It’s been a long – if exciting! – summer for Luke Walton.
After last Lakers season ended on April 11, he had to wait nearly three months to find out who’d be coming in free agency. Then after getting the early July text barrage that LeBron (and friends) had chosen to play for L.A., he’s had two and a half months to brainstorm, workshop and diagram things to prep for training camp.
That’s a lot of line up combinations, ATO’s and rotations to ponder.
But when Walton walked onto the UCLA Health Training Center floor and made his way over to his press conference, he wore a broad smile as he sat down to field questions from assembled media members.
“The opportunity is amazing for this organization, but I’m smiling more because it’s this time of year,” he opened. “I love this time of year. You have NFL going. Baseball is about to start their playoffs, and the NBA is kicking off. For a sports guy, it’s the best time of year. Today kind of feels like, when you’re a kid, that night before Christmas when you’re excited and can’t really sleep.”
Was Walton thrilled about getting the “best player in the game” on his roster? Duh. But that quickly turned into “‘OK, what are we going to do?’”
His core values will stay the same, of course, but LeBron is such a dynamic force on the court that of course there will be an adjustment.
Among the values that should transfer pretty easily to this new roster, given the types of personalities that have been added, is a pretty simple one: play hard. Walton oversaw a team that went from 30th in the NBA in defensive efficiency in 2016-17 to tie for 12th last season. The way he described how hard Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart worked in the offseason helped to explain that.
“The most impressive thing is the habits they built,” he said. “Even though Lonzo wasn’t able to get on the court a lot, he built those same habits this offseason. He was in the gym every day, whether that was lifting weights, doing core work, stretching and things like that. The work ethic and habits they’ve created in this short time speaks to who they are, speaks to how seriously they take the game of basketball. But it’s also the culture that we want, for me, that’s going to allow us to have success for years to come with guys like that around.”
Last year, the Lakers finished tied in 2nd in pace, while the Cavs were 12th. It’s been well documented among NBA circles that LeBron’s never been on a team in the top 10 in pace due in part to how dominant he is controlling a game in the half court … but that doesn’t mean Walton expects the Lakers pace to slow. LeBron hasn’t had this many young teammates that like to get up and down, or this many playmakers – Lonzo, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Ingram, or even Lance Stephenson – on his roster in a while.
“We’re gonna play fast,” said Walton. “Whether it’s the same speed, faster, slower (than last year)… we’ll get to know our team as training camp goes. But we’re going to play fast. We have a very deep team, a lot of guys that can push the ball. We want to attack. We think a big strength of ours this year will be our depth, the amount of guys we can throw at you. (If you) have that type of team it’s a big advantage to push it down and make other teams play more possessions, play at a faster pace. We’re going to continue to play that way.”
During LeBron’s presser, I asked if he’d started to develop any ideas about how the team will play based off the few 5-on-5 runs he’s been a part of, and the game footage he’s watched on his new teammates.
“My game does not change no matter who I’m alongside,” he responded. “I believe my game can fit with anybody. I’m a team-first guy. I love passing the ball, love sharing the ball. And then watching these guys from the outside looking in, the level of pace that they play with I’m excited about. I love running up and down and things of that nature. I think Luke and the coaching staff will let us know what they would like from us to be great. We have to practice that and implement that every single day in order to accomplish what we want to accomplish.”
Walton is certainly aware how much expectations rise with LeBron in the mix, but was careful to say that can’t change the way he and his staff approach building the culture of the team. He also gets the interesting contrast between young players and veterans, and how young players are typically more prone to making mistakes.
“We know players are going to make mistakes,” he said. “We encourage that. We want players taking risks to make plays. But we’re trying to win. Playing time and whether they’re staying in the game or not will be more dependent on are they boxing out, are they rebounding, are they running deep to the corners, how are they defending … If you’re doing all those things, I can live with making mistakes.”
LeBron understands better than most, if not all, NBA players that it takes time for teams to gel. Particularly with young players. So, while he’s excited about the talent on one hand, he’s aware that it’s going to take some time.
“We have a long way to go to get to Golden State,” he said. “They can pick up right where they left off, starting with training camp … we’re picking up from scratch.”
As such, the 14-time All-Star didn’t set a team expectation for this season.
“My expectation is to try and get better every single day,” said James. “I don’t expect nothing. You work for what you want … What I know I can bring to the table is being committed to having excellence every day, from a mind-set standpoint from how I prepare to go out and play. Everything else will take care of itself.”
LeBron did mention how excited he is to play with Rajon Rondo.
“He’s always been one of the most cerebral players, smartest players that I’ve competed against, and one of the most competitive guys I’ve competed against,” said the four-time MVP. “It’s going to be a cool moment when I step on the floor with him, just knowing that the things he’s seeing are the things that I’m seeing, without us having to say anything. There’s not many of us in this league that can actually think and prepare with our minds before we even step on the floor and actually play the game like the two of us.”
As far as how the roster all fits together, there are more questions than answers at this point, so Walton isn’t going to get bogged down on who’s starting games, who’s playing how many minutes, who’s finishing and so on. But he does have a ton of ideas.
In fact, he said he has “a lot of rotations written down” that he wants to see in training camp, including four different versions of small ball line ups.
Lonzo-KCP-Ingram-Kuzma-LeBron? Rondo-Hart-Ingram-Kuzma-LeBron? Lonzo-Svi-Ingram-LeBron-Beasley? Rondo-Lance-Hart-LeBron-Kuzma?
You could keep going, right? Well, that’s what training camp and the preseason are for.
Walton noted that the great thing about that example is how it translates to the three players drafted in 2018, who walk into the gym and see Ball, Ingram, Kuzma or Hart grinding.
“If that’s the example you see being set, that’s how you behave,” said Walton. “And it just keeps going year after year.”
While Walton walked in with a smile before getting down to business, LeBron was all business from the start of his presser.
”He’s setting the tone,” said Walton. “It’s time to work.
Walton acknowledged that LeBron was more “light” when coming in to play pick up and lift in recent weeks, even as his intensity and prep work was still serious.
“But there’s definitely that look that I’ve seen before in somebody that I used to play with that knows the season is coming,” he concluded.
No, Walton didn’t need to say “Kobe Bryant” as he walked off the podium.
But when a reporter said ‘Gee I wonder who that is,’ Walton quipped, “Ronny Turiaf” as he moved onto his next Media Day obligation.