Byron Scott Discussion 2015-16 - FIRED!!! (PAGE 172)

Hello, old friends. Needed to check in for a quick rant that I need to get off my chest. Wish I could post more often, but work is busy as all hell.

After having watched every second of these first 4 games of the season, it is painfully clear that Byron needs to go ASAP. Those of you that know my posting style having read my takes over the years know I'm not quick to call for a coach's head in almost any scenario. Having said that, for the sake of developing the young talent on this squad so we have an elite team a few years down the road, management needs to make a move to get Byron as far away from them as possible, like yesterday.

Whether it's his baffling rotations (20 minutes for D'Angelo last night?? Are you F'in kidding me?!?), stagnant offense (so many good pick & roll players in Randle, Clarkson, Russell & even Hibbert and you keep running ISO's & Princeton sets--poorly, I might add--over & over again??), or just the fact that this is the worst defensive team on any level I have ever laid eyes on in all my years watching competitive organized basketball, it's clear Byron will only serve as a detriment to not only our team's long-term development, but also getting some wins in the short-term.

All you really need to see is Byron's response when he was asked why D'Angelo wasn't reinserted into the game last night after exiting with 5 1/2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter: "If Lou wasn’t playing the way he was playing, I would have brought [Russell] back in."

All that does is scream "I HAVE ZERO CLUE WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE DOING WITH THIS TEAM!"

Please get this moron the hell outta town now. (And for the record, Byron is one of my favorite Laker players of all-time. I love the guy, and he'll always have a special place in this Laker fan's heart, but he's not the right coach for this squad on any level.)

 

Great post, JSJ. As far as the ISOs and Princeton goes, Byron only seems to know one way to coach, and he sticks to it no matter what, good or bad. That's a big sign of a terrible coach. There's no way he should be given the entire season. If he is, I'm not sure I'll be able to watch past a certain point. He's hurting the team's development and it's painful to watch.

 

Yep. Given how excited I've been about watching our young guys finally step out on the court, it's taking a special level of suckitude from our coach to burst that balloon so spectacularly & quickly. He's gotta go.

 

As always a great take and I agree 100%.

I'm not putting all the blame on Byron nor am I absolving the players BUT Byron still needs to go. Indianapolis just fired Pep Hamilton. Is that going to vastly improve the Colts offense? Probably not and definitely not right away. It's not Pep's fault Luck keeps throwing picks. However it IS his fault that there's no one open down field, Luck keeps getting hit, and the offense makes no adjustments regardless of what they're seeing and what's working (not working).

In this case Byron isn't only to blame. You have an aging star that can't defend and three really young players that are having trouble picking up how to defend. Our bench is full of guys that don't really defend either so the plan is to out score teams. Yikes. That sounds like D'Antoni and not a good coach which is exactly the result we're seeing now.

Byron might be stuck here and some of the problems might be forced onto him, but he's still making things worse and still needs to be let go. I know the Lakers don't want to do that because they've already been through an embarrassing coaching carousel but patience should only get you so far. If this trend continues I could see Byron being let go mid-season.

 

No, replacing him will not solve all our problems, but it will stop the bleeding IMO. It will get him far away from our players, and whatever they are learning from him can start to be unlearned and the repair work can begin. He's damaging this team, some of our young guys development, some of our vets attitude and team chemistry, and ultimately the franchise, surely in the eyes of the FA's who matter. We look like a joke, not the team on the way back up that we should look like.

 

Seriously. Getting Byron out will be like performing an exorcism on this roster. Get someone in here who can teach, and isn't afraid to bench Kobe when necessary. We need a leader of men, not a hard-headed stubborn old dude set in his ways. Please Byron, keep telling us how "soft" this roster is...Idiot.

 

I agree. It isn't fair to put this on Byron to the point where we'd be 4-0 if someone else is coaching, BUT this style of play, this worthless offense, letting an aging superstar dictate our rhythm with zero fear of being held accountable...these are all unacceptable. Russell is a kid. A very confident kid. I see him out there and he has lost his swagger. It's not because he missed a shot or he made a bad pass. You can tell it's a result of him feeling like he has to play a certain way that will waste his talents as a player.

Byron right now is guilty of the same thing Mike Brown was the season he got fired. He is handed Steve Nash, one of the greatest pick and roll pgs of all time. Dwight Howard, a pick and pop center. Pau...Kobe...and Mike Brown tries to institute the Princeton offense. This Princeton crap is literally the worst offensive scheme I can think of for this group of players, and the funny thing is I don't even see them running it. They can't run it so they sort of do nothing out there.

 

This is my fear too. I'm not going to stop being a Laker fan or anything, but I'm certainly not going to watch many games at all if it's going to be Russell on the bench and Kobe Hero Ball. Randle and Clarkson are succeeding IN SPITE of Byron. This basketball is painful to watch. I'm not going to sit through a 2 1/2 hour telecast to watch 10-15 highlights from Randle and Clarkson. The front office decided that signing Kobe was a good decision in order to keep Time Warner happy so they can maintain ratings. The truth is I will not be watching much this season BECAUSE of Kobe. That dude out there ain't Kobe and it's almost awkward to watch him.

 

He might be smart enough to know, but it's never been about his BBall IQ. Even in his prime he let his pride and ego overpower his BBall IQ and common sense. It's always been his greatest strength/weakness.

 

You can't believe ANYTHING Ireland says. His Laker commentary is worthless. He is going to say EXACTLY what the front office tells him to. The FO isn't ready to pull the plug on Byron yet so Ireland has to deflect blame from him. When Byron gets fired, Ireland will then give us whatever the front office wants us to think. I like Ireland in general, but him getting the Laker job was the worst thing that could have happened to his radio show. The biggest team in town and he has to censor himself.