Byron Scott and Luke Walton had an unexpected meeting a few months ago, crossing paths at a restaurant after one of the Lakers’ late-season games. After exchanging pleasantries, their conversation shifted to Walton’s first season as the Lakers’ head coach.
“I told him he’s doing a good job and to keep it up,” Scott said of Walton, whose team finished 26-56 as the organization made its fourth consecutive trip to the NBA draft lottery. “He told me a little bit about his frustrations, which I understood. But I thought he did a good job under the circumstances. If they give him a couple of those pieces that I’m sure they will, he’ll be much better next year.”
The Lakers’ brass has offered Walton unequivocal support. Everyone from controlling owner Jeanie Buss to president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and General Manager Rob Pelinka praises his performance and the culture he is creating.
Scott remembers a far different environment when he was the head coach with a different front office. His teams went a combined 38-126 during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons as he tried to juggle managing the final injury-plagued seasons of Kobe Bryant’s career while trying to develop a young roster. He was fired, replaced quickly by Walton, then a Golden State assistant coach.
Scott said he “felt betrayed, lied to and deceived” by former Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak and former executive Jim Buss. Though he had only two guaranteed years on his four-year contract, Scott contends that Kupchak and Jim Buss previously promised him they would exercise the team option for his third year. Scott also believes the Lakers used him to manage Bryant during his final seasons and farewell tour before making the coach a scapegoat for the franchise’s struggles.
“If I asked him to do certain things, Kobe would do it because of his respect for me,” said Scott, who mentored Bryant during his rookie season in 1996-97. “Basically, you just wanted me there to help you guys get through the next two years, so Kobe doesn’t go crazy on you guys. I would be the one that can handle it. They know me. I’m not going to back down. I’m not going to be intimidated by anybody.”
Scott considers his experience as Lakers coach a “hard lesson learned,” which he addressed in a new book titled, “Slam-Dunk Success: Leading from Every Position on Life’s Court.” The title is a nod to both his time with the 1980s “Showtime” Lakers, when he helped them win three NBA titles and his time as the coach who oversaw the franchise’s two worst seasons.
Hence, Scott stressed “this is not one of those books that is a feel-great book.” The book, co-authored by business executive and close friend Charlie Norris, blends success stories and failures from Scott’s 14-year playing career and head-coaching stints in New Jersey (2000-2004), New Orleans (2004-2009), Cleveland (2010-13) and the Lakers (2014-16). The book also offered insight on Norris’ various businesses.
“We took risks and weren’t afraid to step out and try new things. When we failed at those things, we were able to forget about them,” Scott said. “You think about them and reflect on them. But you also have to have the mindset of moving on. You also have to learn from them.”
Scott maintains he has moved on from his Lakers head-coaching stint. He spent the past year working on his book and appearing as an NBA analyst on ESPN’s “The Jump.” During that self-reflection, however, Scott said he has no regrets about how he handled his time as Lakers coach.
“Given that opportunity again,” Scott said, “I wouldn’t change anything, especially my approach.”
In other words, Scott does not want a mulligan for yanking starting spots away from lottery picks D’Angelo Russell and forward Julius Randle only 20 games into the 2015-16 season. The duo later reclaimed their positions shortly after the NBA All-Star break.
“I would do the same thing. I still felt like the job was given to them,” Scott said. “I don’t have a problem with young guys growing, understanding and developing in that (starting) role, but I do have a problem when they don’t cherish it, when they don’t hold it to a higher standard, when they don’t come ready to work.”
Scott also dismissed criticism from inside and outside the Lakers of his stern approach, which affected his relationships with Russell and Nick Young. Scott mused “this old-school stuff people keep talking about, if old school and hard work is winning, I guess I’m old school.” He also contended, “I relate with players extremely well.”
