Archive for the 'Luke Walton' Category

Luke Walton: Exit Interview

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on June 16, 2009
in Luke Walton
. Closed

blog_090616lukewaltonEmbracing his roll off the bench after starting 34 games before the All-Star break, all the while battling foot and ankle injuries, Luke Walton played a key roll off the bench in the playoffs thanks primarily to his basketball IQ and ability to move the basketball.

He averaged 5.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 17.9 minutes per game on 43.6 percent shooting, plus 3.8 points, 2.5 boards and 2.1 assists in 15.8 minutes of postseason action.

Below are highlights of his exit interview:

- Walton pointed out that Adam Morrison should be the one to play the Mark Madsen dance role at the parade.

- “We feel like we can (do it again),” Walton said when asked about his outlook on next season. He noted that the front office is going to have a lot of work to do to keep the team together, and said: “I know they want to.”

- Like Fisher and Gasol, Walton had a positive note about Phil Jackson’s potential return: “I hope he’s coming back. The way he was talking was what he expects for next year, everything with the intention that he’ll be back. Obviously I can’t read into Phil, not many people can. I’m sure he’ll let the people know this summer.”

- On his adversity-filled year: “I think because of all (the adversity) it makes it that much more special. I had surgery in the offseason and when I came back they were already going with Vladi (Vladimir Radmanovic) and Trevor (Ariza) off the bench…” Then Walton hurt his foot, and had to earn back his bench minutes after Radmanovic was traded.

- Walton first developed his knack for making plays by competing with his older brothers as a way to stay on the court (they wouldn’t let him shoot much). He said he’s always enjoyed making plays, and then when it became easy to get 30 in high school and do what it took to get games, but when he got to college with players like Gilbert Arenas and Richard Jefferson (at Arizona), he “Stopped shooting as much and turned more into a facilitator.” Full circle.

- His primary focus in the offseason is putting his body in position not to get hurt, in addition to improving his outside shooting.

- Walton said he hasn’t focused too much on being one of three father-son combinations, and quipped that there will be some pressure on one of his future kids to win one when prompted by a reporter’s facetious question.

- Finally, on the season: “It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. I thought we had an unbelievable team as far as chemistry and I think if we can bring this team back we’ll definitely be competing for a title at least for the next couple of years. It’ll be interesting to see how they work it out … We’ll have to see what other teams are offering (to our free agents).”

Walton To Be Activated

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on May 6, 2009
in Luke Walton and Pre-Game
. Closed

Luke Walton has made steady progress since partially tearing the deltoid ligament in his left ankle in Game 4 against Utah, so much so that Phil Jackson said he’s likely to be activated against Houston for Game 2.

Walton had “no effects from yesterday’s practice,” according to Jackson, and has been cleared for action.

Kobe Bryant “Fine,” Will Start

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on May 4, 2009
in Injury News, Kobe Bryant and Luke Walton
. Closed

“He’s OK,” said Phil Jackson on Monday about Kobe Bryant, who missed Sunday’s practice with a sore throat. “He says he’s fine, and we’ll go with that … I really don’t have any concerns.”

Bryant got a workout in early on Monday morning and participated in shootaround, and will start against the Rockets.

Jackson also had positive news regarding Luke Walton’s progress from the partial tear in the deltoid ligament of his left ankle. While the head coach said that Walton remains a game time decision, he acknowledged that his backup small forward did participate in shootaround:

“He’s looking better, we’re hopeful,” he concluded.

L.A.’s Game 1 tip against Houston is at 7:30 p.m.; for a full series preview, CLICK HERE.

Walton “Absolutely” Expected to Play

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on April 30, 2009
in Injury News, Luke Walton, Podcast and Practice News
. Closed

Luke Street ClothesOn his way out of the practice facility, we caught up with Luke Walton to see how his ankle is feeling almost a week after he partially tore the deltoid ligament in his left ankle.

“I’m feeling really good,” he said. “I’m excited with how well my ankle’s responding and how much better it feels from day-to-day*.”
*Listen for yourself with the audio at the bottom of this post.

You did hear the word “absolutely” in there, though a specific date is (as always) not available. Nonetheless, Phil Jackson weighed in on Walton’s situation with this post-practice comment: “He’s happy with (his progress). Luke looks like he’s going to be a player who’s going to play in this next series, for sure.”

