Laker's Coach Byron Scott Is a Chicken

LA Lakers' head coach Byron Scott is a chicken. His cowardly behavior is killing the Lakers.

He's to blame for the Lakers' epic, crappy, 1-9 start, the worst in franchise history. What's wrong with the Lakers is their limited, pitifully ineffective offense. It's been commandeered by Kobe Bryant, with his relentless, reckless, selfish, low-percentage shooting. Bryant hogs the ball, ignoring his teammates, often choosing to take difficult shots instead of passing the ball. No other Laker comes close to his total shot attempts. The other Lakers mostly stand around and watch him shoot the team out of games.

Where's Scott while this ball-hogging nonsense is going on? Is he yelling at Bryant, ordering him to play within offensive sets that require passing, sharing the ball and waiting for whoever is open to take the best shot? That's what he should be doing. That's sensible basketball, the kind other teams play, the kind that leads to wins. But that's not the Lakers' way these days. That's why they're on a course to only win 10-20 games.

The other Lakers clearly hate what Kobe is doing. Sources close to several players report the mood in the locker room is tense and gloomy, often just plain ugly. The players resent Kobe. They're frustrated with him. But they have no clout. Almost all are new to the team. They feel they're lucky to have a job. They don't want to make waves. They know that, in any battle with Bryant, they'd surely lose. So they keep quiet. They complain to outsiders and to each other. They sit in that toxic locker room and just stew.

But that may be changing. They are finally doing something. They're showing their anger and disgust by flagrantly not playing defense. In the loss on Sunday to Golden State, 136-115, the Lakers, at the defensive end, were just going through the motions. It looked like they were playing in an exhibition game or the All-Star game, where defense is an afterthought. It was embarrassing.

That game looked like a revolt, like the players were saying to Scott, "We're not going to be part of this crap any more." It looked like Scott has lost this team, even though the season has barely started. This has happened to Scott before. His teams usually bail out on him. It happened in New Jersey and Charlotte and Cleveland. That may be happening here.

It's his job to do what's best for the team, to install offensive and defensive sets that are geared to getting wins, sets that involve the entire team. If there's a ball-hog who's destroying team chemistry it's the coach's job to rein him in. But Scott isn't doing his job. He has chickened out. He knows what the other players want, what should be done, but he's not doing it. He's scared to approach Kobe and make him play team basketball. Do you think any of the top coaches in the NBA, like the Bulls' Thibodeau or the Spurs' Popovich or the Clippers' Rivers, would sit by and let one player selfishly force his will on a team, when the team is consistently losing? Of course not.

This is a bad team, a really bad team, with one star, Bryant, one third-tier star, Jeremy Lin, and a bunch of subpar hangers-on. But it could be better. If they played team basketball, put their energy into playing hard-nosed defense and smart, unselfish offense, they'd win some games. They'd also earn some respect, something they don't get now.

What Scott is doing, letting Kobe run wild and pad his offensive stats, is reprehensible. The coach is taking the coward's way out. When Scott was hired he must have made management think he could control Bryant. What a bunch of crap. It's Kobe who's doing the controlling. If the Lakers are going to do anything but be doormats this season Scott has to pave the way by first standing up to Kobe.

But I seriously doubt Scott has the courage to do that. I thought it was a big mistake to hire him. Looks like I was right.