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

I am absolutely certain that Luke is the coach in their sights. I heard it last year actually. But they wanted him next summer not this one. We'll have to see if their timeline has changed with Byron underachieving so horribly (17 wins is half of what he should given us - unacceptable) and Luke's stock rising up so quickly this year. He was under the radar when I heard about them wanting him to succeed BS, but after he took over for Kerr folks got wise to him. Now we have competition for him.

I agree with therealdeal and VinMillerHearn24 that they are probably Luke or bust at this point. I'm just not convinced yet that it will happen this summer instead of next. The first domino is the pick in May, have to see what happens with that. I think a lot hinges on whether we keep it or not. If we lose it, I think we are more likely to keep Boron another year and tank one more season.

 

Wouldn't that be great if they sent Kobe? Not sure he would want to do it, though. Mamba Out and everything. But I'd love to see it, and then we get the number one pick!!

 

I hadn't even thought of that, but that would be a beautiful gesture.

 

Honestly, as much as it pains me to say it, we don't deserve any "favors" from Silver anymore. We got Randle and Clarkson at spots that seemed unlikely, and we jumped up in the draft to get a player (Russell) we wouldn't have likely gotten had we dropped to 4 or 5. The Chris Paul veto is a huge point of contention with fans, but would we have won that season with Paul, Kobe and (maybe) Howard later? Not sure that was a title contending team. Howard has turned out to be a total punk. Would he have acted towards Paul the way he has Harden? Could he have taken being third fiddle to Paul and Kobe? I mean, there are so many what-ifs. We got some good karma with teams being stupid enough to pass on Randle to where he dropped to #7. More good karma later in the draft when Clarkson was there for the taking. And we jumped up in the last draft.

At some point we have to just accept the fact that signing an aging superstar to a giant deal when he was coming off what is often a career ending injury, hiring 3 horrible coaches in a row, and being clueless in our pitches to free agents is the actual reason we are where we are. Yes the Paul trade sucked, but it was just the beginning of multiple horrible decisions.

 

I think everyone is watching what happened with Cleveland, and Philly, and thinking we deserve more.

 

I don't know about "deserving," but I hope we at least get to keep the pick. I was back and forth about it this year and ultimately it still won't be the end of the world if we lose it (next year's draft will be likely be deeper, unprotected pick as well). But I want us to get better sooner than later and so I'd rather keep it. That will at least give us some flexibility to gain a serviceable and talented player to develop or to trade the pick for an established player to help us immediately. I think it also speeds up our getting rid of Byron. The better team we put together NOW increases the pressure on the FO to deliver wins this season, and that only comes with a better coach.

I'm concerned that losing the pick gives them an excuse to suck and who better to tank than Boron? If they lose it they will want as high a pick as possible next summer (unprotected), and if they strike out in FA as well, even more reason to keep the tank train rolling even if it may cost Jim Buss his job (and maybe Mitch, too).

 

We deserve more than them, yes. But that's just 2 teams. We've been more fortunate than most the other teams over the last decade.