For everyone waiting on pins and needles for the preseason to start, check out my piece on Byron's attempt to modernize his old-school approach: http://www.lakersnation.com/can-byron-scott-turn-his-lakers-past-into-their-future/2015/09/27/ Byron Scott’s tenure as Los Angeles Lakers head coach got off to a rocky start last season, with the team setting a franchise record for losses while playing a brand of basketball that was often times difficult to watch. As a member of the Showtime-era Lakers, Scott was brought on board to teach the players what it means to put on a Lakers jersey, but instead the season ended up being a forgettable one. Of course not all of this was Scott’s fault, as the team was subjected to a horrific amount of injuries and ended the season with a lineup that was made up primarily of D-League call ups and role players. Star Kobe Bryant was pushed to play far too many minutes (something Scott has accepted the blame for) and ended up succumbing to a season-ending injury for the third year in a row, Steve Nash dealt with numerous injuries that eventually led to his retirement, and prized rookie Julius Randle played a whopping 14 minutes before breaking his leg. – What will Kobe Bryant make this season? Find out here! — Creating anything resembling an NBA team in such chaos was nearly impossible and as such, Scott can’t be judged too harshly for last season’s failures. Of course that doesn’t mean that there weren’t questionable decisions made and excellent ones as well, but overall, the snake-bitten squad prevents any kind of concrete assessments from being completed. Next season, however, is a whole other story. Scott will have a practically brand-new team to work with, one that is infused with an intriguing mix of young talent and veteran guile. The team will almost certainly be healthier, and the talent level is much improved compared to the maligned 2015-2016 squad. Ultimately, Byron will have two main goals that he will be judged on next season: winning games and developing the young talent the team has amassed. For the first time in recent memory there are a bevy of young, talented pieces on the roster. Players like D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle, are being groomed to be the foundation for the next great Lakers team. These young players will need minutes to grow, and Scott understands how important they are to his longevity with the franchise. We do know that these young guys that we have are obviously the future of Los Angeles. There is also the issue of Bryant’s likely swan song and the restless fan base, both of which demand W’s in order to save face. Bryant, who is perhaps the greatest Laker of all time, deserves to walk away from the game with his head held high, and frankly Lakers fans have grown weary of losing. Byron is going to have to pull off an impressive juggling act, as it’s not easy to allow young players to learn from their mistakes and still win. Fortunately, winning and developing young talent are not always mutually exclusive, and Scott can find ways to walk that fine line between talent development and being competitive. GM Mitch Kupchak has given him an interesting roster to work with, stocked with players from a variety of backgrounds and experiences in basketball. At every position where a young player is expected to contribute, there are veterans in the fold to challenge, teach, and help them grow. More importantly, should a young player falter or prove to not be ready for prime time, there are veterans such as Brandon Bass and Lou Williams who are ready to bear a greater burden. It will be up to Scott to ensure that minutes are doled out appropriately, both rewarding steady play and providing the neophytes with a chance to spread their wings. Carefully distributing minutes will require a departure from last season, when Scott’s rotation was chaotic at best. He shuffled players in and out of the rotation every 20 games or so, sometimes benching players completely in order to get a look at a different group. In that way the Lakers 2014-2015 season played out almost like an extended tryout, but when the playoffs were out of the question Scott couldn’t be faulted for evaluating players under live-game conditions. However, the hodge-podge lineups will have to be retired this season in order to provide more support to the players. Stabilizing the rotations kills two birds with one stone, as it will allow the young players to grow in a consistent environment and at the same time define the roles and expectations that are necessary to win. This will especially be crucial for young point guard D’Angelo Russell, who will need a support system on the floor in order to ease the burden of running the offense. Of course tweaks can and will be made during the season and adjustments to opponents and injuries will always be necessary, but ultimately each player needs to have a solid feel for exactly what their role is on the team so that chemistry can develop. In order to get the most out of his squad, Scott will also need to begrudgingly embrace analytics. Scott dubiously claimed last season that threes don’t win championships, and often downplayed the importance of the analytics movement. As a result, the Lakers organization was considered to be woefully behind the times, and Byron’s old-school mentality certainly fed that perception. Now that the team has improved its analytics department, it’s