At 11-44, the Los Angeles Lakers are firmly out of the playoff race. Head coach Byron Scott has already spoken about getting some of the younger players more minutes and limiting Kobe Bryant’s minutes down the stretch.
The Lakers have a great core of young players who need more court time to develop, and with the team’s draft pick only top-three protected, many fans aren’t looking for the Lakers to have many more wins.
Scott disagrees with this notion, however, as his top priority down the stretch remains winning games according to Shahan Ahmed of NBC Los Angeles:
Byron Scott "No. 1 task is still win games. No. 2 task is to develop our young guys. In that order."#Lakers
— Shahan Ahmed (@shahanLA) February 19, 2016
Scott wanting to win games makes sense for his own sake. It is no secret that there is a strong possibility that he could be let go after this season. Coaches are judged on wins and even though the Lakers haven’t fielded excellent rosters these past two seasons, the results of this year are not what the Lakers had in mind.
That being said, it would seem as if player development should be the top priority for a team in the Lakers position. Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, and Jordan Clarkson all have All-Star potential while Tarik Black, Anthony Brown, and Larry Nance Jr. have all shown themselves to be extremely talented players as well. Getting the most out of those players would put the Lakers in a great position for the future.
