Sacramento Kings Head Coach Luke Walton Joins The Carmichael Dave Show
Dec 14, 2020, 9:51 AM | Updated: 9:51 am
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Walton and Dave sit down to discuss the beginning of the 2020-21 regular season, player rotations and much more
The NBA preseason has begun, with the Sacramento Kings’ regular season opener just over a week away on December 23rd.
Kings head coach Luke Walton joined The Carmichael Dave Show with JayMarzz this week to discuss a variety of Kings-related topics, including the upcoming season, potential player rotations and more.
Since joining the Kings after coaching stints in Golden State and Los Angeles, Walton has gone through quite a few distractions during his lone season in Sacramento. From the departure of Vlade Divac to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dave asked Walton is he has been able to take a breath and settle into his fairly new coaching gig.
“At the end of the day, the way I look at it is…I love the game of basketball. I love coaching. It’s been a crazy few years, as far as that is all concerned. But the beauty of it and peace of catching my breath happens when I step on the court. At the end of the day I know that I am very blessed to do this for a living.”
There has been a controversial cloud hanging over the relationship between Walton and guard Buddy Hield during most of Walton’s time with the franchise.
Coming into the 2019-20 season, Hield was disgruntled over contract extension negotiations with then-GM Vlade Divac during the initial days of training camp. Hield was given a lucrative four-year extension, seemingly ending the rift between himself and the franchise.
However, the mended fence between Hield and the Kings was seemingly damaged half-way through the season when Walton opted to move Hield from the starting lineup to the bench.
Walton stated during his first training camp press conference that there will be a competition for the starting shooting guard position instead of naming Hield the shoe-in starter, something that many speculated irked the sharpshooter.
“Training camp is about competition and you want players fighting for positions,” Walton said. “As a staff we’re looking at who is playing good together and what gives our team the best chance to win. At the end of the day, that’s going to end up with De’Aaron Fox being our starting point guard–but there are some other positions that that might not be true for. Now, going into the first days of training camp I can tell you that Buddy has been great. He’s playing at a high level, he’s doing everything in his power to really show the type of player that he is.
“He’s doing what he’s supposed to as a player to put himself in that spot. And I shouldn’t even say this without people reading into it wrong again, but even part of when we moved Buddy and Bogi (Bogdan Bodanovic) last year was not a punishment to Buddy. It was feeling out my team. We were struggling to win games and see if some different rotations would work.”
For the entire interview, click the ‘play’ button to hear the entire conversation with Luke Walton and Carmichael Dave.
To listen to full episodes of The Carmichael Dave Show with JayMarzz, click here.
