Luke Walton‘s fatal mistake with the Lakers was not insisting that everyone else defer to LeBron James, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Tyronn Lue, who won a title with LeBron in Cleveland and is considered among the top candidates to replace Walton in L.A., established a clear order when he took over for David Blatt in 2016. Lue demanded that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love set aside any individual agendas and let James run the show.
Walton never made similar demands after LeBron came to the Lakers, according to Vardon. He was fine with several players serving as the primary ball-handler and didn’t adjust the offense much to feature his new weapon.
“We had our system coming into training camp, and it was similar to the last few years,” former Lakers center Ivica Zubac said after being traded in February. “We all knew LeBron was the guy, but no, that’s not how it was. Luke wants to play fast and he said it right after camp started. I think we played the right way until LeBron got hurt, and then we just didn’t have enough to win.”
There’s more news from Los Angeles:
- The Lakers haven’t contacted Lue about their coaching job yet, but he is in much better health now than when he had to take a leave of absence last season, Vardon adds. Lue has lost 35 pounds, changed his diet and works out twice a day.
- GM Rob Pelinka will be in charge of the search for a new coach, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. That’s one more sign that Pelinka’s position with the organization is secure after the departure of team president Magic Johnson. The front office talked briefly to Walton’s representatives to see if they could work out an agreement to retain him as coach, Shelburne adds (Twitter link). However, discussions didn’t go very far.
- Alex Caruso, Johnathan Williams and Jemerrio Jones may not return next season, but they provided an inspiring effort after the Lakers’ playoff hopes were extinguished, relays Kevin Ding of NBA.com. After making his NBA debut March 31, Jones thanked Walton after each game for giving him a chance to play. Caruso expressed similar gratitude to Walton and Pelinka in his exit interview on Wednesday. Caruso also credits South Bay Lakers president Joey Buss for helping him to land a two-way contract last season. “Might not be here now,” Caruso said. “It’s all butterfly effect getting to this point.”
Lakers should just name LeBron as Player/Coach. He has coached every team he has played on so far without the title. He is the best Player/CryBaby/Coach ever.
It’s pretty clear that Walton was fired because he didn’t want to be LeBron’s puppet. Dude needs to realize that he’s not 25 anymore and can’t shoulder the entire team on his back. Crunch time, game on the line, sure go full Kobe. But nobody can do it for 48 mins. Hiring Lue or anyone that will just keep LeBron jacking all game will put the Lakers further and further behind the rest of the league.
Who plays 48mpg tho?
Luke’s not wrong – hopefully Magic Johnson returns whenever Lebrona leaves
Way to fix yourself Ty Lue. Now work on basketball defense.
I will lose 35 pounds someday too, when I get old enough to shrink naturally.
That goes to show that even Lue is a better HC than Luke Walton, really feel sorry for the fans of any team that hires him. Luke is a lot of image no substance.
Because he didn’t becomes LaBrat’s puppet? I respect Walton even more now!