Byron Scott believes he could have helped save his job with the Los Angeles Lakers if he spent less time trying to develop young players and more time playing his veterans.
One of the biggest criticisms of Scott over the past two years is that he alienated younger players with his old-school mentality. In an interview with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Scott said he could have won more games if he made the inexperienced guys ride the bench.
“If I knew this was coming, I would have played Lou [Williams], Brandon [Bass] and guys like that a whole lot more,” he said. “They gave me the best chance to win.”
The Lakers didn’t use the No. 2 overall pick in the draft on D’Angelo Russell to watch him ride the bench all year — especially following a franchise-worst 21-win season in 2014-2015. If Scott believes giving veterans more minutes and winning, say, 25 games instead of 17 this season would have impressed the Lakers’ brass, he is in need of a serious reality check.
“Young guys are young guys.” Scott said. “You hope sooner or later with all those guys that the light bulb comes on and you get that ‘aha moment’ where they can say, ‘I got it and understand what you’re talking about it. We had those moments very sparingly.”
Scott was openly critical of Russell throughout the season, and he even benched him at one point for a very questionable reason. It wasn’t until late March that Scott said he would start playing the younger guys more in the fourth quarter, and he probably knew his job was in jeopardy at that point.
Russell might be difficult to work with. Julius Randle is also a work in progress. But Scott’s assertion that playing veterans more could have saved his job when he just oversaw the two worst seasons in franchise history shows how delusional he is.
