Warriors promote Luke Walton to lead assistant coach

On the court, Golden State is getting the band back together. If you win 67 games and an NBA title, don’t mess with it.

Off the court, however, popular lead assistant and the guy overseeing the offense in Alvin Gentry will be gone. He’s now the head coach in New Orleans.

Wednesday the Warriors made the expected official and promoted Luke Walton into the second seat next to Steve Kerr, the team announced. It’s something CSNBayArea.com’s Monte Poole got Kerr to talk about recently.

“Luke is fantastic,” Kerr said last month. “He’s really sharp and he’s got a great way about him. I think Luke is a future head coach in this league. He’s already on the front of the bench, so he’s doing pretty well for himself.”

Walton spent 10 years as an NBA player and won two championships as a member of the Lakers. Before coming to the Warriors Walton had been working with the D-Fenders of the NBA’s D-League. This past summer he coached the Warriors Summer League team. And yes, he is the son of Hall of Famer Bill Walton.

Also moving up a slot in the Warriors coaching pecking order will be Jarron Collins. The former NBA player spent last season as the Warriors’ player development coach, now he will be an official assistant coach. Veteran NBA assistant Ron Adams also will remain on the Warriors’ bench.

These moves fall under the “don’t change horses in the middle of the stream” theory. Golden State is just going to keep doing what they do until someone stops it.