Luke Walton is making the Los Angeles Lakers great again. Okay, maybe not great, but definitely fun. They’re only 15 games into their campaign, but Walton has already managed to change what had previously been a toxic culture.
Of course, the Lakers were going to benefit just by virtue of no longer having Kobe Bryant around to fruitlessly turn back the hands of time, or Byron Scott to do his best impression of an old man yelling at a cloud.
Who knows, maybe if it was Scott Brooks, Frank Vogel or any other recycled coach patrolling the sidelines, the Lakers would still be sitting where they are – at 8-7 and currently in the playoff picture.
For where the franchise currently is at though, the wins and losses are secondary to intangibles like the excitement they inspire, team chemistry and player development. And on that front, few could be doing what Walton is.
Yes, this a franchise with 16 championship banners hanging from the rafters and with a fan base that have great expectations, but Laker fans should be appreciating the long-term foundation that Walton is laying down.
Lakers beat OKC without D'Angelo Russell -- and move into tie for sixth in West. It's early, but heck of a job thus far by Luke Walton & Co.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) November 23, 2016
For one, you can actually watch this team now without wanting to claw your eyes out after the 10th Kobe fadeaway clangs off the rim.
They’re still prone to getting stuck in isolation at times – what young team isn’t? – but they do move the ball, as evidenced by ranking 12th in the league in assists per game with 22.1. That hardly makes them the ‘Showtime Lakers’, but it’s definitely progress from ranking dead last in the category last season and 20th in 2014-15.
The improved passing – what a concept! – combined with Walton bringing over principles from his time spent in the Bay and their young talent has allowed the team to have the seventh-best offensive rating in the NBA with 107.6 points per 100 possessions.
By no means are they flawless. Defence is where most of their problems lie, but their offensive firepower has greatly reduced their margin of error on that end of the floor. And yet, the Lakers don’t have a single player who’s scoring at least 20 points per game.
In fact, their highest scorer is sixth man Lou Williams, who’s tallying 16.6 points. He’s one of five players averaging double figures, joined by Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Nick Young. Clarkson, Russell, Randle and Brandon Ingram are really the core pieces the Lakers can build around and they’ve all shown promise this season.
All of a sudden, the franchise has another avenue of returning to prominence, instead of focusing solely on drawing the starriest free agent names, because newsflash, their famed appeal just isn’t there right now.
The bad news for this season is they’ll likely face unintended consequences for unexpectedly being as good as they are, which could see them both miss the playoffs and lose their top-three protected draft pick owed to Philadelphia.
It’s a steep price, but one worth paying to finally bring the Lakers into the modern age and make the team objectively enjoyable.
