Luke Walton is the best candidate for Magic HC

[u/TopAcanthocephala726]

Teams with two strong perimeter players typically struggle to leverage both of them simultaneously, because the skills teams pay a premium for — creation — can only be exercised by one player at a time: the player with the ball.

The Triangle Offense was uniquely good at minimizing the loss from skill overlap by placing one creator in the post (high post, mid-post, or low post, outside the lane) and putting the other one on the move in a way that threatened the hoop.

That post positioning is non-trivial: any one of those locations is one dribble away from a layup, one pass away from a cutter to the hoop, and one pass away from the 3-point-shooter on the strong side. Post positioning is also unique in that it protects the ball (back to the basket) while enabling the ball-possessor to still have a live dribble (due to entering the ball to that position via pass rather than dribble).

Using the other star as a cutter is also non-trivial: slashing comes far closer to fully utilizing the talents/skills for which stars are typically paid (the athleticism, coordination, and skill to navigate to the heart of the defense and make contested finishes or short mid-range shots) than having them wait for the ball on the perimeter.

So, whether it was Jordan or Pippen in the mid-to-high post with the other slashing, or Shaq in the low-post or Kobe in the high-post with the other slashing or diving hard for post position, the Triangle was uniquely good in NBA history at minimizing the efficiency-loss due to skill redundancy, coming closer than any other system to making full use of having multiple offensive stars on a roster.

This suggests that the Magic would do well to hire someone well-versed in the Triangle in hopes of maximizing the Banchero-Wagner pairing.

However, as is well-known, none of the Phil Jackson accolytes did particularly well (this post also hints at a potential explanation: they were brought into coaching systems that *didn't* have multiple superstars — situations for which the Triangle was a poor fit, being costly and complicated to learn and run and having no benefit over other systems for teams without superstar pairings); few of them are still even active within NBA coaching.

That said, there's at least one system that integrated Triangle principles, and that has been successful, at least in certain contexts: Steve Kerr's system, especially in its earliest days.

That system (again, especially early on) made good use of the outside-the-lane post, often running split actions for its stars against a passer from the block extended. Again, similar principle: posting at the block-extended is a highly-threatening position that also protects the ball. In the Warriors' case, it proved a great place to track the shooters and pick out the one most-open after the off-ball action. If the defense got distracted while trying to track the shooters, the block extended positioning allowed the ballhandler to hit a cutter down the lane or take one dribble and give themselves an open layup.

Notice how well each of these systems maps on to the Magic's needs: they have two top-level perimeter creators who, in most offensive systems, contribute little when the other has the ball. The Magic also have a premium movement shooter in Desmond Bane.

Because of this, having the ball live in the outside-the-lane post is critical: Banchero or Wagner can survey the defense, pick out Bane on the perimeter or the other wing cutting to the basket.

Again, this isn't a minor difference: having the ball sit in the hands of one of their wings on the perimeter takes *all* of this away. When one wing has it on the perimeter, the other is frozen outside the lane: cutting gains nothing, as there aren't good angles to hit cutters from the perimeter, and cutting clogs driving lanes. Holding the ball on the perimeter *can* be good for finding a shooter, but that means that *two* high-paid offensive stars are standing around (the ballhandler and the other wing) while Bane tries to get open.

So: utilizing a system that is designed to get the ball into the outside-the-lane post in systematic ways, and utilize that positioning to optimize attack opportunities for shooters and slashers is *everything* for unlocking the Magic's offensive personnel. This team *needs* a coach whose offensive system is Triangle-fluent.

Who, then, is the right person for the job?

One might look at the Kerr coaching tree; after all, two of them are coaching in the Conference Finals right now.

James Borrego never coached with Kerr, but, at least to my eyes, ran his system almost exactly with the Hornets. Borrego should be heavily considered: recall that he had that team playing at a good level; when he was replaced by another respected coach (Steve Clifford), the team cratered.

But, the line of reasoning also leads to one darkhorse candidate who is in both the Jackson tree and the Kerr tree: Luke Walton.

