Since Phil Jackson left the organization in 2011, the Los Angeles Lakers have had four different head coaches going into their sixth season since his departure.
The first was Mike Brown, who led the Lakers to a 41-25 record in the lockout season, and the Lakers won the Pacific Division. They were defeated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs though, and then after they started off the next season 1-4 Brown was fired and soon replaced by Mike D’Antoni.
D’Antoni had a .435 winning percentage in two seasons as the team’s head coach, which led to his departure.
He was replaced by former Laker Byron Scott before the 2014-15 season, as Scott was pegged as the man to turn the struggling franchise around. With an aging Kobe Bryant and an inexperienced young core, Scott failed to do that as he set franchise records for losses in back-to-back seasons leading to him and the Lakers parting ways.
According to Outside the Lines, Scott recently gave an assessment of the job Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss is doing, and Scott feels that if Buss were doing a good job then he would still be coaching the team:
Former @Lakers coach Byron Scott’s thoughts on Jim Buss as EVP of basketball operations… pic.twitter.com/QQGvT1JUJ2
— Outside The Lines (@OTLonESPN) October 21, 2016
In his two seasons with the team Scott went 38-126 (.227 winning percentage), which is the worst winning percentage by any head coach in franchise history. Scott also was not popular among the players, rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell in particular as the two were often seen butting head and reportedly no longer have a relationship.
Nick Young also recently said that Scott did not want the team taking three-point shots, a shot that is becoming more and more popular each year.
Scott was replaced by another former Laker, Luke Walton, and despite a 2-5 preseason record, the organization is very optimistic that Walton will be the guy to turn the Lakers around.
