Byron Scott sat Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell in the final minutes of the loss to Dallas for the worst reason
The Los Angeles Lakers put up an admirable fight on Tuesday night against a talented, well-coached Dallas Mavericks team that came down to a made Dirk Nowitzki jumper with under five seconds left on the clock. However, not on the floor in those final seconds was rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell, of course by the call of head coach Byron Scott.
Scott pulling Russell late in games for the Lakers is something fans have infuriatingly become numb to over the season. It just happened to be particularly curious considering that the rookie was coming on strong and showing the aggressiveness that Byron and fans want to see from him.
That’s why Scott’s reasoning for pulling Russell for the final couple of minutes on Tuesday was so frustrating, per Mark Medina:
Byron said he sat D'Angelo in the final moments bc he thought he was trying to take over the game
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 27, 2016
There may not be a more asinine thing said by Byron Scott, anyone on the Lakers, or anyone in the NBA all season—which is saying a great deal for just Byron’s sound bites alone.
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For the past two seasons, Scott has verbally been attempting to manufacture and foster a culture with the Lakers centered on his buzzwords-turned-punch-lines in regards to the young players in Los Angeles needing to “man up” and being guys that the head coach would want in his famed “foxhole” with him. All of those things and the countless other instances like it imply a desire for the players to be aggressive and try to take control.
Yet those are the very reasons that he is saying he benched Russell. While Byron did go on to add (per Medina) that he though the rookie was “forcing the issue,” that’s not what anyone who had their eyes on the game was seeing. Russell was trying to create and was taking the shots that were given to him for good looks, even if they weren’t all falling. He was indeed trying to take over the game, but he also happened to be going about it the proper way.
Byron Scott isn’t going anywhere as the head coach of the Lakers before the conclusion of the 2015-16—it’s the harsh reality that all fans must face at this point. However, that doesn’t make comments like this from Byron any less reprehensible or nonsensical. And, in the end, it’s only further setting the Lakers back in terms of the rebuilding process.