Luke Walton Takes Vlad Radmanovic's Job

Everyone had to have been surprised when Luke Walton joined the Lakers' starting lineup for Wednesday night's nationally televised affair against the shorthanded Suns. With all the forward depth L.A. boasts, Walton is hardly mentioned and rarely played.

Vladimir Radmanovic has started all year, Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza come off the bench to fill the forward slots, and Walton ... hangs at the outskirts of the huddle and watches the dancers. (At least that's what he did Tuesday in Sacramento.) Walton getting the coveted starting spot came out of nowhere.

Apparently, Radmanovic was shocked by the move, too. He tells Art Thompson III of the Orange County Register Phil Jackson didn't talk to him about the decision, or give any sort of explanation.

"The biggest shock to me is that nobody said anything," the Lakers' forward said. "That's one thing that's disappointing. At this level, we should talk with each other and let each other know, regardless of what the situation is."

After the game, Jackson told reporters the move was meant to facilitate more ball movement -- Walton is noted for his "point-forward" capabilities, whereas Radmanovic is more a spot-up shooter. L.A. ended up with 30 assists on 40 FGs, which is rather good. Whether that came from Walton or the Phoenix defense is another question entirely. There's also the matter of missing Vlad's shooting. Sasha Vujacic shot 3-of-4 from deep. The rest of the Lakers went 5-of-20.

The Lakers were in danger of dropping a second straight game to an inferior opponent. (Phoenix was shorthanded and forced to play Louis Amundson and Goran Dragic substantial minutes. Also, Matt Barnes took 20 shots. ! ) If Vujacic hadn't broken out of his slump and L.A. managed to lose, it would've been interesting to see how readily the locals would have soaked up Jackson's strategy. Clearly Walton didn't help the damning flaw of the Lakers (defense).