Lakers: Byron Scott’s Criticism of Young Players Proving Ineffective
By Hannah Kulik
Byron Scott’s persistent criticism of young players doing Lakers no good at all
When the Los Angeles Lakers 2015-16 season started, it was reasonable to assume that, with so many young players and veteran additions to the squad this year, it would take time for things to jell. The hope was that the team would come together and make a much stronger showing in the second half of the season. Unfortunately, such hopes have been dashed by their dismal showings on Saturday and Sunday.
Head coach Byron Scott continues to be a large part of the problem. Instead of looking in the mirror, recognizing his own mistakes, and doing something about them, he stubbornly deflects criticism and unfairly blames the younger players. Meanwhile, the veterans escape criticism no matter how poorly they play.
The latest player to be on the receiving end of Scott’s biting comments is an unlikely choice, Tarik Black.
On Sunday, the Lakers were blown out at home by the struggling Houston Rockets. The first half was competitive, but the Lakers were passive to start the second half watched the game slipped. LA was destroyed on the boards by a 51-35 margin. Roy Hibbert, played 26 minutes and grabbed a single rebound—yes, one rebound! Yet, Hibbert avoided any criticism and instead Coach Scott focused on another player, one who played less than five minutes in garbage time at the very end of the game: Black.
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To put things in perspective, while Hibbert was grabbing one rebound in 26 minutes, Black had four rebounds in little over four minutes of playing time. Finally, when Brandon Bass was injured recently, Black got to play modest minutes as a reserve in the two previous games. The entire team played poorly and they were blown out twice, but Black generally performed pretty well as he outscored and outrebounded Hibbert in both games though playing far fewer minutes.
Yet, after a mere two games, when Hibbert came out of the Houston contest, it was Ryan Kelly and not Black who got the call. This is the same Kelly who has conclusively shown in the past three seasons that he barely has a place on an NBA roster. Kelly was not even supposed to be on the team this year, but there were no suitors for him last summer.
It’s worth pointing out that Kelly also played in the last game against the Utah Jazz, where he was 2-9 from the field in 20 minutes. Parenthetically, Hibbert was 1-5 shooting against the Jazz and grabbed five rebounds in 26 minutes of play. In contrast, Black made 3-4 shots and grabbed six rebounds.
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Yet, after the game against the Rockets, it was not Hibbert or Kelly who were criticized. It was Black who was singled out for criticism by Scott, who suggested that Black does not know what he needs to do to stick in the NBA. He criticized Black for not playing with enough energy, which raises the question, what game is Scott actually watching? Black can be criticized for some things, but it is insane to suggest that he doesn’t bring energy because he is one of the few players on the roster who plays with energy all the time.
Scott wants Black to play like Kenneth Faried, Dennis Rodman, and Ben Wallace, who played “balls out” according to Scott. How can Black be expected to play that way if he never gets to play?
The reality of the situation is that Hibbert is a round peg that Scott is stubbornly trying to jam into a square hole. Bass is a solid if unspectacular player who is not a center. Kelly is barely an NBA player at all. That leaves Black, who is a much better fit with the other players on the roster.
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His handling of Black is yet another example that Scott is seemingly out of touch with reality. Black is the only one of the aforementioned players who has the potential to be an important part of the team’s future, even if it is only as a valuable, high energy player off the bench. Unfortunately, he may never get that chance with Scott as head coach.