OAKLAND, Calif. — Luke Walton has more NBA coach of the month awards than official wins.
The Golden State Warrior’s interim coach was named the top coach in the Western Conference for October and November on Tuesday after leading the team to a record 19-0 start in place of the injured Steve Kerr.
Best Starts in NBA HISTORY
NBA teams that have won 12 or more straight games at the start of the season (final record in parentheses):
19: Golden State Warriors, 2015.
15: Washington Capitols, 1948 (38-22).
15: Houston Rockets, 1993 (58-24).
14: Boston Celtics, 1957 (49-23).
14: Dallas Mavericks, 2002 (60-22).
12: Seattle SuperSonics, 1982 (48-34).
12: Chicago Bulls, 1996 (69-13).
While the NBA issued a statement earlier in the day reiterating that Kerr remains the head coach of record for Golden State, the league said Walton was eligible for the monthly award.
Kerr has been sidelined since training camp because of complications from offseason back surgery. There is no timeline for his return but the defending champion Warriors have hardly missed a beat under Walton.
Walton’s success as a coach comes as little surprise to those who played with him, including a former Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant.
“I told him he was the next Phil (Jackson) because he was an average player with a messed-up back,” Bryant said. “I used to rib him all the time about that, but honestly, he always had a really brilliant mind. He understood flow and tempo and spacing, and how to manage a team the right way. So I couldn’t happier for him.”
Walton has done something that even Jackson never accomplished in a coaching career that featured a record 11 NBA titles, even if he doesn’t officially get the credit for it.
The Warriors have downplayed who deserves credit, with Walton praising the system Kerr put in place, Kerr praising Walton for the way he has run the team and the system, and the players saying both are integral.
“He’s been amazing,” forward Draymond Green said of Walton. “He’s still Luke. That’s what’s been special about it. He hasn’t changed the way he acts. He hasn’t changed anything. Obviously he says a little more in the game coaching and calling the plays. He does all that stuff. It’s just incredible how he’s adjusted to that role.”
Walton, the son of Hall of Famer Bill Walton, has been around the game for most of his life. He played for Hall of Famer Lute Olson in college at Arizona, learned under Jackson and two-time NBA champion Rudy Tomjanovich during his playing career, and was an assistant under Kerr on the Golden State team that won 67 games and a title last season.
But Walton credits much of his learning to when he was injured with the Lakers in the 2009-10 season.
“It was an unbelievable gesture to start with,” Walton said. “He said that I was depressed, and down and out. I had a bad back and didn’t know when I would be able to play again. There was nothing that I could do except sit in the trainer’s room and get treatment all day. Phil going through a similar experience, I think it helped him through that time and it definitely helped me.”
Walton said time in the trainer’s room with Jackson, assistants Frank Hamblen and Brian Shaw, and the rest of the staff helped draw him to coaching.
“I saw right there that you still get that sense of camaraderie that you have as a player, and you are out there and trying to come up with stuff to help your team win,” he said. “It had all those elements that make playing basketball so much fun. It had all of those in the coaching.”
Walton spent time as an assistant in college at Memphis during the NBA lockout in 2011, then was hired as a player development coach by the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League after retiring in 2013.
Walton joined Kerr’s staff last year as an assistant and got promoted to the lead job when Alvin Gentry left for New Orleans after the championship season.
Now he’s getting a chance to run a team with Kerr out and is showing the league he could be ready for his own head coaching job soon.
“You see it all the time with an assistant that he’s cool and then when he’s a head coach he’s crazy,” Green said. “It hasn’t been like that at all. That says a lot about him as a person. He’s cool.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.