At some point the Los Angeles Lakers will have made a decision on head coach Byron Scott’s future.
That point just isn’t now.
Per the Los Angeles Times‘s Ben Bolch:
Will this also be Coach Byron Scott’s final season with the Lakers?
The franchise seems torn on whether he’ll return for the third and last guaranteed year on his contract.
He is expected to coach the rest of this season, and some within the organization wonder what Scott might do with a better roster. The one he has now has produced an 11-44 record, second-worst in the NBA.
Others, however, wonder about the effectiveness of the tough love he administers to the team’s many young players.
These are all fair issues.
Smart money has the Lakers probing the coaching market before making any sort of decision. If it appears they have a chance with some of the splashier names—Luke Walton and Tom Thibodeau for starters—they could elect to can Scott and land a guaranteed upgrade.
A lot rests on their free-agency exploits. They become more attractive if they strike gold in free agency, and that would make it easier to attract an upgrade. At the same time, a better, more experienced roster might compel the Lakers to let Scott finish out the last year of his deal. Signing a star or two means the Lakers’ aren’t all about developing the kiddies anymore, which plays more to Scott’s style.
On the flip side, if the Lakers don’t make marked roster improves over the offseason, or if they end up with another top lottery prospect that needs delicate grooming, the case to fire Scott becomes stronger. He hasn’t worked wonders with Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell, and with the Lakers ostensibly preparing for a traditional rebuild, productive player-coach relationships are paramount.