It was good ankle news all around in El Segundo, as Trevor Ariza called his a non issue, while even Sun Yue seemed fully recovered from his ankle sprain from a few weeks back.

Meanwhile, the Lakers will take Friday off, and resume practice on Saturday.

 
icon for podpress  Luke Walton Ankle Audio [1:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Luke Walton Injury Update

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on April 27, 2009
in Injury News and Luke Walton
. Closed

After receiving only eight minutes of burn in L.A.’s Game 3 loss at Utah, Luke Walton was critical to L.A.’s success in Game 4, sparking a 20-2 second quarter run with a three-pointer and collecting two key third quarter steals that helped push the Lakers to a 20-point advantage.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, Walton also sprained his ankle in that third quarter, and found out this news on Monday, as stated by L.A.’s PR department:

Lakers forward Luke Walton, who suffered a sprained left ankle in Saturday night’s Game 3 at Utah, had an MRI exam this morning. Results of the test show a partial tear of the deltoid ligament.

Walton will be out indefinitely and his status will be re-evaluated in approximately one week.

What does this mean for the Lakers?

Phil Jackson said that both Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom would see time on the wing in Walton’s place, which signifies that Sasha Vujacic in particular will see more time at guard. Furthermore, Andrew Bynum may be needed to play more than the 14 combined minutes he played in games three and four, and would probably start if Utah doesn’t play center Mehmet Okur, who was ineffective in 13 minutes in L.A.’s 108-94 Game 4 win.

If Walton’s is the bad news for L.A., the good is that starting small forward Trevor Ariza - who also tweaked his ankle on Saturday - is expected to play. Ariza told Jackson he was fine while taking shots alongside teammates at Monday’s shootaround, and is listed as “probable.”

Ariza Probable, Walton Questionable for Game 5

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on April 26, 2009
in Luke Walton, Practice News and Trevor Ariza
. Closed

What was it about L.A.’s small forwards and ankle injuries in Utah?

Let’s take a look:

Starter Trevor Ariza: Prior to L.A.’s 108-94 Game 4 victory in Salt Lake City on Saturday evening, Ariza tweaked his right ankle by stepping on Josh Powell’s foot, and aggravated the injury during the first quarter. That didn’t prevent him, however, from playing 27 minutes and coming up with a key steal and three-pointer in the fourth quarter. He finished with five points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Status: Ariza is listed as probable for Monday’s game and expected to start.

Sub Luke Walton: During a third quarter run in which Walton played a crucial role, he jammed his ankle - spraining it without rolling it - and missed most of the rest of the ball game. Nonetheless, he contributed markedly with nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in only 18 minutes.
Status: Walton is listed as questionable and will be a game-time decision.

After Sunday’s practice, Phil Jackson confirmed that Ariza is the more likely Laker to play, but didn’t rule anything out. Fortunately for Jackson, he can slide Sasha Vujacic, Kobe Bryant or Lamar Odom over to the wing, and might activate Adam Morrison should Ariza or Walton not be able to go. Clearly, clinching their series against the Jazz is paramount for a team that would like not only to allow its small forwards to rehabilitate, but get some needed rest for Pau Gasol and additional practice time for Andrew Bynum.

Post Practice Video: Sunday
To watch Jackson’s post-practice comments, along with those of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, CLICK HERE.

Friendly Success

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 23, 2009
in Features, Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton
. Closed

Luke WaltonLuke Walton and Jordan Farmar have their Matt Damon - Ben Affleck thing going on, no question about it.

The question is, does that friendship translate into success onto the NBA floor?

“I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation between being good friends and playing well together on the court,” said Walton upon first consideration. “I think it more has to do with our styles of playing the game. We both understand the game pretty well and over the past two years, we’ve played a lot of 2-of-2 and 3-on-3 with each other and developed a good feel for each other’s games.”

Farmar had a different perspective.

“It definitely helps,” he countered. “If you’re friends with someone, you know their game, you know what they’re good at, you know how to put them in a position to be successful and you want them to be successful. They want the same for you, so it’s a different kind of chemistry and feeling out there when you like, know and enjoy people you’re playing with.”

