Lakers "Torn" on Byron Scott's Future with the Team
By Jason McIntyre
Byron Scott was one of my favorite Lakers during the Showtime era in the 80s, a sweet-shooting, dunking-on-the-fastbreak guard who averaged 15 points per game during his 11 seasons with the Lakers before spending the twilight of his career in Indiana and Vancouver.
But Scott is a terrible coach right now. In New Jersey, he took the Nets to the Finals twice (well really, Jason Kidd did). In New Orleans, Scott got to the playoffs twice (with Chris Paul!), and then in Cleveland he was there for the LeBron-less years and lost a lot of games.
In Los Angeles, he just looks lost. He’s refusing to play the young stars big minutes – which is what the Thunder did with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, what the Warriors did with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, etc – and he’s refusing to adapt to the league’s affinity for 3-pointers even though statistically, he definitely should be.
Worst of all, he’s playing Kobe Bryant more minutes than the future of the franchise, D'Angelo Russell, and letting Bryant take any shot he wants, like this is the All-Star game or something. Reminder: Kobe’s shooting 34/28, and he’s leaving the NBA in 30 games.
I hope this is a joke, LA Times:
"Will this also be Coach Byron Scott’s final season with the Lakers? The franchise seems torn on whether he’ll return for the third and last guaranteed year on his contract."
No-brainer: After Kobe walks, tell Scott you hope the door doesn’t hit him in the rear on the way out.
Then get Ben Simmons or Jamal Murray in the draft, back up the brinks for Durant in free agency and aim for the playoffs in 2016-2017.