2. Byron Scott Is Aggressively Old School.
From moment one, he waxed with pride on puke-cans at the ready. He caught a lot of flak for declaring his belief that 3-pointers don’t win championships. (True if you ignore the last few teams that have won NBA titles.) He threw a saddle on Kobe Bryant and rode him like a mule, either because minutes limits are too touchy-feely or he refused to swap his vision of Prime Kobe for the version suiting up for him. He routinely questions the manhood of his players. Without question, much of the early season stuff was designed for Scott to make abundantly clear the only thing he shared with Mike D’Antoni was a mustache. And there’s some bluster, as well. If the Lakers had better shooters, they’d take more 3-pointers. But taken as a whole, it’s hardly an act. There’s no indication Scott has embraced some of the modern NBA’s more open tendencies or analytical revelations. It’s unfair to judge him as a good or bad coach based on the results this year — the Lakers had a bad roster before the injuries hit. We’ll all have to wait until the talent level is higher before making a full evaluation.
I’m not all that optimistic.
CONTINUE READING: Five Things The 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Season Taught Us
