With All the Lakers’ Pretty Ponies, is Luke the Plowhorse?
By Ted M. Green | L.A. Confidential, Los Angeles Lakers, Column
With a very recent essay extolling the MVP virtues of one Kobe Bryant, I have been accused lately of being a Lakers’ publicist cleverly disguised as an aging sports journalist who needs to lose 10 pounds.
Judging from a bursting Inbox, some bloggers and e-mailers think I’m a Homer–doh!–never offering even a critical syllable about the Lakers.
Which brings me to Luke Walton.
In all that has been wonderful and remarkable and delightfully unexpected in this the year of the Lakers’ renaissance and return to real NBA relevance, has anyone noticed that Bill’s Boy seems to be a little anchor on the big mother ship?
It’s just that the ship is so strong and powerful right now, the Titanic without icebergs, that Luke’s presence isn’t enough to drag it down, much less sink it.
So typical of a guy with no hops, under the radar he flies.
But in paying closer attention to the Portland game Tuesday night, is anyone else plugging in to how the Lakers usually flounder when Luke is out there but often fly when he isn’t?
Taking a look at the box score, with Walton on the floor, the Trail Blazers had a 19 point edge. That’s nearly a point for each of the 21 minutes he played in total.
If Luke were an NHL player, I’m guessing his plus-minus chart this season could get him sent down to Saskatoon. Or is it Regina? One of those.
The kinder, gentler side of me is thinking that Bill’s boy must be hurt. The ankle was definitely an issue earlier this season. You watch him play and think: C’mon, Luke Walton has to be better than this.
The realist in me, though, sees the quick, fast, athletic, racehorse Lakers, juxtaposed against the plowhorse that is Luke.
The realist in me sees a white man who can’t jump and a guy who lays more bricks than your average construction worker. When Luke has an open shot, there’s a 40% chance it goes in, a 50% chance it doesn’t, and a 10% chance it dents the rim.
There’s no hen in Iowa that can lay an egg as big as the one Luke is dropping this season. Were it not for the family name, he looks like a guy who should be playing on my church team, and I don’t even have a church team, seeing how I’m Jewish.
If you saw Luke’s recent TNT interview where he actually had the chutzpah to put himself in his own Fave 5, I’m politely suggesting he replace himself with almost anyone else, even the late Will Geer, who played Grandpa Walton.
Now I’m quite sure Luke wouldn’t be averaging 24 minutes a game for a team leading its conference, a) if Vladimir Radmanovic could find one more vowel along with his jump shot or b) if Trevor Ariza had not broken his foot.
Come to think of it, Ariza fits the Lakers’ style better than Luke WITH a broken foot.
All of this, of course, becomes a moot point if and when Andrew Bynum returns from his knee issue. When that happens, maybe around April 1, Pau slides down to the 4, Lamar plays the 3 and Luke can sit next to Gary Vitti on the bench, comparing their favorite South Bay night spots.
But Laker fans, the ones who actually are objective, like, say, me, have to wonder why GM Mitch re-signed Luke to a longer term contract last summer.
Yeah, Phil likes Luke’s smarts, his b-ball IQ, his unselfishness, his passing, his knowledge of the triangle, the intangibles he has a reputation for bringing to the court.
But with post-up options everywhere you look in Bynum, Gasol, Odom and the current NBA post-up master Kobe, Luke’s position and the Lakers’ spacing requires that the 3 be able to make an outside shot at least every time Jupiter aligns with Mars. Through 57 games, Bill’s Boy can’t even find Pluto.
So at the risk of being accused of looking for the horse manure amongst all the pretty ponies, your Laker observer poses one simple question:
Rep, veteran status and family name notwithstanding, can Luke Walton actually play?
And with all the firepower around him, does it even matter if he can’t?
Ted Green is Senior Sports Producer for KTLA Prime News and a former sportswriter for the L.A. Times and National Sports Daily.
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20 Responses to “With All the Lakers' Pretty Ponies, is Luke the Plowhorse?”
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I AGGREE WITH YOU WHEN IT COMES TO LUKE, I DO NOT AGGREE WITH YOU WHEN YOU MENTION ROCK-HEAD. THAT CONTRACT WE GAVE THE GUY FROM THE CLIPPERS MUST HAVE BEEN A LOST BET TO STERLING FROM BUSS.PUT THEM BOTH TOGETHER AND TRY ANOTHER STEAL AND GET PAU’S BEST BUDDY, MILLER, MAYBE BOOZER, ANYONE OR MAYBE A FEW 1ST ROUND DRAFT CHOICES FROM THE HEAT AND THE CLIPPERS…MARTY
This is a great article and exposes the complete SHAM that is Luke Walton.
