, but with the addition of a high basketball IQ rookie (Haliburton) and the new closing unit of Fox-Hali-HB-Holmes-Buddy, the Kings have been looking pretty tough in the 4th quarter. If the Kings can get a little better consistency from Marvin Bagley going forward, the Kings will have a pretty exciting young core of Fox-Hali-Holmes-Bagley-HB-Buddy.

I know it hasn't been pretty at times, but most people didn't see the Kings sniffing 0.500 and a run at the playoffs at this point of the season. We are just one game out of the playoffs and 1.5 games out of the 4th seed. So, I know a lot of people hate on Luke, but these players don't coach themselves guys. Let's give Luke some credit for the record and the teams good play so far this season. ;)
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I will put my hating on the back burner for the time being. If he causes me to exile that completely then more the power to the team.
 
pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#3
#3
I've always held that he could be a good coach but LeBron get into his head. Maybe he's turning it around. Still wish he would give Bagley more opportunities. I know, I know, but you can't tell me with 4 seconds left in the Heat game and it clearly being the final offensive possession, make or break, that Bagley on the floor wouldn't have been an asset.

But hey, if he gets us to the playoffs I guess that is mission accomplished.
 
J

jiimbob

Starter
#5
#5
These Kings appear to enjoy playing together and rotations are not all over the shop. Except for the odd rumbling concerning Bagley, or his father, I’m not hearing the usual distractions.
Assuming Walton has something to do with this than props to him. He’s also beat Malones team 3 times this year.
 
ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#6
#6
pdxKingsFan said:
I've always held that he could be a good coach but LeBron get into his head. Maybe he's turning it around. Still wish he would give Bagley more opportunities. I know, I know, but you can't tell me with 4 seconds left in the Heat game and it clearly being the final offensive possession, make or break, that Bagley on the floor wouldn't have been an asset.

But hey, if he gets us to the playoffs I guess that is mission accomplished.
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I think a lot times, coaches don't want to put a player in that situation, after sitting them for the whole 4th quarter and then sticking them in for the crucial last couple of seconds. It's going to be tough for any player, especially a young player to make the correct play in that high pressure situation.
Don't forget that the Kings just needed a bucket and I would take my chances with Holmes and HB in there for the possible put back bucket. What I didn't like about that last Miami play was going for a jump shot when the play should had been going towards the basket. But the Heat basically forced the Kings into a desperation shot, so I give them credit.

I do agree that Bagley should be getting some 4th quarter PT, maybe at the start of the 4th? But who would you sit to close out the games, to give Bagley end of game experience? I think Bagley needs to earn that trust from the coach, not just given it. He's young and this is basically in his 2nd season, so he has time to grow into that position.
 
pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#8
#8
ockingsfan said:
I think a lot times, coaches don't want to put a player in that situation, after sitting them for the whole 4th quarter and then sticking them in for the crucial last couple of seconds. It's going to be tough for any player, especially a young player to make the correct play in that high pressure situation.
Don't forget that the Kings just needed a bucket and I would take my chances with Holmes and HB in there for the possible put back bucket. What I didn't like about that last Miami play was going for a jump shot when the play should had been going towards the basket. But the Heat basically forced the Kings into a desperation shot, so I give them credit.

I do agree that Bagley should be getting some 4th quarter PT, maybe at the start of the 4th? But who would you sit to close out the games, to give Bagley end of game experience? I think Bagley needs to earn that trust from the coach, not just given it. He's young and this is basically in his 2nd season, so he has time to grow into that position.
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TBH I think that you put Bagley in that final play just to force the Heat to be a little more honest on defense. Not to run the play.

I think just letting him have some of Holmes's minutes in the 4th would benefit both guys. Give him 2-4 minutes and let him grow from there. I dunno. I'm not fully against the tight rotations but usually you wait later in the season so players don't break down 2/3rds of the way through.
 
