Now that he is officially the head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, Luke Walton will have plenty of things to figure out as he looks to turn things around for a franchise coming off the two worst seasons record-wise in franchise history.
One question regarding Walton is what kind of offensehe is looking to run as the right style will be necessary to get the most out of the Lakers’ young talent.
In his first interview since being named Lakers coach, Walton said that he wanted to run an offense similar to that run in Golden state via Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times:
Luke will run offense more like Golden State, with spacing and motion, he says.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) April 30, 2016
Walton also said that the triangle offense would not work for the Lakers given their personnel via Bresnahan:
Walton will not run the triangle offense as the Lakers' coach. It's not the "most appropriate" offense for personnel they have, he said.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) April 30, 2016
The last note about the triangle offense is interesting as there have been plenty of rumors about Phil Jackson coming back to the Lakers in the coming years and he will always be a proponent of that particular style.
Nonetheless, Walton focusing on motion, spacing, and passing will be a nice departure from what the Lakers ran this past season. The Lakers ranked dead last in the NBA in points and assists, and next to last in offensive rating so Walton making some changes on that end should help to get the most out of the Lakers young players that he is so excited about.