Is Walton’s job in jeopardy?
Luke Walton has always ranked among the world’s leaders in chill. Asked to characterize him, friends picture Walton at home on a beachvolleyball court, choosing measured words over rage, or casually stepping into the Warriors’ head-coaching position last season and guiding the team to a 39-4 record in
Steve Kerr’s absence. Walton has the Lakers in his blood, dating to his playing days on championship teams, and it seemed the perfect match when he took over the team this season. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t enjoy a lengthy, productive stay. One wonders lately, though, about his longterm security.
He seems to have run out of allies — and credentials. As much as everyone in L.A. welcomes the Magic Johnson-Rob Pelinka takeover in the front office, Walton was hired by Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss, assumed they would be in charge indefinitely, and admits being “caught off guard” by the dramatic shift.
Now, with the season winding down, he’s orchestrating a team everyone hopes will lose. With one of the league’s three worst records, the Lakers will be guaranteed a lottery pick. The team has depressingly obliged, Walton actually calling them “soft” at one point, and even if the Lakers get lucky in the draft — say, point guard Lonzo Ball or Markelle Fultz — they remain stuck with a glaring frontcourt vacancy and the truly ridiculous long-term contracts Kupchak handed to Timofey
Mozgov and Luol Deng. It’s impossible to dislike Walton. He’s just way too cool. And he can coach. But his name carries no special meaning to Johnson, who wants to resurrect the team’s glamorous image, or Pelinka, long the agent of Kobe Bryant .No predictions here, but it seems Walton will need to make a powerful impression — against the odds — next season.
As we say farewell to the intentional walk — still with us, but now merely a manager’s gesture (no pitches required) — here’s to the colorful history of hitters turning the tables. Refusing to be granted first base, the great Ty Cobb hit a two-run triple off the A’s
Eddie Plank to spark a 5-3 Tigers victory in 1907. In Willie Mays’ fourth season with the Giants (1955), teammate
Don Mueller singled on the 3-0 delivery to set up a onerun win over Cincinnati (Mays himself took a surprise cut off the Dodgers’ Stan Williams in 1959, but fouled out to the catcher). In a 1972 game between the Giants and Reds,
Pete Rose uncorked a swing against Ron Bryant and grounded to third, where Jim
Ray Hart was so surprised by the development, he fumbled the ball and the eventual winning run scored. And never forget the great Tug McGraw, pride of Vallejo, for the 1980 Phillies. Joe Ferguson drilled a two-run single for the Dodgers on the second pitch of an intentional walk. McGraw was so incensed, he drilled the next batter and triggered a benchclearing brawl. All of it’s just a memory now, wiped out by the wave of a hand ... You wonder about “pitching around” a hitter, essentially an intentional walk with the hopes he might over-anxiously retire himself. Will we see less of that, managers sparing arms a few extra pitches? Got a note from Dave Feldman, the Bay Area’s statistical mastermind (A’s, Giants, several TV networks) and the official scorer for the first round of the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo. Replay reviews were allowed only for home runs (fair or foul, or whether they cleared the wall), and “what really stands out to me is the effect on the game,” he said. “Bang-bang play at
first, umpire makes the call, next batter up. No ‘wait, we need to look at this’ after every close play. It is so refreshing.” ... Israel’s unbeaten WBC team would really be something with the likes of Ian Kinsler, Joc Pederson, Ryan Braun,
Kevin Pillar and Alex Bregman on board, but maybe it’s better this way, a star-less team with unshakable belief and the desire to popularize the game, now barely relevant, in Israel ... I go back to the early 70s with Bill Walton, idolizing him from the moment he set foot on UCLA’s floor. I played summertime pickup games with Greg Lee,
Jim Menges and all of his SoCal buddies at Santa Monica College. Big Bill was the coolest of the cool, especially when he overcame his speech impediment to address the game so eloquently. What happened? He strays absurdly off-topic on Pac-12 telecasts, consistently belittles his broadcast partner, blithely dons the gear of Pac-12 schools and tosses out “Conference of Champions” 48 times per night. Come on, Bill. Come back to us. You’re not that damned important.