Luke Walton's Struggling Season

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Luke Walton leaned forward in the chair at his locker and stared down at the purple carpet in front of him, his eyes fixated a few feet from the Laker logo in the center of the room.

"I'm trying to deal with it," he said. "It's a first for me. Hopefully I'll get my chance one of these games."

Walton's second pro season has been markedly different from his first. Laker followers still roll his name off the ends of their tongues whenever he enters a game, but Walton's production and playing time have fallen.
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I love this kid. He is like Mark Madsen but better. What I mean by that is, the crowd loves him, he is a Laker fan favorite. He has been struggling though, and there is no reason to put him in the game if he is struggling, let him show that he is getting better in practice, then he will see more PT.

 

The last few games, Luke has been getting more minutes, which means he will likely be traded before the deadline. The Lakers have Devean George coming back, and Walton doesn't seem to fit into what Rudy T wants to do with the Lakers. The way Jumaine Jones has come on, makes Walton the odd man out at the small forward spot. The Lakers and Celtics might revisit the Banks for Walton trade. Like Walton, Banks has been struggling with the Celtics. The trade makes sense for both units and would mean the Lakers can finally rid themselves of Tierre-able Brown.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cypher:</div><div class="quote_post">I simply don't understand why Rudy T can't find more ways to include Luke Walton into the lineup.

There are some types of players in the NBA. One type are players who put up big numbers, but they don't improve your team at all. Juwan Howard, Bobby Sura, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Lee Nailon... the list could go on. And there are a few players in the NBA who don't put up to much on the statsheet but they still improve your team when they are on the court. Luke Walton is one of 'em. But still I get the impression that a lot of coaches are just people who take a look at the statsheet too much rather than looking what the team plays like when they got a certain group out there.

Luke is a special player. Yeah he will probably never be a huge scorer, he will never be a dominating force on defense. But this guy is just so intelligent on the court and makes everyone around him better when he plays. It's just not reflected on the statsheet when the game is over and that kills him.

Sometimes I'm really upset that coaches seem to look at stats more than watching the game.

With Chucky Atkins not being more than a shooting guard in a point guards body and Lamar Odom very obviously overextended with the task of leading this team and being a go-to guy the Lakers very obviously need someone who can create on offense. Luke can do that, even without the need of being a big scorer himself. And his shot has improved, so opponents couldn't really afford to leave him open on the perimeter all the time.

I'd hate it if Luke was traded, but if he does end up getting traded I hope he ends up at a team that is grateful for his skills. Unlike the Lakers </div>
I agree, Rudy T needs to find more playing time for Luke Walton. The Lakers are struggling with moving around on offense and finding easy shots. Luke Walton probably has the best court vision on the Lakers, and he's great at creating open looks for teammates. The only problem with Luke's game is his defense and sometimes he shys away from an open look.

He played great against the the Sonics the other night, because he was aggressive with the ball on offense, and he took advantage of wide open 3pt shots. He scored 19 points in 19 mins!

With Devean George coming back soon, Walton's going to rack up even more DNPs. The Lakers have a logjam at the forward spots, and deficiency in the backcourt, so a trade has to be in the works.