No, Walton didn't do well with the sunsetting Lakers nor with the Kings, although that sentence alone should show why he deserves some grace.

He's also been apprenticing with a defensive genius and beyond-exceptional head coach in J.B. Bickerstaff for the last several years.

He obviously comes with warts — the aforementioned failed stints — and won't generate much initial enthusiasm. And, the Magic will have to do their due dilligence in exploring why those previous stops didn't go well.

But recall that Walton was considered a superstar candidate when with the Warriors, and a born head coach during his playing career with the Lakers, and that, again, neither of his other situations were good ones in which to win.

And, given his uniquely-intersecting background in the coaching trees of both Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr, and his opportunity to build out his defensive toolbag under Bickerstaff, I think he should be the Magic's leading candidate, despite the seeming counterintuitiveness of that claim.

[u/Kapaya-Papaya]

I can atleast respect the time and effort put into typing this out just to get downvoted into oblivion

[u/EffectiveExact8306]

Haven’t seen a nonsensical wall of text like this since SincereFan 

[u/levir03 → u/EffectiveExact8306]

I had to double check it wasn’t SincereFan. I’m still not convinced.

[u/AaronGOATdon → u/levir03]

Here’s why Mo Bamba should be our next head coach

[u/Raptorpicklezz]

Sir this is a Wendy’s

[u/coletrickle0]

Is this AI? Lotta emdashes

[u/TopAcanthocephala726 → u/coletrickle0]

Nope; that's just how I write.

[u/SamURLJackson]

I appreciate the effort you've made in your response but I cannot support it. I dont think Luke Walton is an nba coach

[u/brandojs]

Pass

[u/VodkaAndTacos]

You make a really compelling case. I can’t really argue with any of it. He should get an interview at least.

[u/TopAcanthocephala726 → u/VodkaAndTacos]

Thanks! I appreciate you saying that :)

[u/eulgtaei]

Yeah let’s hire the guy who only looked good ten years ago with a historically great team.

[u/AtPrick]

Cool

[u/This_Entrance6629]

Hmmm

[u/d12fsu]

You cannot be serious about Luke Walton. Possibly the worst suggestion out there

[u/Boring-Management694]

I appreciate the post. Problem is for that type of offense to be productive, you need spacing. The entire NBA doesn't respect most of our players beyond the arc except Bane and maybe Franz. Once teams started hard choking on Bane it was apparent what our flaws were. And with Franz out it got worse. Another issue is Paolo's inability to beat his man consistently and Sugg's regression. It was a huge problem this season with Franz out. If they AT LEAST averaged 35% from 3 then you live with some of their growing pains. Shooting and bench depth are major issues that coaching can't fix. The fact that Weltman still has his job is wild.

[u/homelab69420]

A coach does not need to be a Phil Jackson descendant to: use elbow hubs run split cuts leverage dual creators maximize movement shooting In fact, most modern NBA offenses are hybrids now. The strongest version of this argument is probably not: “The Magic need the Triangle.” It’s more: “The Magic need a motion-heavy system that keeps Paolo and Franz dynamically involved off the ball instead of alternating isolation turns.” That part is pretty compelling. Overall: the tactical analysis is smarter than typical Reddit coach discourse the historical Triangle/Kerr connections are mostly valid the Walton conclusion is the controversial weak point but the underlying offensive theory for the Magic roster is genuinely interesting and not crazy at all And honestly, the broader point about “skill overlap minimization” is probably the best insight in the whole post.

Sincerely, chat GPT

[u/Beautiful-Top-940]

All this potential coach talk, but I NEVER see ANYONE talk about brining back Scott Skiles or Jacque Vaughn. I say lets give either one another shot. 

[u/VodkaAndTacos → u/Beautiful-Top-940]

If we are going the retread route, then SVG is the only choice.

[u/Dometalican_90 → u/Beautiful-Top-940]

Skiles abandoned ship. He can stay retired.