Byron Scott

Lakers Hire Byron Scott

9:36pm: Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has announced the signing of Scott, reports Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (Twitter link). Kupchak said, “After an extensive and thorough search, we’re proud to welcome Byron back to the Lakers family as our next head coach.”

9:26pm: Scott has signed the contract and the press conference to announce the deal will be held Tuesday afternoon at 1pm (CDT), reports Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).

MONDAY, 8:28am: There are minor details left to work out, but the main terms of the deal have been agreed upon, Scott tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).

SATURDAY: 10:20pm: Medina writes that Scott was under the impression he had reached an agreement with Los Angeles, while the Lakers are claiming negotiations could take a couple more days to complete.

10:01pm: The Lakers have maintained to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that negotiations are still ongoing with Scott (Twitter link). That would contradict the reported agreement, which Medina had confirmed earlier, presumably with a different source (on Twitter).

9:01pm: The Lakers have agreed to terms with Byron Scott, who will become the new head coach in Los Angeles, as first reported by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). The deal is for four-years and $17MM, the fourth year being a team option. The deal has been in the works since yesterday, when some reports indicated the team had offered him the job.

NBA: Denver Nuggets at Cleveland CavaliersAs expected, the contract comes in at a lower salary than recent first-year coaching hires Derek Fisher and Steve Kerr, although not dramatically so. The length of the deal would suggest that the Lakers are planning to let Scott guide the team through what will likely be some difficult seasons in the immediate future. Of course, the team has shuffled through two coaches on long-term contracts the past two seasons, so Scott will still need to perform well to truly feel secure. The team is poised to miss the playoffs for consecutive seasons for the first time in five decades, and barring a major haul in next year’s free agency, isn’t positioned to scale back to the top of the Western Conference next year.

Los Angeles took the most time of any team in filling its coaching vacancy this summer, as the front office committed to a methodical search and an aggressive free agency period. Scott has long considered himself the favorite for the job, and was reported as the Lakers front-runner in late June. Scott’s history with the organization and his relationship with Kobe Bryant were factors that worked in his favor.

Scott will join his fourth NBA team as head coach. The coaching veteran and former Lakers player has compiled a career 416-521 record on the bench. Scott guided the Nets to two Finals appearances early in his coaching career and took New Orleans into the playoffs in consecutive seasons later in his career, but has led losing efforts in every other season. Most recently, Scott’s Cavs teams finished with 24 wins or fewer in each of his three seasons in Cleveland.

Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: Is Byron Scott The Right Hire For Lakers?

While most teams with coaching vacancies scrambled to make their hire prior to the June draft, the Lakers had no problem taking their time.  At long last, however, their search just might be over.  We’re still waiting on an announcement, but it appears that the Lakers are nearing agreement with Byron Scott on a contract that will make him the 25th coach in franchise history.

In an offseason where coaching neophytes Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher both landed lucrative deals and rising sophomore Jason Kidd jumped ship from the Nets to the Bucks with a hefty pay raise, the Lakers apparently valued experience.  Scott’s career 416-521 record on the bench leaves something to be desired, but it’d be unfair to judge Scott purely on wins and losses considering some of the teams he managed, including the LeBron-less Cavs.  Scott’s first foray into being a head coach was a rousing success, of course, as he guided the Nets to back-to-back Eastern Conference championships in 2001/02 and 2002/03 after a trying 2000/01.  Those Nets were unceremoniously swept in the 2002 Finals by the Lakers but the 2003 team pushed a very talented Spurs squad to a six game series.

The Lakers considered other familiar names for the opening, including Lionel Hollins, George Karl, Alvin Gentry, Mike Dunleavy, and Kurt Rambis, but Scott was likely the pick thanks to his combination of experience and history with the Lakers franchise.  Scott’s eleven career seasons in purple and gold was a definite foot in the door and it probably helped that his final season in Los Angeles was Kobe Bryant‘s first.  As Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com noted, Bryant recently gave his blessing for the Lakers to hire Scott.

He was my rookie mentor when I first came into the league,” Bryant said. “So I had to do things like get his doughnuts and run errands for him and things like that. We’ve had a tremendously close relationship throughout the years. So, obviously, I know him extremely well. He knows me extremely well. I’ve always been a fan of his.”

We’re pretty sure we know how Kobe would vote, but we want to know what you think.  Is Scott the right man for the job in Los Angeles?

And-Ones: Scott, Prigioni, Parker

While he believes that Byron Scott is a good coach, Tom Ziller of SB Nation doesn’t think Scott will solve the Lakers problems. Ziller also believes Los Angeles made a “typical coaching carousel signing” in picking up Scott, whom Ziller describes as “an undervalued, affordable coach” despite the team’s ability to afford any coach they wanted.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Donatas Motiejunas, when discussing former teammate Chandler Parsons who left the Rockets to sign a three-year, $46.08MM deal with the Mavericks, told Simonas Baranauskas of Lithuania Basket (Twitter link), “He’s a good player, but would it be logical for management to pay him more than James Harden?” Houston declined to match the offer sheet Parsons had signed with the Mavs.
  • With the NBA discussing extending the All-Star break to seven days, Zach Lowe of Grantland (Twitter links) thinks the league should first look to adjust the amount of regular season games played, and doesn’t think the longer break would be a positive if it meant more back-to-back games, or beginning the season at an earlier date.
  • Pablo Prigioni is glad to be re-united with former Spanish League teammate Jose Calderon on the Knicks, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Prigioni believes Calderon will be able to help New York, saying, “We played together in Spain and we did really well. He is a great player and very good professional, a great 3-point shooting guy. He can run the team and read the game very well and is a good defender. He has all that a good point guard must have.”
  • In the same article, Prigioni also expressed his positive feelings towards Carmelo Anthony re-signing with the Knicks, saying, “When I saw Melo re-sign, the first thing I did was send him a message saying that I was so happy to have a chance to still play with him. And I told him that I’m sure we will play much better next season.”
  • Bill Ingram of Basketball Insiders believes that Bucks first-rounder Jabari Parker will have the biggest impact of any rookie this coming season, as well as take home Rookie Of The Year honors.

