The Walton Hire
2022-06-01The Cleveland Cavaliers have hired Luke Walton as an assistant coach. Chris Fedor has a short piece on the hiring, as does Adrian Wojnarowski.
Before his firing a brief 11 games into the current season, Walton logged two identical (31-41) seasons as the coach of the Sacramento Kings franchise over two pandemic-truncated seasons. As he concluded his head coaching tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, Walton notched a similar winning percentage, averaging 36 wins a year in his final two 82-game seasons in that position.
According to a Sporting News article at the time of his Kings firing, he’s guaranteed $11.5 million for 2021-22 and 2022-23 from the Kings. A Sports Illustrated piece on his firing indicated “his stock had fallen” but given that he began his head coaching career going 39-4 with “one of the greatest teams ever assembled” in Golden State, that isn’t necessarily saying a lot.
Luke Walton back in the Land brings back memories of one of my favorite non-playoff lineups: 2013's Herculoids, featuring Walton, Speights, Livingston, and Ellington. The first 3 Herculoids figured prominently the next few years for Golden State.https://t.co/h6soH4aGnB pic.twitter.com/1JtwZeUGvE
— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) May 31, 2022
-The Cavs really have something with Livingston / Ellington / Speights / Walton / Miles. I cannot stress enough how putrid 4th quarters used to be. The Cavaliers bench is dominating opponents. As for the starters, they’ve gone through the grinder this season. And while there is much work to be done – the talent is undeniable. It’s nice to see games like this where the Cavs seem to put it all together. They had a gameplan, they didn’t get pushed around by a team playing tougher (been a huge problem so far this season) and they executed offense in the halfcourt. I hope the basketball acumen of guys like Walton and Livingston is being rapidly absorbed by the “rising stars”.
new post is up, Eli Kim and Chris Francis on ‘the wing obsession’ !!
Thanks Adam! Out here handing out assists DG style!!!
Does anyone here subscribe to the Plain Dealer? Any 8nteresting Cavs nuggets in Fedor’s latest, Hey Chris piece?
but i thought Steph was the greatest ever and better than Lebron
Derrick White 5-8 from 3. +25.
So glad we traded for LeVert instead (/s).
Despite my history (Cavs, Sixers, Hawks) I find myself rooting for Boston.
Horford, White, Brown, & Smart were all excellent. Dubs went 5:00 without a point in the 4th. Tatum was like 3-17 but had 13 dimes.
Well, well….Boston earning a little respect right here. Maybe not the short series we all thought it was going to be.
yes.. for me, just went from 70-30 GS at the tip-off to 50-50 after gm 1.. klay needs to up his game significantly for GS to win.. but tatum may up his as well.. looks like a dog-fight.. if koby can earn his $$ and do something really shrewd and intelligent (not betting on it) and cavs can add some talent, and everyone improves next year, things may get very interesting in the new east.. plus, good for old man horford.. from all reports a decent guy and an old-school work horse.. pathetic game by draymond.. better up your effort… Read more »
Al ate Draymond’s lunch. Though the C’s had Al on Looney and Tatum on Dray, Williams on Wiggins.
Well past time for Kerr to tell Wiggins to just not shoot the ball. Every time he shoots it’s a clear win for Boston. Just defend, dude.
🤪🤪🤪🤪
I MUST ENJOY “LIVING LIFE ON THE EDGE’—-OUT WORKING ON THE MRS NOMADS HONEYDO LIST// GARDENING—-MADE A SARCASTIC COMMENT WHEN SHE BENT OVER TO PULL WEEDS –( HARD TO BELIEVE I HAVE ANY SARCASM IN ME )—-THE MRS NOMAD QUICKLY RETORTED—– ” JUST TO LET YOU KNOW —STUDIES HAVE SHOWN WOMEN WHO CARRY A” LITTLE” EXTRA WEIGHT LIVE ALOT LONGER THAN MEN WHO MENTION IT “——–YEP BEEN TOGETHER OVER 45 YEARS AND I STILL HAVEN’T LEARNED TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT………….” MORE BEER PLEASE ” :-)—–OH BY THE WAY THE MRS NOMAD STILL HAS HER ‘GIRLY ” FIGURE THAT STILL… Read more »
yes NOMAD bro.. when in doubt, keep it zipped.. just wondering, does the mrs NOMAD allowed you to wear your “cleaver” pants off the farm ?