Tetsujin

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#12
#12
kingsboi said:
no love is warranted just yet. it's still a small sample size and the Kings have to be consistent and eventually get over that .500 hump and remain there
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Yup. As long ago as it may seem, the Kings had a couple of stretches like this two years ago only for Vlade to trade away our vet leader (Shump) and Joerger to completely bungle the last two months of the season en route to getting canned.
 
SLAB

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#13
#13
Tetsujin said:
Yup. As long ago as it may seem, the Kings had a couple of stretches like this two years ago only for Vlade to trade away our vet leader (Shump) and Joerger to completely bungle the last two months of the season en route to getting canned.
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Shump for Alec Burks is one of the most baffling things Vlade ever did. There’s zero justifying that one. There wasn’t when it happened. And certainly wasn’t in retrospect.
 
Tetsujin

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#14
#14
SLAB said:
Shump for Alec Burks is one of the most baffling things Vlade ever did. There’s zero justifying that one. There wasn’t when it happened. And certainly wasn’t in retrospect.
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The thing that made it worse was that Burks is an effective offensive player who definitely would have helped our bench scoring except Joerger immediately banished him to the Jabari Parker zone at the far end of the bench.
 
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pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#16
#16
SLAB said:
Shump for Alec Burks is one of the most baffling things Vlade ever did. There’s zero justifying that one. There wasn’t when it happened. And certainly wasn’t in retrospect.
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Well see we were trading for a new 3 that Joerger played exclusively at 4... Regardless of what Barnes true position is would have been great to clarify that they were all on the same page there.
 
whozit

whozit

Starter
#20
#20
Tetsujin said:
Is changing your schemes on both ends of the floor because your boss told you to really worthy of love when you’re still playing Cory Joseph 20 minutes a night?
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But if he is still playing Joseph 20 minutes a night AND changing the schemes because boss said so seems contradictory. Joseph can't look good on the advanced stats. I would expect something in between. Input with data and such but still leaving a lot of latitude in rotations and what happens on the court.

Perhaps there is some validity to the claims that the extra time off because of the game postponements allowed them to get some things squared away.

At the moment I am going to give him a benefit of doubt. But I reserve the right to pick up the pitchfork and torches if he goes back to old habits.
 
ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#21
#21
Tetsujin said:
Is changing your schemes on both ends of the floor because your boss told you to really worthy of love when you’re still playing Cory Joseph 20 minutes a night?
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Well, who would he use as that 4th guard? Kyle Guy for 20 min a game? If he did, the Kings wouldn't be sniffing the playoffs picture right now.
CoJo still offers a veteran hand and defensive presence when he is on the floor. The Kings have been winning these tight games and having a veteran keeping you close during the mid-game starter rest time, means you are in position to try and win in the forth quarter.
 
P

ppine

Starter
#22
#22
Tetsujin said:
The point being, the Kings have never won four in a row in the Walton era. If they win tomorrow and finally rip that monkey from their backs, then maybe we can start talking love.
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six out seven is good enough for me. Now its 7 out of 8. The Kings don't beat Denver 3x and then the Clippers without some good coaching.
 
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T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#27
#27
ockingsfan said:
Well, who would he use as that 4th guard? Kyle Guy for 20 min a game? If he did, the Kings wouldn't be sniffing the playoffs picture right now.
CoJo still offers a veteran hand and defensive presence when he is on the floor. The Kings have been winning these tight games and having a veteran keeping you close during the mid-game starter rest time, means you are in position to try and win in the forth quarter.
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The "veteran hand" means absolutely nothing if you are actively making the team worse when you're on the floor.
 
ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#29
#29
The_Jamal said:
The "veteran hand" means absolutely nothing if you are actively making the team worse when you're on the floor.
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Like I said, who you going to put out there for 20 minutes as the 4th guard? If there are no other viable option to fill in that 20 minutes, the alternative of sticking someone like Guy or Ramsey (who are not ready for PT) would make the Kings worse than CoJo does.

TBH, you guys make it out like he has Chris Paul, Lou Williams or Fred Van Fleet sitting at the end of the bench waiting to relieve Fox when he needs a breather.
 
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