May 07--Mitch Kupchak eased his way down from his general manager's office with the Lakers on Friday and paused before saying:
"We're having a press conference and no coach," said Kupckak, shaking his head, smiling.
Kupchak then slowly walked to his seat at a table set up with a slew of microphones on the practice facility court and began to extol the promise the Lakers saw in Luke Walton to become their next head coach.
Walton and the Lakers completed his deal Thursday night, paving the way for him to replace the fired Byron Scott.
Walton, 36, agreed to a five-year deal worth about $25 million, The Times has reported. The first four years of the deal that will pay him $5 million per season is guaranteed.
That Walton played for the Lakers and won a championship in 2009 and 2010 didn't hurt his chances of becoming the coach.
But Walton showed his potential to be a rising young coach when he directed the Golden State Warriors, where he is an assistant coach, to a 39-4 record this season when head coach Steve Kerr was out recovering from surgery on his back.
Though all the victories went to Kerr under NBA rules, Walton kept the NBA-champion Warriors moving in the right direction, even leading them to an NBA-best 24-0 start. He is staying with the Warriors until their season is completed.
"Although his body of work is limited to about a half of a season, the fact that he actually has already done it is a big plus going forward in his coaching career," Kupchak said. "He knows what it takes and he knows the decisions and he's familiar with the decisions to be made during the game."
On April 28, Kupchak and Jim Buss, the Lakers' executive vice president, met with Walton in Oakland for about "six or seven" hours. The next day, Walton was offered the job.
Kupchak and Buss were impressed with Walton's speech about offense, defense, the current Lakers' players and what the team will need in the draft and free-agency period.
Though Walton is in just his second season as an assistant with the Warriors, Kupchak said that lack of experience "is a positive."
Kupchak said the Lakers had several interviews set up, but that Walton was the first and only one.
"With the openings in the NBA at that time and then other openings that we thought might come about, once we finished the interview, we decided quickly that he was our first choice," Kupchak said. "(So) why wait? Just get it done. And that's what we did."
Follow Broderick Turner on Twitter: @BA_Turner.
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