going to be on him to prove that his ideology has evolved from last season as well. Fortunately, it appears that shift is already underway. Compare this Byron Scott quote on analytics from February of 2015: I think we’ve got a few guys who believe in it. I’m not one of them. To this one, from earlier this week: The analytical part, like I said, I wasn’t a big proponent in it, but Clay (Moser) is a guy who’s kind of our go-between to make sure the analytical guys understand exactly what I want, and also to make us understand exactly what they’re doing. He’s kind of our buffer. Mark is a guy who knows it extremely well, so are we using a it a lot more this year? Absolutely. However, embracing analytics isn’t as cut and dry as simply shooting threes, and Scott is keenly aware that he needs to play to the strengths of his players instead of trying to shoehorn in a an unflattering system. The increased use of analytics will help illuminate exactly what kind of system will allow both the young players and the veterans to maximize their effectiveness on the floor. At the end of the day, that should mean more threes (especially with Williams and Russell in the fold) and better defensive principles, but we will have to wait and see exactly how Scott utilizes the wealth of information that analytics can provide. Considering the Lakers finished 29th defensively last season and was also in the bottom five in eFG%, there is plenty of room for improvement. If Scott can make the appropriate adjustments on both ends of the court, then the team could very well surprise some people and put a few more notches in the win column than expected. There is nothing like winning in Los Angeles, and reminding both the players and fans of that can go a long ways towards rehabilitating the Lakers image around the league. Moreover, it helps the players to understand why putting on that purple and gold uniform is so special. Of course, it’s going to take more than just winning a few games for Scott to truly succeed this season; he also has to pave the way for the future. In terms of talent development, Byron has a growing list of young guards who grew tremendously during his time as a head coach, including names such as Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, and more recently, Jordan Clarkson. He subscribes to the notion that playing time must be earned, and is careful not to put too much responsibility on a player that isn’t ready for it yet. I won’t throw these guys out in the fire unless I think they’re ready. No matter if they were the second pick or the 46th pick. That said, Scott has a host of young players to tutor this season across every position, including Russell, Clarkson, Randle, Jabari Brown, Anthony Brown, Jonathan Holmes, Larry Nance Jr., Michael Frazier, and Robert Upshaw. Even for someone with his experience level, it’s going to be a daunting task, and will going to require that he not only has a game plan for handling these players but that he also gets the veterans to buy in and become active participants in the learning process. If he can accomplish this feat, then the development of the young players will be sped up dramatically, as sometimes veteran players can connect with rookies in a way that coaches simply can’t. It’s going to take a lot of patience and understanding, which won’t be easy under the mounting pressure to win basketball games. Somehow, Byron must build cohesion within a lineup that features a generational divide. We also can’t forget the potential for the team to rally around Kobe Bryant, with the desire to give him a fitting send off after a Hall of Fame career. It’s these kinds of motivators that can create bonds within a team, and if Scott is going to juggle both winning and rebuilding, he going to need a team-wide goal like this one from Julius Randle to focus on. I hope we can give (Kobe) a reason to keep playing. All in all, Byron has a task in front of him that is incredibly daunting. He has to find a way to balance the development of the new breed of Lakers with the need to win, and in order to do so he’s going to have to evolve as a coach and step outside his comfort zone. He was brought in to bring the lessons of the past into the present and to remind everyone of exactly what once made the Lakers organization great. Now, in order to succeed as a coach, he’s going to need to write a new tale, one that captures the essence of the Lakers mystique and updates it for the modern NBA. Meld the old with the new, the veterans with the youth, and past with the future. It’s a monumental challenge, but if Scott can find a way to get the job done, he just may endear himself to a whole new generation of Lakers fans.
Nice piece. Good stuff. Trudell also said he's talked about less 2 a days this training camp than last year...he's saying the right things; let's just hope he puts it into action.
Well these guys ought to be gasping about now (8:41am Hawaiian time). Wonder if Kelly made it through the first sprint this year.... :magicsmile:
All I know is that a good coach can take this team to the playoffs (without the injury bug). So if thats not the reality in the end of the season, it's time to find a new coach with a championship mentality. Up until now I like what i'm seeing from him in interviews. Looks a little bit more relaxed and sharper in comparison to last year's media day. I'll judge him at the end of the season.
