Kobe Bryant is going to be one happy camper.
According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, the Los Angeles Lakers interviewed Byron Scott for their head coach position on Tuesday. Personally, I’m not sure what impresses me more: The fact that the Lakers are entertaining a coaching prospect Kobe is known to love, or that the team kept their covert meeting a secret until almost Thursday. Let’s go with the latter.
Scott most recently spent three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was given a raw deal there, forced to take over for the fired Mike Brown—who has since been hired then fired again—after LeBron James took his stunning talents to the Miami Heat.
While Scott was unable to bring Cleveland to the playoffs during his time there, he established a relationship with Kyrie Irving, and he remains known as a very likable players coach. Equally important, he’s also had serious success working with point guards.
Before Cleveland, he spent six seasons with the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, five of which came during the Chris Paul era. And before that, he spent four seasons with the then-New Jersey Nets, during the Jason Kidd glory days. He guided them to consecutive Eastern Conference titles.
Without question, Scott has the coaching credentials. Just as impressive, he’s someone Kobe will get along with, though in the interest of full disclosure, I may or may not* have said the same thing about Mike D’Antoni.
(*I did)
What’s most interesting, though, is what this could reveal about the Lakers’ direction in general. They could just be doing their due diligence, finally getting on top of things. The team interviewed Mike Dunleavy, after all. You get the sense this is going to be a long, extensive search that includes all different types of candidates.
At the same time, if the Lakers are serious about Scott, it has to indicate they’re not preparing for another season like 2012-13. If that were the case, more college coaches and first-time honchos would be involved. Kevin Ollie’s new contract with UConn certainly limits that pool, but there are other candidates out there who would be better suited to run a young rebuilding team. Scott isn’t that type of guy. We saw that in Cleveland.
Hiring him, even considering him, suggests the Lakers haven’t resigned to sacrificing 2014-15 and heading into the summer with hopes of completely retooling their roster around superstar free agents, thereby shoring up their future while prying open Kobe’s title window for another year. On a larger scale, it would imply they’re going to be somewhat aggressive in the free-agent this market this year, perhaps offering one or two larger deals to marquee names.
There’s always the possibility this is nothing, though. Reading between the lines is dangerous with the Lakers. They haven’t indicated that they’re close to hiring a coach, so this could be part of the feeling-out process.
In the meantime, we’re left to speculate and wonder and draw conclusions that may or may not hold meaning, because they may or may not be totally ridiculous. At least one thing’s for certain: We may not know who the next Lakers coach will be, but we sure as hell know Kevin Love won’t be sporting purple and gold. Not this upcoming season. That’s clarity you can bask in.
Right?
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
