Los Angeles Lakers: Winning Games Isn’t Paramount

Buy into Luke Walton

With the retirement of 20-year Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, the franchise is almost unrecognizable. New players, and perhaps, more importantly, a new coach, have an opportunity to set the tone for the next generation of Lakers basketball.

Nothing is more important this season than seeing Luke Walton instill promising and successful systems that the youngsters buy into with unwavering support.

Walton doesn’t have a massive NBA head coaching resume, but what he does have is a 39-4 record as the interim coach of the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors after Steve Kerr took a leave of absence.

While a lot of that is a result of Kerr — and what NBA GM’s consider the best run offense in the league — Walton has proven he can manage a group of players and their egos at the least.

No matter what Walton has been able to achieve in the weeks leading up to the regular season, it’s not going to be anywhere near the finished product. It’s a very real possibility the 2016-17 version may not even crack 30 wins.

As the losses begin to compound, which they inevitably will, it’s important the players don’t lose faith in the coaching staff and their systems. Early on, everyone seems to be making the right noises as Walton suggests to the OC Register’s Bill Oram:

"“I don’t want to let them down. It seems like they’re going to buy in and trust what we’re teaching. What we’re teaching better be right. Otherwise that’s a really (expletive) feeling.”"

Assuming Walton is the great coach he’s paraded around as being, his schemes will be the way of the future and it’s up to the players to embrace them.