Now that he’s no longer coaching in the NBA, Byron Scott is happy to play the “back in my day” card.
In an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio Monday, Scott said managing Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour and the Lakers’ young core last season was tougher than coaching LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, in reference to Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue recently saying he had the hardest job in the NBA.
Byron Scott says managing the Kobe farewell tour + a young core in LA was tougher than coaching LeBron/Kyrie/Love in Cleveland.
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) May 8, 2017
The comparison isn’t exactly apples to apples — Scott was tasked with overseeing the dog and pony show for Bryant (yay), helping the Lakers secure a high lottery pick (also yay), and developing what little talent the team did have (nay). Meanwhile, Lue inherited a stacked roster where all the pieces were already in place, but along with them came enormous scrutiny and the expectations of championship or bust every single season.
While he has admitted that the team is like a soap opera at times, Lue succeeded in guiding the Cavs to the NBA title as a rookie head coach last season and just won his sixth consecutive playoff series with a sweep of the Raptors over the weekend. Meanwhile, Scott is out of a job, his dismissal from the Lakers last offseason marking the fourth coaching post he has been fired from in his career, so Lue probably isn’t sweating his comments too much.