When TNT commentators rave about his “street smarts” and “heady play,” what they’re actually saying is the guy can’t shoot, can’t defend, can’t jump, and makes a nice pass once a full moon.
And recently, even the passing has disappeared. He’s starting to remind me of a white Kwame Brown out there. A mistake waiting to happen.
Let’s face it. This guy got his contract and spent the summer partying. Now he’s being exposed as the thief he is, robbing the Lakers of valuable salary space while being completely unmarketable and unmovable at the same time.
He makes me PUKE.
Luke has been playing hurt for a while now. I have to give him props for being out there at all, if there weren’t so many other Laker injuries he would’ve been on the IR getting treatment a while ago. At least he’s trying to play through the pain, more than one could say for LeBron earlier this season.
Perfect article! Somebody gets it! Luke only drags this team down.
I like luke hes been a laker for a while and is a good teamate but they gave him a big time contract theres alot better players then him with that kinda contract. that was a mistake i think they have him there for team chemistry but if you cant play on the court the chemistry is worth nothing ecspecially if the team loses but i dont see that happening because all of the talent on the team so when we get healthy hell be the forth small forward on the depth chart hell get playing time depending on who we play if the lakers need a passer on the court phil will put him on court.”talent beats out chemistry anyday because if u have chemistry and no talent youll just lose so i think talent will build real chemistry because example kobe said lakers need to put players around him he liked all his teamates he got along with them but but he didnt feal like they could contend yet and he didnt know how much bynum inproved so he wanted to be traded so talent and a chance to win a championship will make every body happy.j
“Come to think of it, Ariza fits the Lakers’ style better than Luke WITH a broken foot”
Do you mean instead that Ariza WITH a broken foot fits the Lakers’ style better than Luke? Am I missing something? Thanks.
Luke has been playing hurt for a while now, but if the Lakers had their full compliment of players–hell, even if radmanovic were healthy currently–this wouldn’t even be an issue. The one big reason why Luke has slowed down the offense recently, magnified from the last two games, is that he cannot hit an outside shot consistently. Whereas last season he was at least serviceable in this area, this year it’s cringe city every time the ball leaves his hands towards the hoop (inside shots included).
I also don’t understand the additional hate by many Lakers fans towards Radmanovic. Before his injury, he was playing well, especially since the Lakers acquired Gasol. His outside shot has been most improved as well as his passing and aggressiveness in driving to the basket. Personally, I would rather have Radmanovic starting even when everyone is healthy just because of the spacing he gives the team with the threat of his outside shot.
I thought Luke was playing some very good team defense. His offense is a whole different story.
Teams are focusing in on how poor Luke is shooting and playing way off of him. Lanes are closed to the basket, and even Luke can’t hardly make a good pass anymore, resulting in a dramatic drop off in Lakers offensive production.
On one play, as Portland closed the lane to Fisher, he looked to the outside to dish and Luke was the only open Lakers. That was no accident, Portland knew exactly what they were doing. Lukes man left him to clog the lane. Fisher begrudgingly passed to Luke, who was never challenged, and bricked the shot.
With all the other Lakers improving so nicely, Luke has become stagnant. He has no confidence in his shot. The Lakers party has left Luke behind.
To the author: You are very brave. The last time I wrote a piece like that about Luke. I got a F*** filled tirade personally from Luke and his blackberry.
Excellent and accurate article. The Lakers needed Walton in the past because they had low BB IQ players like Kwame, Smush and Cook. They had no chemistry and they just needed someone who knew how to pass the ball to Kobe in the right places of the triangle and make an occasional 3 pt shot when open. Luke actually HAD a good 3 pt shot last year and this year he still does a reasonable job defending the slower white small forwards of the league (like Peja Stojakovic). He was the second most experienced player to Kobe when the Lakers were very young and inexperienced.
But this is almost like an all-new Laker team with high BB IQ and experienced players like Gasol and Fish replacing Kwame and Smush in the starting lineup. Bynum, Farmar, Turiaf and Sasha grew up. Ariza came in as an athletic SF and Kobe has been playing more SF. Only the injury to Ariza and the continued inconsistency of Vlad Rad gives a reason to play Luke.
