<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Born to play basketball. That might describe every player in the NBA. But nobody has lived it quite like the Lakers' Luke Walton. His father, Bill, is a Hall of Famer who might have been ranked among the NBA's all-time great centers had not foot problems drastically cut short his career. Luke was named for Maurice Lucas, a former teammate of his father. The dinner table at the family home in San Diego sometimes included guests like Larry Bird. And Luke's schooling in the sport was spurred by stiff competition with his brothers Nate (who played at Princeton), Adam (Cal Poly Pomona) and Chris (San Diego State). Luke himself played at Arizona before being drafted by the Lakers. Recently after practice, he sat down with The Times' Steve Springer to talk about the Waltons. Q: Where did you and your brothers hone your basketball skills? A: My dad had a pretty nice half court in a gated-off area of our house. We would play for hours and hours. We would come into the house, eat, go back out to go swimming and then play into the night until the neighbors would come over, put their heads through the gate and ask us to stop. We would get upset about that, but big Bill would come out and make us call it a night. During the school year, we'd quit around 10 or 11. In the summertime, they'd let us go to midnight . Q: So it was the Walton gang against the rest of the block? A: We never played as the Walton family. We were normally the tallest kids, so we'd split up and match up against each other. We always ended up fighting over the games, trash talking. Q: Did your father ever play in those games? A: My Dad couldn't really move. He'd sit out there and maybe ref the games. Or he'd shoot a few hook shots once in awhile. Whenever he was out there, everyone played a little bit harder. Our friends would all be out there trying to show off, show him how good they were. Q: When did you start realizing that your father had been a special player? A: We used to go to the Final Four with him and people always asked for his autograph, always tried to take pictures with him. We didn't know any different. But all we really knew was that he played basketball. I didn't realize how well he had played until I was in high school. That's when I really started learning the history of the game and saw a tape of the UCLA-Memphis St. [1973 NCAA title] game. He made 21 out of 22 shots, he was making passes and he was running the floor. That's when it first dawned on me, 'Hey, he was pretty good.' He was a dominant player, but he was always looking to get his teammates involved. That was one thing he always stressed to us when we were growing up. 'You don't want to be a ball hog,' he'd say. `You want to be a player who can make your teammates better.' He'd always talk about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and those types of guys. Q: Did he ever sit around with you and tell war stories about his playing days? A: You know Bill. He loves to talk. He could talk all day. So we stayed away from asking him any of the questions that would let him run the conversation all night. Q: Was it tough being Bill Walton's son on the court? A: Kids would either rip him, saying my dad was this and that and they hated him, or they'd say, 'You are not as good as your dad.' Growing up, you like that. It motivates you Q: So did your father expect his four sons to follow in his large footsteps? A: All four of us played into college because he was never overbearing. He was never the kind of father who would yell at us and make us go to games. He kind of stayed out of it and let us decide on our own if we wanted to play. We all found the enjoyment ourselves instead of feeling we had to play because our dad wanted us to. He'd go to our games and tell us later what he thought we needed to work on, what we did good and that would be it. He would leave it up to us to go the gym, work out and get better. He wasn't trying to force it on us. He would bring his newspaper to our games and read it during timeouts and at halftime. He wouldn't say a word the whole game. He was always good about that. He still does it now. If we lose a big game, he'll wait a day or two and then call me and say 'Do you want to talk about the game now?'. And I'll say, 'No, not really. Let me be frustrated for awhile. You can critique me tomorrow.' Q: Were you always accepting of his criticism? A: The older I got, the more he knew. I think it's that way with every kid and his dad. When you are in junior high and high school and you are the best kid on the team and then you come home and your dad is telling you stuff, your reaction is 'Whatever, Dad. I scored 35 points tonight. I don't need to listen to you.' When you get older, you start to pay attention to what he's saying. You actually do listen and go out and work on those things. Q: Do you get nervous when you know your father is in the arena watching, either as a broadcaster or a spectator? A: Yeah, I used to before the game. Now, I don't get nervous. I just want to play well with him there. But as soon as the game starts I completely zone out that he's even out there. Q: Do some of the things he says about you on the air as a broadcaster ever get back to you? A: Oh yeah. Especially when he first did our games in college. People would call me and say, 'Your dad was killing you today.' Back then, he would just refer to me as 'Walton' He'd say, 'Oh that was a terrible pass by Walton.' It wasn't even like it was his son out there. He was more nervous about it than I was at first. He called me before one of his first broadcasts of my game and said, 'If you don't want me to do this, I'll call my boss and see if I can get a different game.' I said I was fine with it. 'Are you sure?' he said. Then he did the game and just killed me on the air. </div> Link
<div class="quote_poster">TheBlackMamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I hate Luke Walton. No matter how much I try to like him, I just can't stand him.</div> Why?
<div class="quote_poster">TheBlackMamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I hate Luke Walton. No matter how much I try to like him, I just can't stand him.</div> You're trippin. LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE
<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Why? </div> He just bugs me. I've never liked him, I know he's a great role player for us, but either way, I still can't stand him.
<div class="quote_poster">TheBlackMamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He just bugs me. I've never liked him, I know he's a great role player for us, but either way, I still can't stand him.</div> Um, alright. lol
i really enjoy the old man's commentary. he has personality. they need more guys with personality calling games. mike tirico has to go... I like Jon Barry a lot. off topic i know
How can you hate Luke Walton? He's a great team guy, smart player, and seems to always have his best games in big games...
