Mike Brown has added Luke Loucks to his coaching staff, according to a report from Marc Spears:
Luke Loucks has agreed to take an assistant coach job under new Kings head coach Mike Brown’s staff, source told @andscape. Lucks currently works for the Suns as Basketball Strategy and Personnel Evaluation. Brown, currently with the Warriors, worked with Loucks with Warriors.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 23, 2022
Aside from experience coaching together with the Warriors, as Spears notes, Loucks was also on Brown’s staff with the Nigerian National team.
Loucks is a former collegiate basketball player for Florida State, and then played professional in the G League and internationally. Loucks has been coaching since 2016, when he joined the Warriors as a film and player development intern. The following year he was promoted to being the Warriors two-way player development coach, and the following year was promoted to player development coach for the full team.
Two things encourage me about this hire. The first is that the Warriors have had a great track record of players development over the last several years. Naturally some of that is a credit to younger players getting to learn from players like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, but some credit falls on the coaching staff, and the Warriors have had a ton of growth from two-way players and younger players like Juan Toscano-Anderson, Gary Payton II, and Jordan Poole.
I’m also encouraged because this is another hire obviously driven by Mike Brown. He’s clearly surrounding himself with his own hires, which was the biggest thing I wanted to see. Loucks is the second staff member who worked with Brown on the Nigerian National team. The Nigerian men’s team had a really strong showing in the 2020 Olympics, including beating Team USA in the preliminary round in a shocking upset. If Brown can re-assemble a staff that gets players to buy in and play greater than the sum of their parts, that could go a long way to boost the Kings next season and beyond.
Maybe we should call him LL to avoid any unfortunate associations.
I was just thinking, I hope the force is more with this Luke than the last one.
An aside, I wonder will Walton will end up. I highly doubt it’s a head coaching job, but I’d assume he’d be an assistant again somewhere next season. If Atkinson gets hired somewhere, the Warriors are going to need quite a few assistants.
As bad as he was here, he’s probably still a pretty decent assistant.
I would bet either he sits out a year and enjoys being a dad/husband for a little while, then gets back into the game after a year refresh as an assistant somewhere. Assistants bounce around a lot more than the casual fan realizes. That tends to wreak havoc on coaches who have small children as Walton does still.
True, and he’s been California based for the entirety of the coaching career. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s waiting for that opportunity once again in Cali. He’s been a West Coast guy for almost all of his life.
I could see him taking another HC job outside of the West Coast, but I don’t see him taking an assistant job yet. Maybe in a few years down the line if he really wants to get back into the game (I’m sure he does).
I doubt he’ll have another head coaching opportunity before he spends at least a few more years as an assistant.
Agreed.
I’ve seen some speculation that he could become a college head coach, but I can’t imagine him becoming a NBA head coach in the next few years.
I’d prefer Walton stay in the Western Conference. It should help with giving the Kings a boost over a team in the standings.
We know Steve Kerr will be looking for at least one new assistant.
I like the staff Mike Brown is building. I still hope he keeps Rico Hines.
Nigeria actually had a very rough Olympics. There was an article about the scheduling mistakes, incompetence, and corruption of the Nigerian Olympic Committee that gave the team no chance. Nigeria beat team USA and was impressive in the pre-Olympic practice games, not the prelims.
This is exactly one of the reasons why I was happy with the Brown hire. Not only was he a part of the staff that helped these guys get better as players, he’s bringing in another guy who did the same.
Coaching matters. And it’s part of building a strong culture.
This also makes it easier to swallow a Doug Christie and Rico Hines on your staff if you mostly have your own guys. Hell, it’s quite possible both Jordi Fernandez and Doug Christie move up and onward to a head coaching position in part because they were on Mike Brown’s coaching staff. I’ve heard that’s allowed.
I think Metu is on the Nigeria team.
Nigerian National team? This guys sounds like a prince! Where do I send the check?
Text me and I’ll send you my, I mean, the prince’s address.
It seems Mike Brown would still got a long way to go (Conference Final and NBA Final) before he is free to handle the head coach job……..
I hope those assistant coaches can do their own parts to help the team ASAP…(even with the absence of head coach)
One slight nitpick. I wouldn’t call Gary Peyton II a young player, given he’s 29 years old.
Even better that he’s improved a bunch under these coaches.
He’s also playing an extremely narrow role well-suited to his strengths. Which is just good coaching.
wasnt he a 2 way player?
I like that Mike Brown seems to be being given the opportunity to (for the most part) build his staff as he see fit.
Unfortunately, I feel the sword of Damocles in the form of Vivek Ranadive hanging over everything, just waiting to destroy it all. Would anybody be surprised if one of his kids ended up as an assistant on Brown’s staff?
Does a bench role in the local YMC youth league team meet the standard for experience to get an NBA assistant coaching job?
if your dad was the coach that raises the knowledge of the proper rotations and X’s and O’s.
It worked for Jordi, or was that your point to begin with?
I have to ask, isn’t this mindset exhausting for you? Even when good things happen, such as this hire, which obviously had zero input from Ranadive, you still want to let it make you feel bad?
I’m negative as they get, but that’s only because I’m a realist. This is good news. Give yourself thirty seconds to enjoy it before reflexively assuming it’s just one more move in a gigantic plot for Ranadive to name his yet-to-be-born grandchild as GM, before moving the team Amarillo for tax purposes.
I’ll tell you what concerns me about Ranadive. Not aligning Brown and McNair together so that McNair can make decisions (particularly about this pick) for the longer term as opposed to solely thinking about the shorter term and making the pick on the basis of what’s solely for 2022-23. That would be a disastrous outcome IMO.