In summary, Luke was useful to the Lakers the last 4 years, but he is no longer useful and is clearly overpaid in the Lakers of today and the future.
Luke was playing good last year, actually leading the league in 3 pt shooting% for a while. Thats why they resigned him. He has a high b-ball IQ, good passing, and his scoring looked to be coming along as well (he had a pretty deadly 5-10 ft. fadeaway for a while also). But since the injuries, he hasnt been the same, and that would be an understatement! I think he can get back to form again, as soon as he is 100%. Well I hope he can.
Luke Walton was a useful ‘playing piece’ to the Lakers’ puzzle before this season … when the cavalry arrived, en masse, in the form of Derek Fisher, Trevor Ariza (when healthy) and Pau Gasol.
And, so, too, will he be throughout this season, as a useful ‘bench (non-playing) piece’, one-day-in-the-not-too-distant-future, for this edition of Showtime.v.2008 … not as a key rotation guy, but as the ‘jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none’ every elite level Phil Jackson-coached team has had on its roster.
The principles of the Triangle Offense (and the coaching team/management system used by PJ) are a perfect fit for a non-descript but adequate role player like Luke Walton … who on any given night in the NBA can succeed in either one of these two extreme situations with the Lakers:
(A) Playing 24 minutes (or more), as the least talented player on the floor, in Purple & Gold, who knows his place and value within this team; or,
(B) Playing 0 minutes, and still feeling good about himself and the contributions he makes every day to a championship calibre team.
Despite what others may think … multi-dimensional players like Luke Walton, at his size, who get along easily with an array of human beings … are a valuable asset to a championship team and rather difficult to find.
Luke no longer has a place on this team. Why they spent 30 million dollars on a player that cannot defend, does not have 3 point range, he is a liability on defense and on the offense end it is like 4 on 5. They could have signed Matt Barnes for the money they mispent on Luke. He is a nice person, but 30 million dollars for being a nice guy, I’m sure he is laughing his way to bank.
You’ve had some good articles TMG, but this one I think is a little premature. Luke CAN play but not on bad wheels. Come playoff time he’ll turn it up with some good plays in critical moments.
He’s a liability right now but he’s adjusting to the starting lineup…I think he’s getting better at it.
Give it some time…you’ll start hearing Luuuuukkkkkeee again.
They resigned luke because he has been so crucial to running the offense when Kobe wasn’t in the game in the past. This year with fish and farmer its not such a big deal, but last year when luke got hurt the team whet down in flames. It was a trigger effect, Luke’s injury put the ball in smush’s hands, smush’s ineptitude at running the ofense cause him too shoot too much, which caused Kobe to begin shooting too much. Which caused the team to loose interest and loose games.
Luke is just starting to get a little bit healthy again, and he is still doling out assits. Its too soon to turn the hate to him.
Geeze i guess we’ve got to have something to complain about no matter what, seems their is no love for players unless they put up 20 points. Atleast the LO hate is subsiding.
Keep Luke. The Lakers have a chance to be good for several years now. Players will be injured and have slumps throughout that period. Even if Luke is behind Ariza and Radmonivic and Lamar on the depth charts, there will be all kinds of times when the team will have shifting lineups and needs. I’d far rather have someone on the roster who knows the team, knows the offense and who has the confidence of the coach. That’s what you call a team that is “ten-deep”. That’s the kind of team that can win, not only this year, but enough over the next several years for the Lakers to pass the Celtics for all-time championships, and for Kobe to pass Jordan for individual championships.
Remember, we need to look long-term now. That’s what a successful franchise does.
Great article. I’ve been saying this or more correctly, screaming this at the tv all season. Luke’s defense is horrendous and he can’t make an open shot. Additionally, his basketball IQ is way overrated. There have been numerous occasions where he has been clueless as the shot clock winds down and when he loses track of the man he is defending. When Ariza returns I hope Luke becomes a spectator.
From tonight’s game vs Miami …
Kobe … twisting side-ways at center-court, passes backwards single-handedly over his head down-court to
Luke … who catches & then goes behind his back, bounce-pass, to
Lamar … streaking through the middle-of-the-lane, as the trailer, for a fantastic finishing dunk!
Showtime.v.2008
PS. Luke, really ain’t that bad, at all.