Laker fans and even pundits alike have been calling for Byron Scott’s head this season, mostly due to his seeming lack of prioritizing the young Laker talent over the course of a season emphasized by Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour. Scott has been particularly tough on marquee youngsters Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell.
After Friday night’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies the Lakers sit at 11-49 on the season. D’Angelo Russell shared that before Friday’s game, head coach Byron Scott put in an entirely new offense to run, via Baxter Holmes of ESPN:
“We had a whole new offense thrown at us yesterday,” Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell said after Friday’s game. “Coach [Byron Scott] was demanding we run it. It was kind of tough because we didn’t really get to run it against defense. We just talked about it, threw it in and then played with it. I feel like it’s a great offense, but it was kind of thrown at us.”
The new offensive system was meant to promote more ball movement. Russell, who finished with a team-high 22 points on Friday night, seemed to welcome the new system despite having to switch up so suddenly.
Changing an offense this late in the season would bring about more questions if this was a top contender, or even a playoff contender, which the Lakers are not. At this point, the Lakers have nothing to lose. They’re playing for Kobe and for the experiential value for the young players to continue to learn as much as they can before having to take up Bryant’s mantle after this season.
Scott’s future as head coach will surely be in question after the season, but D’Angelo Russell, the no. 2 overall draft pick last summer, is primed as the Lakers floor general for the immediate future. The tenure of Scott might directly link to his chemistry with Russell during this last phase of the season, which may be an underlying cause of experimenting with a new offense that caters more to Russell’s style of play.
