Los Angeles went 38-126 under Scott, including 17-65 in Kobe Bryant’s farewell year.
Advertisement
Lakers will have lots of choices for new coach to replace Byron Scott: The Lakers are now in the process of searching for a head coach in the wake of having fired Byron Scott on Sunday night. The Lakers waited to fire Scott while two top candidates for head-coaching positions took other jobs: Tom Thibodeau landed in Minnesota, and Scott Brooks was hired by Washington.
MORE: Byron Scott expects to be back with Lakers, dismisses coaching criticsScott, who spent 11 seasons as a shooting guard for the Lakers, won three championships with the team playing alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 80s.
Despite the widespread frustration of Lakers fans whose once-proud team has missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons while winning a franchise-record low 17 games last season, it appeared in recent days as if Scott might survive.
Meanwhile, another former Laker may be in the mix to be LA’s next head coach.
The Lakers plan to go through multiple stages of interviewing and reevaluating candidates before narrowing their list and hiring their next coach. So you live with another year of Scott, then make a regime change.
He helped himself immensely as one of the league’s bright coaches when he took over as interim coach when Golden State’s Steve Kerr was out recovering from back issues. Although he has remained happy coaching the Huskies for the past four years, Ollie finds the Lakers’ head-coaching vacancy intriguing, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
But because they’re the Lakers, it couldn’t happen without drama.
“Scott told the Times in February he wouldn”t change his ways despite being criticized by the media for being too rough on young players D”Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. The Lakers still deliberated after considering various variables that contributed to the Lakers’ lost season, including Kobe Bryant’s health and a young, albeit unproven, core. Walton, 36, played with the Lakers from 2003 to 2012.
Though the Lakers have not been interviewing for the position, former-Laker Luke Walton is being mentioned.
Advertisement
While building around their young talent is a possibility, Kupchak recently made comments that suggest the team may try to assemble a win-now squad by making trades and adding veteran free agents. Also, the team could hire another potential superstar that will team up with Whiteside in the Lakers’ frontcourt. We do know we have the second pick in the second round, which will be a good draft pick. Under Byron Scott, the Lakers failed to create a style of play in which they can hang their hats on.
