Los Angeles Lakers: The Case For Keeping Byron Scott

Over the summer, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said his team could compete for a playoff spot in 2015-16. That was a fun five minutes.

Now that reality has set in and the Lakers are off to a 1-7 start, it’s becoming blatantly obvious that all Los Angeles should be competing for is a top draft pick — which makes sense, since their pick goes to the Philadelphia 76ers if it falls outside of the top-3.

The end of Kobe Bryant‘s Hall of Fame career has been brutal to watch, the Lakers are one of the five worst defenses in the league despite adding Roy Hibbert, and the roster is a hodgepodge of washed up talent and promising youngsters who aren’t getting enough chance to shine.

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Some of that comes from the Lakers’ God complex that comes with their illustrious championship history, one that dictates they should be in the playoffs every year. Some of it stems from a 37-year-old Black Mamba who has the franchise in a stranglehold with his obstinate shot selection that’s denying the future Lakers cornerstones their chance to shine.

But every problem with the 2015-16 Los Angeles Lakers — from their poor defense to Kobe’s complete lack of accountability to the improper development of the younger players — has a common theme: head coach Byron Scott‘s incompetence. And yes, “incompetent” is an undeniably accurate term to describe his tenure with this team.

At this point, it’s hard to buy into what Scott is selling, and that’s without mentioning his 22-68 record as head coach of the Lakers. Most people outside the organization knew this wasn’t a playoff team, but some of the things coming out of Scott’s mouth are mind-bogglingly bad even in the context of a tanking team.

I’d embed more tweets, but honestly, if I embedded them all, all I’d be doing is saving you the five seconds it takes to type in “Byron Scott” in a simple Twitter search. EVERYTHING of substance that Byron Scott has said over the last few weeks has been cringeworthy.

Last year, Scott said he didn’t want his team shooting a lot of three-pointers because there was no proof it led to championships. Meanwhile, the four teams that made the conference finals were in the top-five for three-point attempts, and the league’s best three-point shooting team went on the win the title. Also, there’s this stat, which improved to eight of nine thanks to the Warriors:

Talk about having a grip on the direction the game is heading in!

This year, the Lakers’ offensive strategy looks like it was developed after Kobe and Scott spent all summer reading all about the pace and space era, felt enlightened one night, and decided to just let the shots fly despite not having the right personnel to do so.

How else do we explain Kobe chucking eight three-pointers per game despite connecting on only 20.8 percent of them? How else do we explain the Lakers taking the fourth most three-pointers per game this season (27.9) despite posting the sixth worst percentage on those threes (31.4 percent)?

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It’s not just the team’s newfound affinity for bad three-point shots that’s worrisome either, since Scott’s rotations have been downright moronic at times.

While Denver Nuggets fans have gotten to enjoy big minutes and signs of development from their new rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, Lakers fans have had to watch Scott inexplicably shackle D’Angelo Russell, the No. 2 overall pick, to the bench…for the likes of Nick Young and Lou Williams.

Even when Russell has been on the floor (a meager 25.1 minutes per game), he’s been playing off the ball with Jordan Clarkson running the point. Clarkson is a terrific young player who also needs minutes to develop, but Russell’s skill set would be better utilized at the point guard position because of his court vision and passing ability.

Instead, Clarkson, who is more of a pure scorer, has been handling the ball. Talk about botching Russell’s development early on. Most egregious of all, however, Scott benched Russell for the entire fourth quarter against the Miami Heat. Meanwhile, Nick Young played all 12 minutes of the final period.

THAT IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN. Unless Lou Williams or Nick Young are in the middle of a 30-40 point game, there is no reason for the Lakers to roll with anyone but Clarkson and Russell in the backcourt during crunch time. The fact that Metta World Peace has now entered the equation here in 2015 is just a testament to how bad Scott’s rotations have gotten.

His explanation for benching Russell, a player who needs crunch time minutes to develop, for Young?

So let’s get this straight: Russell, a player who represents the future of the franchise but has been held out of the fourth quarters of close contests, didn’t get fourth quarter minutes in a blowout loss because the game was already out of hand? Cool story, Byron.

But wait, there’s more! Despite the Lakers being one of the worst defenses in the league, Scott has occasionally neglected to play Roy Hibbert in favor of Tarik Black. Tarik-freaking-Black, people! Hibbert may be washed up in the eyes of the public, but he did anchor a top-10 defense in Indiana last season.

If the Lakers were a team actually capable of winning games, you might be able to defend Scott’s struggle with his rotations and with his stance on not handing out minutes to the younger players. But with the team at 1-7, Scott’s approach clearly isn’t working. At this point, it’s pretty clear that he’s not the right long-term solution at head coach.

In fact, if it weren’t for Scott’s relationship with Kobe Bryant, reports about the Lakers head coach being in the hot seat might have already emerged. Like George Karl in Sacramento, it seems inevitable that the two ways will part ways at some point. There’s really no way this story has a happy ending.

But before we go brandishing torches and pitchforks eight games into the season, perhaps Scott’s job security is worth reconsidering.

The Lakers may have had higher expectations entering the season than the rest of the world, but for the rest of the sane population, they’re more or less doing exactly what they need to do in 2015-16: lose a lot of games.

That’s right, folks! The biggest thing Byron Scott has going for him is his own incompetence.

Does it suck that Kobe Bryant’s last season might be spent on a tanking team? Yeah. Is another year of horrendous play unfamiliar territory for the Lakers? Yes.

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But again, if the Lakers’ first round pick falls outside the top-3 this season, it’s going to the Philadelphia 76ers. At 1-7, the Lakers are in good position to keep the kind of top draft selection that could combine with Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson as a tantalizing young core for the future.

At some point, Byron Scott will have to go. He’s clearly not the right guy to develop D’Angelo Russell, especially when you compare what he’s doing to what Michael Malone is doing with Emmanuel Mudiay in Denver. But why not let his incompetence lead the Lakers to their top draft pick next summer before letting him go?

The Lakers have enough turmoil going on as it is. Firing a coach that Kobe is close with, in what might be his last season no less, would just incite organizational panic. There are clearly better options available, such as Tom Thibodeau — who would bring defense and toughness — or Scott Brooks — who would bring the kind of player development coach this team desperately needs.

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But as bad as it seems in Lakerland right now, and as hopeless as Byron Scott has been so far, this is the key to continuing to build toward a brighter future. The front office should have a talk with Scott about sending more minutes and shot attempts toward Russell, Clarkson and Randle, but for the time being, let this masterful, unintentional tank job run its course.