The Official Byron Scott Coach Thread 2014-2015

@therealdeal Phil had the tenure, respect and jewelry to back it up. Not the case with Scott.

 

Yeah, I mean I know most of these guys won't be here next year, but it'd be nice if he didn't talk through the media so much; keep it in the locker room, talk to the players about your issues with them, please. I know this year has been difficult for everybody involved, though; owners, management, coaches, players, fans, so I get the frustration.

 

Interview with Jim Rome

http://jimrome.com/2015/05/26/byron-scott-talks-kobe-no-2-pick-and-tthibodeau-rumors/

 

it's not time to pitch him yet, you've still got time.

 

you guys still want Kevin Love?

 

It may be the only way to get Westbrook

 

Good interview with Scott and Rome. I enjoyed it. Scott will get an upgraded roster next season. Now, Scott, can you upgrade your staff, please????

 

I for one am looking forward to Byron having his dream job, and continuing to instill, no nonsense, what it means to wear the P&G, with a vastly improved team this season. To give the team its best shot it would serve the FO well to bring in one or two premier assistants.


Lakers Coach Byron Scott earns right to stay as hope overtakes despair
Bill Plaschke


"I can't go around worrying if I'm going to get fired, I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to coach like that," Scott said in an interview this week. "I just keep doing the best job I can."

Sure enough, what happened was, the Lakers called him. Mitch Kupchak left him a voice mail message confirming the report was just an unsubstantiated rumor and the Lakers were "incredibly happy" with their guy. Jim Buss then called and endorsed Scott personally.

Upon which Scott just smiled and went back to work.

"I know how this league is," he said of the incident from a couple of weeks ago. "I'm not going to sweat things that are out of my control."Throughout the most pitted season in Lakers basketball, Scott was always the coolest guy in the room, and is worthy of remaining there as the Lakers evolve. Thibodeau was fired last week by the Chicago Bulls, and Scott is still here, and should be — his work in last season's darkness has earned him the right to keep coaching under the cracks of new light, the new draft pick, a new free agent, the recovered Julius Randle, the revived Kobe Bryant, all of it.

"The gleam in our eyes is back," Scott said. "The hope in our eyes is back."

He has earned the right to share that vision after spending seven months as the franchise's face of dignity amid historic disillusionment. Somehow, Scott ushered his team through the most losing season in franchise history without ever accepting defeat. The Lakers have lost their place in basketball's elite? He never bought it. The Lakers have mediocre talent, and therefore should be happy with mediocre ambitions? He never allowed it.

"I know what we were, and what we can be, and I'll never back down from that," he said. Yet with each loss, the vision never changed, even when those losses became wins that were deliriously celebrated by guys who didn't know any better. Was any coach in the NBA more publicly angry this season then Scott when he witnessed Nick Young, Jordan Hill and Carlos Boozer hamming it up after the Lakers broke a seven-game losing streak and defeated the Boston C Bags in overtime back in February? It would have been easier to give the players a pass for letting off steam in the middle of an endlessly bad season, yet Scott ripped them publicly, then ripped them in the film room, and is still passionate about it today.

"I was disgusted, that's just not how we act," Scott said. "I told my players what I thought about it and how I never wanted to see it again. This is a very prideful organization. You celebrate championships, you don't celebrate victories over the C Bags."


It was with this same historical embrace that Scott supported Kobe Bryant after Bryant was caught on video profanely ripping his teammates at the end of a practice, even comparing them to toilet paper. A coach from outside the organization would have told Bryant to calm down. Scott basically told him to keep it up.

"That was every day at practice in my day, Coop and Magic, me and Mike McGee, every single day," Scott said. "Kobe wanted to see who was tough enough to take the challenge. I loved it, I really did."

On the court, while Scott couldn't do much with the underwhelming roster, he became the perfect coach for the Lakers' surprise prospect, slowing grooming Jordan Clarkson before finally allowing him to run free at the end of January, watching him then become one of the league's top rookie guards.

"We found that diamond in the rough," Scott said. "I had to make him understand he had to stay hungry and humble, and he did, he was so diligent, he worked so hard, and then he was ready."

Lakers fans are anxious to see not only how Clarkson will adjust to next season's new expectations-heavy environment, but also Scott. He coached so well through failure, how will he do with impending success? Can he coax the same development out of the draft pick and Randle as he did with Clarkson? How will he control the potential combustion when Bryant's potentially last Lakers season mixes with some hotshot free agent's first Lakers season? And if he has more shooters, will he finally scheme for more three-point attempts?

Those are all fair questions, with only one thing certain. Byron Scott deserves a chance to figure it out. He was the Laker jutting out his chin when everyone was laughing at them, he was the Laker winking at the lottery desk when everyone was cheering them, and it's only fitting that he'll be a Laker when they have a chance to make it all better.

Even when asked about something as innocuous as the Clippers' postseason buzz, Scott is forever a Laker.

"That's fine, keep talking about them right now," Scott said. "We'll be back."

Thanks to him, part of them never left.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-scott-plaschke-20150531-column.html

 

Mike Malone, Monty Williams, Brian Shaw, just off the top of my ahead. All would be an upgrade for assistants. There is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't address it this summer. None.

 

So if this season is Carlisle's last...how would he be as a Lakers head coach?

 

Great. I'd dump Byron in a nanosecond if Carlisle is available.

 

An effing gift from the God and Dr. Buss.