Heading into the 2015-16 NBA season, there was optimism for the Los Angeles Lakers with a nice blend of veterans to go along with their young core. Unfortunately, the Lakers are currently 2-12 and will play nine of their next 10 games on the road.
While the attention has been on Kobe Bryant’s poor play, head coach Byron Scott has received criticism for how he has handled D’Angelo Russell’s minutes. Despite playing more minutes recently, Scott has not played Russell in fourth quarters regardless of the score.
While Scott will continue to receive criticism from the media and fan base, he still senses support from the front office according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
“We still understand that this is a process,” Scott said. “We have a lot of young guys on this team that we feel will be very good players. But it’s not going to happen in a month. It’s going to take some time. It might take a year or two.”
Although the Lakers were not expected to make the playoffs this season, there was an assumption they would improve from their worst win percentage in franchise history. With D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson establishing the young core, it was expected they would play major minutes in hopes of speeding up the rebuilding process.
With Scott still sensing support from the front office, it will be interesting to see if he makes any adjustments. While Scott has not considered reducing Kobe’s minutes or role through 14 games, he has mentioned making some rotation changes if he did not like the effort following the game against the Golden State Warriors.
