Breaking: Lakers Fire Byron Scott
Remember how good it felt to finally read that headline?
Breaking: Lakers Hire Luke Walton
How about that one?
Even weeks after his firing and replacement, Byron Scott still manages to steal the media spotlight with multiple interviews and television appearances about his dismissal.
Inspired by a tweet from my fellow Lakers Outsider Thai Luong, I set out to find an interesting story about Luke Walton, the new favorite son of Los Angeles. What I found was almost better than I could have imagined.
While reading through an article on Cleveland.com written during Luke’s time with the Cavaliers, I discovered that the Lakers newest head coach once made a cameo appearance on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. The episode aired in 2006 and, according to the article, provided quite a bit of amusement for Luke’s Laker teammates. Some of you probably already know about Luke’s brief acting career, but I had no idea. So, I won’t keep you waiting any longer. Here’s your new head coach Luke Walton in “Young and Restless With Great Court Vision.”
Awesome title, right? I haven’t been able to confirm if that is the actual name of the episode or just a clever title that the YouTube user bestowed upon this video, but I love it either way. So let’s analyze this clip a bit.
Some guy named Neil is balling in what looks to be a fancy home gym. Clearly he’s done pretty well for himself. A doctor, maybe? I really have no clue. A tall dude named Luke (hey, that’s Luke Walton!) walks in and challenges Neil to a game. Luke walks all over Neil like Allen Iverson stepping over Ty Lue. While Luke’s acting wasn’t spectacular in this scene, his experience could prove useful for his first season as the Lakers head coach. If girl problems are weighing on a young Laker’s mind, he can look back to his game with Neil and offer some sage words of advice to pick the kid back up.
Since his brief stint as an actor, Luke has gone on to win three championships and has started what could be a successful head coaching career. Personally, I’m glad to have Neil’s pickup buddy on board as the coach of the Lakers, but let’s hope he leaves the acting to Kobe from now on.
2 thoughts