Luke Walton is Eligible for Coach of the Month Award

Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, will receive credit for the team’s record under the watch of Luke Walton, who has been running the team in Kerr’s absence.

And sure enough, when the award was announced Tuesday, Walton was the victor.

The debate has grown so loud that the National Basketball Association issued a statement on Tuesday clarifying the league’s rules regarding coaching records.

But here’s the thing: In the NBA’s eyes, those wins belong to Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, who is sitting out the start of the season to recover from offseason back surgery. The defending conference champion Cavaliers own a 9-0 record at Quicken Loans Arena, and rank sixth in the National Basketball Association in both scoring (103.1 points) and team defense, limiting opponents to 96.5 points. Walton was a no-brainer to win the award, even if none of those 19 Warriors wins are officially his to claim.

“I told him he was the next Phil, because he was an average player with a messed-up back”, Bryant said via ESPN. Luke’s doing all the work with the rest of the staff. Luke is 15-0 right now. Blatt lead the wine and gold to a 13-4 record in October and November and first place in the central division and the eastern conference, highlighted by an eight game winning streak after opening the season with a loss in Chicago. “I don’t even understand it”.

“I”™ve made some improvement, but unfortunately, there”™s no timetable,” Kerr said by phone from the Bay Area. Using largely the same lineup as last season, Walton has presided admirably over a situation that could have led to some turmoil with the head coach being absent for an extended period of time.

Kerr’s career record is now 102-20, if you count last season’s playoffs and this season’s wins under Walton.