The Lakers aren't very good this year. That's a fact. The golden franchise is 4-23 in its worst season ever, and its 118-78 loss against the Thunder inspires little confidence. This will probably be Byron Scott's last season with the Lakers, but he's certainly not going to leave in good graces with this season's players.
Scott's terrible relationship with D'Angelo Russell and pernicious worship of a struggling Kobe Bryant is already well documented. Kevin Durant smacking them upside the head didn't change things. After the game, Scott called out his team for playing "scared." Scott still praised Bryant even though he didn't even play in last night's blowout, sitting out with a sore right shoulder.
Byron Scott: "Kobe's fearless. These guys looked like they were scared tonight."
Byron said he told his players afterwards that their performance was "pathetic."
Scott isn't above throwing his team under the bus after a beatdown. In 2011, the Lakers beat Scott's post-LeBron James Cavaliers by 55 points. "I told them at halftime, 'You look scared. You look flat-out scared," Scott said.
But again, Russell and Julius Randle had to defend themselves against their feckless head coach.
Randle: "We didn’t have energy. We didn’t play with energy. We didn’t play as a team. But we definitely weren’t scared."
D'Angelo always honest. "You try to make a run and sustain the run. There’s not much you can do when we’re trying to stay within the system"
Perhaps the only source of comfort is that Russell and Randle will probably last longer with the Lakers than Scott.
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[via Mark Medina]