“There’s not a player in this league I had that I can’t communicate with or had some good relationships with,” Scott said. “Are there players that played for me that can’t stand me and vice versa? Yeah. I’m sure there are. But most of the players that I coached, when I come into contact with them, it’s nothing but mutual respect.”
Despite his strong convictions, Scott said he once asked Norris for advice on getting through to Russell, Randle and Jordan Clarkson. Norris suggested Scott ask them two questions. The first: “what is blocking them from being great?” The second: “how can I help you become great?”
Scott liked how Randle answered those questions. Scott said Randle blamed himself and pleaded with him “to stay on me, push me and make me accountable for everything I do.” Though Walton never took away Randle’s starting spot last season, he also found himself prodding the forward.
“I’m still a big fan of Julius Randle,” Scott said. “He is a terrific young man and is really mature for his age. I think he wants to be great.”
Scott has different feelings about Russell. He said the then-rookie’s demotion was partly because he frequently arrived to the Lakers’ facility only minutes before practice started. So, Scott eventually required his young players to complete individual workouts 30 minutes before and after practice.
Though Walton has given Russell positive reinforcement regarding his play and has seen him participate in offseason workouts, he often mentioned Russell’s ongoing process in establishing a routine. Despite Russell averaging 15.6 points, 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals during his second season, Johnson and Pelinka instructed him to focus on improving his consistency, conditioning and leadership.
“I don’t know if his work ethic has gotten any better. Some of the people I’ve talked to in the organization said that it hasn’t,” Scott said of Russell. “I just wish him all the best. The maturity level will catch up to him sooner or later when he realizes it’s an honor and a privilege to be in the NBA and be in the position that he’s in. He has to take full advantage of it.”
Scott believes Clarkson took full advantage of his time, morphing from a seldom-used rookie into a definitive starter in 2014-15. A fan of Clarkson’s work ethic, Scott did say he found him “pressing in trying to score more and do more” during his second season because of his pending free agency. The Lakers ultimately re-signed Clarkson to a four-year, $50 million deal last summer.
“I wanted him to be himself. But I didn’t want him to go out there and try to make things happen,” Scott said of Clarkson. “When you do that and think a little selfishly, it can come back and bite you in the butt because you can play even worse. He understood where I was coming from. I want all these guys to do well on the court because obviously financially it helps them and their family. He’s one of the guys I have a lot of respect for.”
Therefore, Scott downplayed any potential awkward feelings Randle, Clarkson and Tarik Black might have felt when Scott was seated with them earlier this offseason at a Los Angeles Urban League event where Johnson was being honored.
“It wasn’t like it was uncomfortable whatsoever,” Scott said. “We all had a really good time. Nothing but mutual respect for those guys.”
As former Lakers teammates, Scott and Johnson share a mutual respect. Johnson wrote the foreword to Scott’s book, and Scott predicts the Lakers will be “back to championship-caliber basketball” in three to four years partly because of Johnson’s new role.
“Earvin is a guy who isn’t going to take a bunch of crap,” Scott said. “He is a guy who is going to tell it to guys like it is. If he wants you gone, he’s going to get rid of you. If he doesn’t think you’re worthy of wearing that purple and gold and made of the right stuff, which is about winning, then he will find somebody else who is.”
Scott isn’t sure if he’ll ever coach again, but after a year of self-reflection, he believes he would fare better coaching in college instead of the NBA.
“They give you more time and you have a little bit more security,” Scott said. “There are too many teams in the NBA where owners and general managers say one thing and then the next year do another. I just don’t like the disloyalty and the politics that are going on a lot in the NBA. If I coach again, the collegiate level would be the better fit for me.”
Why?
“I get a chance to meet some of these guys when they’re 17 and 18 years old and hopefully make an impact on them before they make it to the NBA,” Scott said. “We still have too many guys who played AAU ball who still don’t have a clue on how to play the game of basketball. They still don’t know how to run a three-man fast break. There’s so many little things. I think I can have a much better impact on that level than I can on the NBA level.”
