You can count Luke Walton as a believer in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ young core.
Although Walton was just hired as head coach a few days ago, he has already made a mark by discussing his vision for the future of the franchise. As a player who won two championships with the Lakers, Walton knows a thing or two about talent.
Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reports that the current Golden State Warriors‘ assistant believes Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell have the talent to be future All-Stars.
While much hoopla was made about the Lakers' 17-65 campaign and Kobe Bryant's farewell tour, both Randle and Russell had nice seasons during the year. In what was essentially Randle's rookie season, he averaged a double-double with 11.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Russell started off slow, but came around deeper in the season, finishing the year with with 13.2 points and 3.3 assists per game.
The young duo has a lot to learn about winning games and sharing the ball to make teammates better, but Walton can certainly help with that—he was the interim head coach for half of the season for the historic 73-9 Warriors' campaign.
Although the Lakers have a long way to go before they can be considered championship contenders again, their new head coach believes that they have the right pieces moving forward.
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