When the Golden State Warriors won 73 games and only lost nine during the record setting 2016-17 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers took credit for one of those historic nine blemishes. So, when the Warriors rolled into Staples Center and got run out of the building on Friday night, the 20-point win raised a few eyebrows, but it shouldn't have come as a shock.
If the Lakers make the playoffs, that would still be shocking, and Walton would be a sure fire pick for Coach of the Year. Also, the Lakers would likely slide in as a seventh or eighth seed, which could lead to a fun series against those same Warriors.
Hope springs eternal in Laker Land these days.
Although the Lakers have an interesting cast of veterans like Jose Calderon, Lou Williams, Timofey Mozgov, Metta World Peace, Luol Deng and Nick Young, the success of the 2016-17 season largely depends on the young core of Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, Tarik Black, D'Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr. and Brandon Ingram. Ivica Zubac has his role on the team and a bright future if he continues to develop, but the 19-year-old Croatian center is not expected to play major minutes in his rookie season, though he is the replacement starter anytime Mozgov misses time.
Even if the Lakers don't make the playoffs, Walton probably deserves the award as long as he keeps empowering young and old players who have thus far continued to repay their coach by beating expectations.
Young is probably the best example of Walton waving his magic wand and transforming a player overnight. In his 31st year in life and his 10 year in the NBA, Young is playing defense with passion and joy, which is not something that one ever expected to say about the LA-native prior to this season. With Walton, Young is doing two things he did not do in his first two seasons with the Lakers; he is playing tough defense every night, and he's starting for the Lakers.
One can marvel at Young's transformation and entirely miss the resurgence of Williams. Like Young, Williams is also playing better defense. Also playing point guard and serving as a play maker with the second unit of late in games, Williams has been playing so well that Clarkson is closing out games on the bench.
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If the Lakers make the playoffs, Williams will be a leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, as he has been instrumental down the stretch for the Lakers in each of their last two victories. While on the topic of awards, Randle deserves an early shout for Most Improved Player if he continues his fast start to the season. Randle is shooting nearly 60 percent from the field and is bordering on averaging a double-double, while playing improved defense.
Walton has done a tremendous job with the Lakers' young stars since taking over. In particular, Russell gushes over Walton at every occasion, going back to when he turned up at the coach's first press conference in El Segundo and applauded demonstratively. Seemingly, Russell's relationship with his coach has switch 180 degrees with the coaching change.
Randle and Nance both appear to be happy under the coach's allotment of minutes, with no single player on the entire roster averaging even 30 minutes per game. Randle, Russell and Clarkson lead the team in minutes, each averaging somewhere between 26 and 28 minutes per game.
Walton's decision to use Young as a starter displayed the bold, trusting nature of Walton's staff. Now, Russell and Young share a backcourt together, which is incredibly considering the two had trouble sitting in the same room together at the end of the last season. On Friday, Young celebrated a made basket by slapping hands with Russell.
The repairing of that broken relationship is on Walton for getting more out of Young and making him so valuable to the team's success that the potential off court distractions dissipated because the bouncing ball was all that mattered. The reconciliation is on Young, too, because the 31-year-old is a particularly pleasant personality where staying angry for long periods of time simply doesn't seem to be embedded in his DNA.
From a technical standpoint, Walton has improved the Lakers' defense, as the team regularly swarms and traps the opposition to force turnovers and capitalize on mistakes. Offensively, the Lakers actually run something that resembles a modern NBA offense. For a couple years prior to Walton's arrival, the previous statement could not be confirmed.
At every turn and from the inside out, Walton has improved the Lakers. Ingram, who the Lakers drafted with the no. 2 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, is already a contributing vital cog in the team. Walton got the 19-year-old focused on defense early in camp and in preseason, and the rookie is one of LA's most versatile and valuable defenders.
Ingram's length makes up for the mass he lacks as a 19-year-old, and Walton even saw enough skill, talent and understanding to thrust the kid into a point forward role with the team. He plays in that role for stretches during every game.
The idea of point forward extends to the starting unit, too, as Randle often handles the ball up the court and allows Russell to be more of a shooting guard. The interchangeability on both ends of the court is stunning and entirely modern.
In style and approach, Walton has finally launched the Lakers back to relevance and accelerated their rebuilding timeline.
With seemingly every player capable of playing multiple positions and asked to play multiple roles, the team has more confidence in understanding the system as a whole because of the changing roles on both ends of the court. Walton utilizes players in seemingly endless combinations. Randle and Nance spending time on the court together serves as a prime example of the Lakers' malleability.
Less than two weeks into a new season, Walton has already done more to fix the Lakers than most anyone could have imagined. Consistency rather than complacency on Sunday, however, will be the major indicator on whether Walton and the Lakers are able to jump 10 steps ahead during the 2016-17 season or only five steps ahead.
Either way, the Lakers are finally catching up.