Would you rather bank on a younger player with a lot of contractual control available to you, or would you rather trade the pick for a veteran, while very good, limits your future because you were so concerned about the here and now?
That’s my problem with trading for Pascal Siakam. I’d much rather have the younger player than the known quantity with Siakam IF I can get a veteran in trade without using the 4th pick. Insert John Collins or whomever you want here. Bobby Portis, another example bandied about here a bit, would work as well.
If you’re wondering why I would say that and still be in favor of trading Haliburton for Sabonis, the difference is this: I think there’s a much better chance at the 4th pick having franchise/star upside than Haliburton. It’s that simple. And I don’t want to trade that away for a shorter term fix like a Siakam. Especially since there’s a clean cap sheet without much long term nonsense (if there really is such a thing in an era where the longest term contract is 5 years).
That’s the impact Vivek Ranadive has on the organization. He simply creates bad incentives all over the place for the wrong reasons. You have a major asset in the 4th pick, it’s pretty much the closest thing you’ll ever get to a premium asset with McNair as a GM, you’d better damn well get everything from that. I just don’t trust that Ranadive gets that, and more importantly I don’t trust he’ll allow McNair to do what’s in the best interest long term for the franchise because McNair is simply looking out for his job.
That’s what should scare the living shit out of you about Vivek Ranadive Sims (and probably does), if anything about an owner of a NBA team should scare you that is. 🙂
Definitely agree about syncing up McNair & Brown, because in so many ways, up until this hire, McNair has been forced to work with people that he likely wouldn’t have touched with a ten-foot pole. The situation has made it incredibly difficult to accurately evaluate him as a general manager. I would add that in regard to the decisions to this point where he had autonomy, such as drafting and trading, his judgment has seemed particularly sound.
And good points all about what can/should be done with the #4 pick. My preference among your scenarios would be to get Portis on the roster, but depending on the price, I would be inclined to trade it to get Siakam. He’s not a perfect addition, given his below-average three-point shooting, but everything else that he does would be incredibly valuable for a team that needs defense & rebounding. He’s just turned twenty-eight, and his game seems to improve season over season. I’m a fan of his, obviously, but I’m trying to be objective.
Since we’re here, let’s assume that one of the top three slips to four, and let’s say it’s Banchero. Do you take him without a second thought, or do you take the plug & play guy in Murray. (This is assuming that Sharpe is the guy who jumps to the top three.)
I had a longer comment that zigged and zagged so I decided to approach this a new way. Banchero and Ivey I think are the toughest fits right now for the Kings, but if you think they are the best talents you take them. I suppose you judge based on your tiers and how you’ve set them up. Whether or not that player can max his value out in your system, and, dare I say it, can that player be a star?
You gotta do what you think is right regardless of public opinion. That’s all I know. If it’s Banchero, then yeah, take him.
we agree again. Take BPA. (One exception)
Top tier: Smith, Chet, Banchero
Second tier: Ivey, SS and Murray
Do not have to go below that at all0- that’s the beauty of #4.
Here is my exception- if “brain trust” thinks Ivey is not a good fit despite his huge potential, then for a high price, move down 1-2 slots (no more) for an asset + SS or Murray.
I am a bit more wary about SS. The one exception would be trade with Detroit for 4 for 5 + get no less than Grant.
The risk of taking Ivey and trading further down is that the new pick + any assets just don’t make it work. #4 is worth a great player. Again, the other issue is cost- rookie scale is good, vets cost a lot and will preclude any FA signings.
I agree with you. While it is nice to have sugar plums in our heads about #1, #2 and #3, this pick is about as good an opportunity that the Kings can expect. They need to take full advantage- that means looking at the overall long-term picture. A 4th pick has long term implications- don’t trade for a short-term sugar high. Murray is a safe and solid pick. But #4 requires some risk taking. Ivey is BPA and a risk. SS is high risk/high reward. That’s where the value of #4 is- the opportunity to make a long-term impact.
A second risk option: trade down but not too far to a team that covets Ivey or Sharpe. Get an asset and then take Murray. Not my first option but understandable. Get 2 for 1 pick. The asset + Murray needs to be game changing since Ivey or SS could have been game changing (in 2-3 years)
The flirting with Griffin, Dyson etc. makes me nervous- unless the asset acquired + Dyson really move the needle but then Kings have to guess where there “target” will land and trade with a team above that slot
I think that’s too risky.
Another option- but not available with a quick trade trigger- is the chance (not likely but possible) that one of the top 3 drops due to a team falling in love with Ivey or SS.
I love Siakem but at this point for this team- not worth it.
I like Collins but same thing. Good players but slightly older, come with huge contracts vs. a risk at 4 with a lower contract for a few years that offers opportunity to fill in. Getting Collins or Siakem would stop all growth options. Good teams grow ( not always) but commonly with good young picks on rookie scale.
Vivek could fuck this up royal.
You’re right, it is exhausting.
Sorry I bothered everybody with my thoughts on things. They’re probably better off staying in my head.
Good luck to everybody.
Looks like Brown’s coaching staff is shaping up very well. Next on his list is probably Chris Demarco.
I have to do it. I can’t read the article and not think of the Dr. Seuss classic “Fox in Socks”:
Luke Luck likes lakes
Luke’s duck likes lakes
Luke Luck licks lakes
Luke’s duck licks lakes
Does anyone know if Loucks is from Nantucket?
What rhymes with Nantucket?
You deserve this rec.
Yes, this! I was thinking the same thing.
Luke Loucks licks lakes Luke’s duck likes.
Don’t blab such blibber blubber . . . unless your tongue is made of rubber!
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