So … which is it?

To read more, CLICK HERE to visit the article’s home on Lakers.com.

Walton Feeling Zona’s Sweet 16

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 23, 2009
in Adam Morrison, Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Miscellaneous and Shannon Brown
. Closed

March MadnessA No. 12 seed into the Sweet 16, huh?

“I tried to tell everyone already,” said Luke Walton without too much prompting regarding his Arizona Wildcats. “My teammates were all getting on me for picking Arizona because I was showing favoritism to my school, but I’m a realist. I just told them what was going to happen. I have them going to the National Championship game.”

While ‘Zona still has a long ways to go to get there - they’d have to beat Louisville, the Michigan State/Kansas winner and likely either UCONN or Memphis - Walton’s already feeling pretty good. He correctly picked 38 of the 48 possible games played in rounds one and two, and was the only participant in our Lakers.com March Madness contest (he ranks third behind Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison) to correctly take Arizona to the Sweet 16, where they’ll face Rick Pitino’s squad.

“We have a tough matchup against Louisville, but we have two kids starting for Arizona that are from San Diego, which definitely helps,” said Walton, who coincidentally happens to be from San Diego. “We have a tough point guard in Nic Wise – you need a tough point to succeed in the tourney – and we have one of the best big men in the country in Jordan Hill. That’s the recipe for success right there.”

Now, if his teammates are talking trash, Walton’s not listening.

“The things is, my teammates aren’t even allowed to talk to me about it – except for Shannon (Brown) and Adam (Morrison), because they’ve got Michigan State and Gonzaga still going,” Walton explained. “If your team is out of it, you can’t speak to the people that have teams still playing for something. You can’t talk trash – I mean you can talk to me, just not about college basketball.”

So if Brown or Morrison wants to have a nice lil’ NCAA conversation with Luke, it’s all good. On the other hand, an example of guys who aren’t allowed to speak to Walton about college hoops are Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar, whose UCLA Bruins lost in the second round to Villanova.

“That’s what happens when you don’t win your conference or conference tournament, you get a higher seed and have to go up against a team playing great basketball in their hometown (Philadelphia),” said Farmar. “I took the hit in my Lakers.com bracket with my Bruins pick to win it all, but if I’m going down it’s going to be with my boys.”

Fair enough.

Ariza to Continue Starting

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 11, 2009
in Luke Walton, Post-Game and Trevor Ariza
. Closed

ArizaPrior to L.A.’s win against Houston, Luke Walton approached head coach Phil Jackson with an idea: why not see if L.A.’s flow worked better with Trevor Ariza starting and Walton coming off the bench?

Jackson concurred, and both players were effective in L.A.’s 102-96 win. Ariza scored eight points with six boards, three assists and two steals in 29 minutes, while Walton logged eight points alongside five boards and two assists in 23 minutes.

Jackson said the team would stick with that lineup for the foreseeable future.

Ariza had protested a starting role earlier in the season, but apparently changed his tune when the bench wasn’t producing much in the last few weeks. After the Houston win, Ariza said that “It’s cool” for him to continue starting, as long as it’s helping the team.

Red and White On Lakers’ Back

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 5, 2009
in Luke Walton, Practice News and Video
. Closed

Luke Walton on Kevin DurantWith the Lakers set to play 10-of-13 games on the road after Friday’s home game vs. Minnesota, we wonder how much harder it is to win on the road with a giant target draped across a team’s back?

Clearly, with their 21-8 road record standing out as the league’s best, getting a given opponent’s best effort hasn’t been too much of a problem for L.A. … Yet and still, the Lakers logo has been at the center of the white and red circles throughout this particular season: Arenas are sold out every game, opposing fans are charged to the nth degree and players around the league consistently want to prove themselves against the only team other than Boston that boasts both elite talent and tradition.

One of the questions we asked Luke Walton is if opposing teams have gotten this revved up against the previous Lakers teams in his career, or if the team’s skill level this season is afforded more effort? Furthermore, does this help excuse road losses like L.A. suffered in Denver and Phoenix, games in which both opponents played as if losing would result in, I don’t know, the loss of that game’s check? Or was that simple fatigue resulting from a February out of their California nookie-blankie?

What do you think, Luke?