Nice piece.
I love the gold unis from the past, particularly the 79’s wine & gold checks on the side/edges.
I do not like the black, blue, or blue & orange nearly as much
I generally come to like whatever color “my” team is wearing.
It is complicated for me because at the time I thought choosing the name Cavaliers was a BAD BAD idea, compounded by then choosing wine and gold for colors. Was that Ted Stepian’s idea? water under the bridge now.
The new gold look is basically “Harvest Gold”, as used on refrigerators and dish washers in the 60’s and 70’s. They might add “Avocado”, “Mauve”, and “Warm Brown” next.
It’s the same one from 20009—2015
that is a sad thought.
I generally learn to like stuff that my teams wear, but this is hard.
I thought “Wine and Gold” color scheme was a lousy idea in the first place, and the “Blue and Orange” era was a huge improvement. I have a mint condition B&O jacket (seem to have shrunk a bit, or I have more beer muscle?). Who’s idea was it to revert to a bad idea?
The recent “Mustard Gold” and Navy Blue looked OK. How is (more realistic) dull gold an improvement? When was the last sports team that opted to “dull down” their color scheme? Sheesh.
Still figuring out what exactly he brings to the table that the coaching staff was missing a year ago. Were Waltons teams offensive minded? I don’t really see anything resembling that. Is he going to be able to develop different guys and maybe get Okoro/Lamar to another level? I’m never a big fan of NBA retreads and Cavs could have found some young assistant who brings specialized offensive game plans. This team needs to work on offense and be capable of scoring if/when their top guys are out (rest/fouls/injury).
BTW – hilarious picture for this post haha
What is the blue “bursting into flames” logo at the bottom?
sportslogos .net
Good site if you’re into visuals of sports
thnx, interesting site, and discussion of the new Cavs look.
Ugh. I don’t like it. Gold looks very flat and dull.
Every time we try to rebrand, we either go borderline cartoonish or fall flat. Every time.
I really want a branding that could complement having rich and winning history. Yankees, Bulls, Lakers, Steelers, Packers, White Sox even Chiefs. Designs that could go timeless. I want that to happen to the favorite sports team of my life.
This is the best chance we could have that outside of the LeBron-era… and this. Ugh…
Im sold on the previous branding except for the uniforms.
But this cmon! Who’s the one doing and approving this???
The black the wine everything is less deep compared to the previous. Doesn’t look professional at all. Nothing pops out every thing is like neutral tone.
So frustrating!
THINK IT IS A GOOD HIRE —-BELIEVE HE HAS VERY GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLLS WITH PLAYERS—-OFFENSE MIND // INNOVATIVE —–DON’T THINK WE CAN JUDGE HIM BY HIS RECORD AT SACARAMENTO OR L.A. —THOSE WERE BOTH RATHER CHALLENGING POORLY ASSEMBLED TEAMS ——IF NOTHING ELSE IT GOT US TALKING // RELIVING THE ‘HERCCULOID DAYS ” !!
It is pretty much impossible to predict the effect of adding a particular assistant coach.
I do think that something had to be done to upgrade JB’s in game coaching. Will this help? We shall see.
A gamble, but so is everything.
J.B. has some great aspects. So far, down the stretch coaching has not been one of them. If Luke can help with that, it is a win.
Thnaks Adam. I think Walton is mostly a mystery box right now…not sure what they’re thinking he’ll bring to the staff in particular. The general buzz seems to be that he was a good assistant, would be interested to know what his role will be.