Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott is in the hot seat these days, something that hardly comes as a surprise considering his team has been struggling.
To date, the Lakers have won only one game (against the Brooklyn Nets) which is a breakthrough though far from convincing.
The Lakers are of course not among the favourites for this season but that doesn’t mean continuously losing is excusable. Looking back, the Lakers have had two woeful seasons and Laker fans are expecting the team to at least try and make a serious run at a playoff seat.
Though early in the season, the Lakers don’t seem quite convincing to achieve that and Scott is under pressure. Already on second year, many were expecting some improvements and the shift of focus on the younger players (Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell) to help the team’s cause but based on previous reports, it looks like Scott has been derailed from all those plans.
Understandably this has something to do with the fact that Scott needs to pile up some wins to prove he is the right coach the Lakers need. But from the way things are going it looks like Scott has sees the young guys still soft despite the fact that the team has been preparing for the current season for quite some time now.
"All the things we’ve been doing the last six weeks, we need to get that and it can’t just be in practice. I told them pretty much a challenge to them that if it’s not being done, I’ll start playing other guys,” says Scott via the LA Times.
So this early, it is obvious that Scott has lost his patience and has now turned to the vets over the young guys. But even with the new approach, the Lakers have not gotten any headway. Has Scott lost his grip?
Right now, there is no immediate indication that the Lakers have lost their faith in Scott but continuously losing games could push the former Laker guard near the exit unless he comes up with something worthy praising.
The development of the younger guys seems to have taken a backseat to winning right now and on both counts, Scott has failed.
Scott has been hailed as a defensive coach with offense coming next. But his defensive genius has not show so far. To date, the Lakers have the second-worst defense in the NBA for the season, allowing 109.3 points per 100 possessions.
And this is where the ‘softness’ issue sinks in. Russell has been sitting out more and has been reminded to earn back his minutes. Will the ploy work?
Scott is under pressure and unless he finds the right antidote, he may just follow the footsteps of Mike Brown and Mike D’ Antoni who, despite being fired, made some sort of progress though their scenarios are different.