Walton’s Career Is to Tie-Dye For

There have been a lot of players through the basketball program at the University of Arizona, perhaps none quite like the third of the four Walton boys, Luke, a ragtop man in an Escalade world.

Thirty-one players behind the kid with the H2 Hummer in Thursday night’s NBA draft, the Lakers chose Luke Walton, Arizona forward, Tucson icon, convertible Caddy pilot.

In the dusty town east of Phoenix, on a day of celebration for the Walton family and Wildcat coaches, the lava lamps dimmed, the Grateful Dead encored, and Luke Walton waved farewell.

To the folks of Tucson, there was something about Luke.

“I don’t know, what’s great about Mick Jagger? Or Elvis?” asked Jim Rosborough, the Wildcat associate head coach. “Whatever that charisma is, Luke certainly has it. He runs around with food on his shirt, his pants aren’t ever pressed, his shoes are the crummiest old Nikes you’ve ever seen. But he’s just really a pretty cool kid.

“In my time here, we’ve had a lot of great ones, but they haven’t had the kind of impact he’s had on a community and the people like this kid. Even on campus, the guy was just legendary.”

He arrived five years ago in the red-tinged shadow of his father, Bill, Hall of Famer, UCLA great, NBA champion, television personality. There would hardly be any escaping that, but it is fair to say that Luke leaves Arizona -- and joins the Lakers -- as his own man and his own player.

“This is about him,” Bill Walton said Friday night. “This is about his life and his dreams. I’m just his dad, a proud one at that, and the luckiest guy in the world.”

After redshirting as a freshman out of University High in San Diego, Luke played 129 games in four seasons at Arizona, and the Wildcats won all but 27 of them. He averaged 15.7 points and 10.8 points in his final two seasons, the latter while playing through a sore and swollen right ankle he rolled -- at last count -- four times as a senior.

From a program that produced Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Reggie Geary, Damon Stoudamire and Gilbert Arenas, among others, many contend Walton is the best passer in school history. He was the first non-guard to lead the Pacific 10 Conference in assists, and Friday,Coach Lute Olson called Walton, “as good a passer as we’ve ever had here.”

Two seasons ago, when the program was hit hard by the NBA draft, Walton often found himself on the floor with three or four freshmen.

“Every one of those guys moved better without the ball when he was in the game,” Olson said. “We went through him with a lot of our first passes, because he found the open people.”

It was his older brothers and a habit born in the driveway of the house on the edge of San Diego’s Balboa Park.

“They made me give them the ball when I played with them,” Luke said.

The Lakers envision Walton, at 6 feet 9, at small forward for the time being, behind Rick Fox, Devean George and, when the position strikes him, Kobe Bryant. But no one is quite sure about Fox’s recovery from foot surgery or where George’s game is going, and there are those in the organization who believe Walton could play shooting guard or power forward.

“There’s going to be questions,” Walton said in the moments after the draft. “I’m going to have to prove myself.”

He’ll have to improve his shot, and to that end has worked this spring with shooting specialist Chip Engelland. As a second-round selection, Walton won’t get the guaranteed three-year deal that Brian Cook, the Lakers’ first-rounder, will. But the Lakers like how Walton’s skills overlap the triangle offense, they like his attitude, and they like his bloodlines.

“One of his biggest gifts is being able to see things on the court before they take place, anticipating a pick-and-roll, throwing the ball to a place where the guy should be on the roll,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “Or a guy’s posting up, a pass to where the guy’s going to be or where his hand’s going to be. Those types of things. He has good vision on the court. It’s a gift not many people have that’s not talked about very often.”

With that, Luke Walton leaves behind the college game, and a campus that, by several accounts, will miss all that he brought there, from the signature golden Caddy -- “It’s as old as I am,” Bill said -- to his unaffected place among them all.

“So much of Luke’s life is so transparent,” said Rich Paige, Arizona’s sports information director for 14 years. “But he’s a lot more than a tie-dyed, flip-flop-wearing Southern California kid.

“Luke’s just been a fabulous guy to deal with all the hassles of being a Walton child. Everywhere we’ve gone, it’s been the same 10 questions: ‘Do you really wear tie-dyes? Do you really listen to the Grateful Dead? Is your father really like that?’ And it’s that way everywhere we go. Everybody thinks they’ve got a new story that’s never been told before. Luke has been great to deal with those things. He’s always been a stand-up guy and always answered the questions and always took care of those things, because he knew it was part of the job.”

Two seasons ago, when Luke was named most outstanding player in the Pac-10 tournament at Staples Center, Bill sat in the corner of the locker room, waiting for the sweat and the media to clear, just as Luke had for all those years, in all those NBA locker rooms.

Then, he stood, humbled by the success of his son, the third of four -- Nate played at Princeton, Adam at Cal Poly Pomona, Chris is at San Diego State -- then ambled to Luke.

Paige stood nearby.

“After it was over, he gave Luke a hug, said, ‘I’m proud of you,’ and they just walked off as father and son,” Paige said.

Alas, Luke couldn’t always persuade everyone to come along. After one pregame meal, Walton and Richard Jefferson, now with the New Jersey Nets, were backing the famous Caddy out of the parking spot when Olson walked by.

“C’mon, Coach,” Jefferson shouted. “We’ll take you around the block.”

Olson, of course, is not a back-seat man.

“Sorry guys,” he said, smiling, and waved them away. Luke waved back, and then they were gone.

One day soon, he’ll drive that Cadillac straight into the lot outside the Laker training facility in El Segundo.

“The perfect car,” Luke said, “for Southern California.”