Now that the Golden State Warriors’ historic, yet disappointing, season is over, Luke Walton will finally take over as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers
Lakers’ fans have waited patiently for the NBA Finals to wind down, not only to see who’d come out victorious, but also in order to finally get their head coach, Luke Walton back to Los Angeles.
With the Warriors’ defeated, Walton will finally get to focus full time on filling out his coaching staff, talking to his players and getting ready for what could be the polar-opposite team compared to the Warriors from a winning standpoint.
To put it bluntly, the Lakers are a mess. D’Angelo Russell‘s reputation in the NBA is still in rebuilding mode, Kobe Bryant is now retired, tensions in the front office are on high alert and they’re coming off their worst season in franchise history.
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In all of that, the silver lining is that Walton gets a fresh start with a Lakers’ team that will feature a lot of young talent and the second overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft. Moreover, as long as LA doesn’t completely whiff on their pick, Walton should be optimistic about the start of next season.
But there’s a lot of work to do. Walton has to choose the men he wants helping him on the sideline. ESPN reported in May that Brian Shaw will be one of Walton’s assistants.
As a younger coach and a former Lakers’ player, the team is getting the best of both worlds — someone who will relate well to players while also having a sense of “what it means” to be a member of the Purple and Gold.
Earlier this week, Broderick Turner of the LA Times also reported that Jesse Mermuys, former head coach of the Toronto Raptors’ development team, is also set to be hired to Walton’s staff and after the Cleveland Cavaliers won the championship, it was reported that Richard Jefferson was retiring and that he could also join Walton on the Lakers bench.
Hearing Richard Jefferson is retiring..this would be another guy likely to join Luke Walton's staff...high defensive IQ which is much needed
— Dave Miller (@coachdavemiller) June 20, 2016
Whoever is on his staff or on his team, one thing is for sure: Lakers fans were waiting patiently for these NBA Finals to end so they can officially have a coach.
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Now the moment is here, and it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for Walton and the once proud franchise.