Byron Scott: The Tank Commander the Los Angeles Lakers Need

By Daniel Tran | Mar 17, 2015

At face value, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott’s questionable moves have been a result of incompetency. Or, is it something else altogether?

For some, Byron Scott has been the bane of the Los Angeles Lakers’ season. Mismanaging players minutes, making problematic personnel decisions, and generally showing a lack of aptitude during a season that is on pace to be the franchise’s worst tends to bring a lot of criticism. For the Lakers head coach, it’s all a part of the plan.

When Steve Nash went down before the season began, Byron Scott was left with a journeyman (Ronnie Price), a former starter who was demoted to the bench last season (Jeremy Lin), and a rookie (Jordan Clarkson) at the point guard to pick up the slack. Then, their lottery pick Julius Randle snapped his leg in his first regular season game. And with the ever-aging Kobe Bryant coming off a season-ending injury, the writing was on the wall for the Lakers season.

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Laker fans have been roasting Byron Scott for the entirety of the season, but after the string of injuries, and with the team winning only five of their first twenty games as constructed, isn’t there a shred of possibility that Scott crafted the perfect tanking strategy?

Let’s start with Byron Scott, the former hard-nosed Laker shooting guard who had an intensity that matched well with Magic Johnson on the court. His coaching record showed a pattern of taking struggling teams and making them better.

A year after the New Jersey Nets went 26-56 under his tenure, he lead the team to two consecutive NBA Finals appearances. In New Orleans, after three years of losing records, Scott was able to take the then Hornets to two consecutive playoff appearances.

With full backing from a Lakers front office that was desperately looking for a coach that could erase the memory of Phil Jackson, Scott now has the patience he needs to rebuild the team. The first step, after realizing the team cannot win as constructed, was to utilize the assets the Lakers had, specifically, the top-5 protected pick they gave to the Phoenix Suns for Steve Nash.

Along with the first-round pick they acquired with Jeremy Lin from the Houston Rockets, the Lakers could potentially have two first-round picks. All they needed to do was keep losing.

Scott started making a series of questionable decisions that was seemingly aimed to assure the Lakers would do that. There was the late-game situation against Memphis in January where Scott told Lin not to foul Mike Conley with 15 seconds left in the game and the Lakers down by one. That resulted in a 107-105 loss.

He then started Ryan Kelly, an exclusive power forward/center, at the small forward position where he either wants to embarrass the guy or play a very dangerous game of sink-or-swim. Kelly has responded by shooting 29.9 percent from the field for the season and becoming a complete non-factor for the team.

Once Bryant went down for the season and Nick Young went MIA with knee and ankle injuries, Scott’s priorities were perfectly clear: develop talent first, win occasionally.

With no star player, or consistent scorer currently suiting up for the team, Scott has free reign to comfortably mix and match his lineups whenever he pleases without any heat from the front office because, hey, why the heck not? They weren’t going to win many games anyway with the talent they had, and the Lakers need that top-five pick to rebuild.

So, he played Robert Sacre extended minutes when Sacre would not even be on most team rosters in the NBA. He continues to sit Jordan Clarkson, who has been developing nicely in key late-game situations. He also lets Wesley Johnson take those ill-advised jump shots without much discouragement because that is what the Lakers need this year.

This serves a double purpose. Not only does this assure that the Lakers will not win many games, but it also gives these young players a chance to get game experience and audition for a gig on another team or impress the Lakers enough for them to retain their services, further helping Los Angeles to build towards the upcoming season.

Even if Scott played his best lineups, the best the Lakers could hope for with the amount of injuries they suffered is 30 wins instead of the 20 they are on pace for. He’s tough enough to handle the hate being thrown his way by fans because he is looking towards the future after going through a season that was lost before it even began.

Lakers fans may not see it, but after a horrid season, a coach like Byron Scott is the kind of coach you want in this situation. He will quietly let you crucify him while he works on what is ahead rather than what cannot be salvaged.

So he will continually be the target of most fans because he can take it. He is the coach that Los Angeles need in this situation. He is Byron Scott: Tank Commander.

Next: Lakers Finding Diamonds in the Rough

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