Arizona's Walton well-schooled in basketball, 1/31/02, usatoday.com, By Greg Boeck
TUCSON — His education as a basketball player began as a toddler. As a 6-year-old, Luke Walton's classroom was the Boston Celtics locker room.
He and his three brothers, all close in age, followed their father, Bill, everywhere during two seasons (1985-87) with the Celtics, which capped his Hall of Fame career.
They hung out in the locker room, where they saw how Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson prepared for games. They went to practices, where they witnessed Larry Bird's work habits. They rode the team bus, where they learned all about team chemistry from prankster Danny Ainge.
They even joined the celebration when the Celtics climaxed their unselfish run to the NBA championship in 1986. That's perhaps where they got their biggest lesson of all in hoops: how to win.
Bill Walton won two national championships at UCLA and NBA rings with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977 and the Celtics nine years later.
"I love to win," Luke says. "I like to do whatever it takes to win."
Thanks, dad.
And thanks, Celtics.
"I got a good idea of how basketball was meant to be played," Luke says. "They were all about teamwork and passing and playing together."
Not surprisingly, that's exactly the type of player Bill Walton's third son has matured into as one of the top all-around players in the Pacific-10, his father's old stomping ground, and the glue of the 18th-ranked Arizona Wildcats.
"It's in the genes," Wildcats coach Lute Olson says of the quiet, curly-haired, 6-8 junior forward. "There are a lot of things with Luke you don't teach. He just understands."
John Wooden, dad's coach at UCLA, schooled him in the fundamentals. Maurice Lucas, Bill's former teammate at Portland and Luke's namesake, was his mentor growing up. And his uncommon basketball savvy has produced an uncommon talent: No player in the Pac-10 fills out a box score like Luke Walton does.
Over the last four games, he has raised his game to a new level, averaging 22.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.8 assists. In a recent win against Southern California, he posted a triple-double. He's also the Wildcats' best defender and is on course to become the first non-guard to lead the Pac-10 in assists (6.1). Walton loves to pass the basketball. "I take pride in trying to make us play as a team," he says.
Sound familiar?
"He's so aware of how the game should be played, in terms of his ability to find the open man," Olson says. "Luke affects the game in all areas."
Like father, like son.
The Wildcats look for him to step up big again when they kick off a critical trip tonight at California (14-4, 5-3 Pac-10). Saturday, they're at No. 15 Stanford (12-5, 5-3). The freshman-laden Wildcats (13-6, 6-3) have lost two in a row; no Olson-coached team has lost three in a row since 1992.
"It's not make or break," Luke says. "But it's time to win."
He has found the perfect environment at Arizona, where Olson promotes a basketball family.
"That's the whole scenario that Luke grew up in, being part of a basketball family," says Bill, an NBC broadcaster who covers the NBA and at times Luke's games.
He introduced all his boys to his love, the Grateful Dead, as kids, but he never pushed basketball on them. The oldest, Adam, played at Cal Poly-Pomona and is a high school assistant coach. The second son, Nate, played at Princeton; the youngest, Chris, is a sophomore at San Diego State.
They are a tight brotherhood: Luke has a tattoo on his right arm of three skeletons honoring them. He got his competitiveness from them in countless games in the driveway. "If you lost, you had to sit," Luke says. "A lot of games would end in fights."
Even now their father stays in the background.
"I always wanted to be their dad, not their coach," Bill says. "I'm a tough coach. Basketball is very serious to me. I wanted to be there when times were tough, when they stumbled."
He offers advice only if Luke asks, with one exception. Bill didn't appreciate the oversized uniform pants Luke wore.
"I got smaller shorts," Luke says. "That was one thing he didn't ask my opinion on. He told me his."