Link <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton will undergo surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle on Friday. The surgery will be done in Los Angeles and a timetable for his recovery will be provided afterward, the team said Tuesday.</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (huevonkiller @ Jul 17 2008, 12:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe this will help his game, it sure is lacking.</div> Fixed.
The problem with Walton is he doesn't have a true position on the court. He's not quick or athletic enough to play SF, and he doesn't have a mid-range game to be effective at the three spot. At PF, he's not strong enough and doesn't have the length to make up for his lack of jumping ability. Luke's bball IQ is also an over used cliche and he's given too, much credit for it. I've seen Luke make several bone head mistakes during the course of his career and most of them happen during crunch time. However, PJax really loves having Luke on the floor for some odd reason, and I do feel bad about his struggles with his dad's health. Luke showed some flashes in the Denver series of what he's capable of doing, but Denver isn't a physical team and they don't play defense. Against Utah he was man-handled by Harpring and Milsapp. I think Luke needs to make a decision on the type of forward he wants to be. He either needs to bulk up to be more effective at PF, or slim down and work on explosiveness at SF. I think his best option is playing PF, because he has the frame to add on extra weight, and he has a decent back to the basket game.
I don't get it What made Luke such an effective player during his contract year? He was at one point our third best player, and probably our second most consistent player. I know Luke can play at a higher level, he's done it before. It's not like Mitch just threw the huge contract at Luke for no reason, he is capable of playing good basketball. I just think he's slacking off now because of the contract. I don't think he worked on his game at all last offseason, and now with the surgery, I doubt he's going to be able to put much work in this offseason either
