On Sunday night, Byron Scott continued his somewhat bizarre pattern of switching up the starting lineup every 20 games or so. The new lineup that he trotted out against the Celtics had only one minor change: Carlos Boozer was given the start at power forward as opposed to Tarik Black.
At first glance, this seems a little peculiar given that Boozer had actually been playing pretty well coming off the bench for the Lakers. Demonstrating that truth can be stranger than fiction, Scott’s reasoning for this change was that he wanted to keep together a new-look second unit of Ronnie Price, Jeremy Lin, Nick Young, Ed Davis and Jordan Hill. Huh?
There is no doubting that Scott was dealt a tough hand this season given the obvious roster limitations. But that excuse only goes so far, especially when Scott does and says things that are, to put it nicely, puzzling to even the most casual of basketball fans.
And therein lies the problem. After Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni, Lakers fans are desperate for head coach that simply comes off as competent on a regular basis. Put it differently, fans are yearning for a coach that they feel will make the right decisions once the Lakers are playing in games that actually matter.
And so far, Scott really hasn’t demonstrated that. Counter-intuitive lineups and rotations aside, last Sunday night gave a pretty good example of this. With the Celtics down 3 with no timeouts, and only 8 seconds left on the game clock, Scott elected not to foul. And as fate would have it, Avery Bradley hit a 3 pointer as time expired to send the game into overtime.
After the game, Scott mentioned that if he was presented with the same situation in the future, he would certainly “think about fouling.” If you’re getting a sense of deja vu, that’s because Scott said the exact same thing after the Bucks game when O.J. Mayo hit a 3 to send the game into overtime.
Let’s also not forget about the time that Kobe Bryant publicly shamed Lin for not fouling Mike Conley immediately when the Lakers were trailing by 1 against the Grizzlies with 24 seconds left in the game. Afterwards, Lin told reporters (seemingly holding back laughter) that Scott instructed him not to foul until there was 10 seconds left on the game clock, which Scott later confirmed. That is embarrassingly bad judgment by Scott.
Lakers fans, despite this lost season, are already turning on Scott because of his questionable decision making. Again, no one could coach this team to the playoffs as currently constructed, but some faith would be restored if Scott started making decisions that simply made sense.
This includes making rational decisions regarding lineups and rotations. Like not having Ryan Kelly play small forward. Forgive me for stating the extremely obvious, but in no reality will Kelly ever be a small forward in the NBA. This is something that seems pretty clear to just about everyone except Scott. What Kelly is, and always has been, is an intriguing stretch 4 prospect, and that should be the position that he plays big minutes at for the rest of the season.
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Last Sunday night’s game might be an outlier, Jordan Clarkson needs be playing big minutes every game. Continuing to allow him to develop as a player should be paramount this season. Honestly, his development is one of the only reasons for Lakers fans to keep tuning into games. There is simply no way that Scott’s soul mate, Price or Lin, should ever be playing more minutes than Clarkson. Period.
Additionally, Black needs to get significant minutes so that the Lakers can get a better sense of what they have in him. So far, he has demonstrated that he is a competent big man who could give some quality minutes off the bench. Giving him more minutes will only help the Lakers to get a better idea of what his full potential is. So playing guys like Boozer, Robert Sacre or even Jordan Hill more minutes than him really doesn’t make sense, especially considering where the Lakers are at this season.
Ultimately, the starting lineup doesn’t really matter for the Lakers. But what is important is for the Lakers to get a sense of what they have in Kelly (as a 4), Clarkson and Black. Said in a different way, we already know what players like Boozer, Price, Lin, Sacre, Hill and Davis bring to the table.
So why not restore some of the Lakers fans’ faith by giving big minutes the rest of the way to some of the young guys who are team controlled, and on cheap contracts, through next season? Indeed, it would be a decision by Scott that makes a lot of sense for a change.
And hey, as a side benefit, it can only help with the tank.
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