Lakers' Walton Juggling Veterans, Youth and Winning

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers are in the state capital to take on the Sacramento Kings in a brand new arena, Golden 1 Center. Sacramento has won two in a row and is only a half-game behind the Lakers in the standings. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

Coach can still D up (and take a charge) when he has to #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/U0LaEsPIlJ — Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 9, 2016

Entering the third week of the season, Luke Walton continues to motivate from the sidelines and occasionally even hits the practice court. During Wednesday's practice, the 36-year-old coach decided to bang bodies with some of his big men. He even got a charge called on Thomas Robinson. With his chill demeanor and intelligent understanding of the game, it's easy to see why seemingly everyone on the team has a man-crush on the coach.

"They only have positive things to say about me because we've only been here for so long," Walton told USA Today recently. "I think in time, they won't think so highly of me."

For now, though, seemingly no one is weary of Walton.

On election morning, prior to any results coming in, Lakers president Jeanie Buss posted a picture of Walton and nominated him as a write-in candidate for the presidential election. At the time, NBCLA.com has not attempted to confirm the exact number of votes the Lakers' coach received, but his popularity inside the locker room, with management and with the fans is so high that the thought of him receiving a handful of votes wouldn't be all too surprising.

Write in candidate Luke for President!!! #vote2016 #Lakers Family @RamsRhome16 pic.twitter.com/XpVHEOk7Z4 — Jeanie Buss (@JeanieBuss) November 8, 2016

This coach has played a delicate balance with his veterans and with his young players. Veterans Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng understand that their role is to start games but not always finish them. Mozgov and Deng came into the season as LA's two major free agent acquisitions. Considering the two contracts long-term contracts, Deng at $72 million and Mozgov at $64 million, one would have expected LA would get more usage out of the two players.

"It's tough because you're trying to develop young guys at the same time," Walton explained after Tuesday's game. "Would I feel comfortable with Mozgov and Luol finishing games? Absolutely. But I feel like if our young guys are playing at a high enough level, then it's a great opportunity if we can still win and get those end of [game] type of situations where you really have to execute, you really have to defend."

Walton added, "Luol and Timo have been great. They've been professional."

Already, the model for both players seems to be to use them as regular contributors playing heavy minutes in the first halves of games and reducing that number in second halves to allow for younger players to gain meaningful NBA experience.

"The only way to close games out is to experience it," Walton explained why the young players tend to get the nod over the experienced vets.

"I think they understand that while we're trying to win right now and become a better team, we're also trying to develop younger players," Walton said about Mozgov and Deng's roles on the team.

Clearly, the goal is to develop the youth first, while also trying to win games. Deng may stay out there if he's playing especially well or if one of the young core players is off his game. Also, the South Sudan native can play multiple positions, so he earns more opportunities to stay on the court in crunch time. Still, Deng has played over a minute in the fourth quarter only twice in the past five games.

Mozgov's role is even clearer: start games but don't finish them.

Thus far, Mozgov has watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench in six of seven games he's started.

In one of the games, the giant Russian was disqualified after getting hit in the eye during the third quarter and experiencing blurry vision. In Indiana, television announcers pointed out that Mozgov could not re-enter the game if he didn't shoot his free throws, but the numbers bear out that he wouldn't have reentered the game even if he had attempted the foul shots. The foul occurred late in the third quarter, and Mozgov rarely plays the fourth.

On that occasion, Pacers coach Nate McMillan originally chose Tarik Black to shoot the free throws, as he could pick any opposing player to shoot the foul shots. But then, the coach saw Metta World Peace poking his head up off the bench like whack-a-mole and decided to give the former Ron Artest a chance to get on the court in the city where Artest played his best basketball.

World Peace wanted to get into the game with such enthusiasm that he screamed "I love basketball" in between shooting free throws. The clip went viral on the internet and in the locker room.

Now, "I Love Basketball" is the team motto. At Staples Center, a Snapchat filter sponsored by the Lakers pops up with World Peace's face and the internet famous phrase: “I love basketball."

Metta World Peace "I love basketball" snapchat filter. I showed Metta & he loved it enough that he made @EricPincus and me take a pic. pic.twitter.com/4dKWOYDtyf — Shahan Ahmed (@shahanLA) November 7, 2016

"We don't say, 'Team on 3,'" Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell said after the Lakers' shock win over the Golden State Warriors recently. "We don’t say, 'Lakers on 3,' We say 'I love basketball on 3.'"

World Peace, who turns 37 over the weekend, is actually older than Walton by about four months and serves as a locker room coach of sorts. Since World Peace's words are now the team's slogan, the players seem to be on board with World Peace as much as they are with Walton.

As exciting as the Lakers' young talent may be and as much attention as they may draw, the veterans' understanding and acceptance of their respective reduced roles play a massive part in why Walton's Lakers are ahead of schedule.

From the top of the roster to the 15th man, seemingly, everyone on the Lakers is buying in. Everyone loves basketball.