The Los Angeles Lakers may have fired Byron Scott almost two years ago to hire Luke Walton, but just because Scott is no longer employed by the team doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an opinion on the LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of rookie point guard Lonzo Ball.
LaVar recently called out the Lakers coaching staff for the way they were handling his son, referring to their approach “soft.” Walton didn’t offer much of a response, other than to say the Lakers do what they feel is best. He added LaVar has done a tremendous job as a father with Lonzo.
Scott, however, explained he would have had a much different response if dealing with the same situation, via TMZ:
“Well, I mean, I’m not Luke Walton. As a coach, if I was sitting in that position, the first thing I would tell you guys, the L.A. Times and Mr. Ball as well, is, ‘I’ve got so much more experience doing this than you’ll ever have. Especially in the NBA.’ So basically I would tell him, ‘Shut up. Stay put on the sidelines. We got this.'”
As a coach who took plenty of criticism during his own Lakers head coaching tenure, especially relating to the way he developed the team’s young players, Scott can probably relate to Walton on this issue.
In a larger sense, he’s also probably not wrong. There would appear to be very few positive outcomes that could come out of a public war of words between the father of one of the Lakers’ most promising young players and the team’s current coach.
Ball and Walton would be better off either having that conversation behind closed doors or not having it at all. So, as shocking as it is to have Scott be the voice of reason on a matter regarding Lakers coaching, in this case, Ball would probably do well to speak with the Lakers, rather than reporters, if he has issues with the way they’re coaching his son.