Latest On Byron Scott

There have been conflicting reports as to whether or not Byron Scott‘s deal to coach the Lakers has been finalized yet. It would appear that an agreement is imminent though. Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link) reports that the franchise was impressed by Scott’s reputation as a disciplinarian, and believe his temperament is perfect for a younger team.

More reactions to Scott’s possible hiring:

  • In an article by Sam Amick of USA Today, Scott weighed in on potentially returning to the Lakers franchise as a head coach, saying, “It feels fantastic. This is a dream come true. I always wanted to coach the Lakers, especially when I got to coaching. It’s so unreal. I have to thank (Lakers general manager) Mitch (Kupchak), (Lakers president and governor) Jeanie (Buss) and (executive vice president of player personnel) Jim Buss to give me this opportunity. I really believe that they wanted to do the diligence and to make sure that I was the right guy…I know there were other candidates out there, and I felt like that with each meeting I thought was better and better, and I felt like they had a better understanding of what I was all about. I thought that the last few hires in their minds, they were a little hasty with, and so on this one, they took their time to make sure I was the right guy for this situation. Again, I think it worked out well for both sides.”
  • Carlos Boozer supports the Lakers potential hiring of Scott, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Boozer said, “Well if [Scott] is the coach, that’s terrific. Obviously, he was a great player – you know – a ‘Laker Legend’ of course, but also was a good coach in the NBA for a long time and for a couple different teams. He brings great experience, and obviously knows the NBA very, very well. I think that he could add a lot to our team. I’d be interested to have a conversation with him to find out how he views our team and how he wants to utilize all of us.
  • In Kennedy’s article, Kobe Bryant also weighed in on Scott, saying “We’ve had a tremendously close relationship throughout the years. So, obviously I know him extremely well. He knows me extremely well. I’ve always been a fan of his.” Scott an he were teammates during Bryant’s rookie year.
  • Hiring Scott was the only move the Lakers could have made to try and salvage a “disastrous” offseason, writes Mark Heisler of The Orange County Register.

Lakers, Byron Scott Negotiating Deal

7:44pm: The Lakers have yet to make a formal offer, but Scott is their top candidate and they’ve begun negotiations with the hope of striking a deal with him soon, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Scott is believed to have been vacationing in the Bahamas, Bresnahan also writes, which suggests that he hasn’t been directly involved in the talks.

1:58pm: The Lakers are unlikely to give Scott a deal comparable to the five-year, $25MM packages that Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher received this summer from the Warriors and Knicks, respectively, Shelburne tweets.

1:09pm: The Lakers have offered their long-vacant head coaching position to Byron Scott, and the two sides are negotiating toward a deal, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Scott has seemingly been the front-runner in the team’s search for the past month.

Former coach Mike D’Antoni resigned April 30th, but the Lakers were never in a hurry to replace him, content to find out their position in the draft order and later see how their forays into the free agent market would turn out before making their choice. Scott, who interviewed at least three times for the job, has reportedly been out in front of a pack of other serious candidates that included Lionel Hollins, Mike Dunleavy and Alvin Gentry, all of whom also received interviews. Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis also appeared to a strong contender, though it isn’t clear whether his talks with the team had amounted to a formal interview. The Lakers also gave George Karl more consideration than previously reported, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

Scott and the Lakers are still in the early stages of negotiations, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (on Twitter). Still, the offer is the closest the Lakers have come to resolving their coaching situation since D’Antoni stepped down. The 53-year-old Scott, who was out of coaching last season after the Cavs fired him at the end of 2012/13, has been speaking with former teammate Kobe Bryant in coach/player terms of late, as Broussard reported last month. Bryant said recently that he’d welcome Scott, with whom he crossed paths on the 1996/97 Lakers, were the team to hire him. Scott is 416-521 in parts of 13 seasons as an NBA head coach.

Western Notes: Williams, Scott, Clippers

While the Eastern Conference might be in for some major re-shuffling next season, the contenders in the West are all fighting to maintain or improve their positioning for the 2014/15 playoffs. Here’s a rundown from the Western Conference:

  • The Mavs are still hoping to land a point guard, namely Mo Williams, tweets Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Dallas wasn’t overly optimistic the veteran would choose them over other what other teams could offer as of yesterday. Jeff Caplan of NBA.com tweets that Williams does have offers on the table exceeding the $2.73MM Dallas can offer from their room exception.
  • Caplan writes in a separate piece that Dallas could be a contender this season thanks to the reduced salary Dirk Nowitzki accepted to stay with the Mavs, which gave the team flexibility to add Chandler Parsons, among other moves.
  • As expected, the Lakers meeting with coaching candidate Byron Scott passed without a contract offer, reports Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter links). Medina says that Los Angeles plans to fill out more of their roster before following up with Scott, and that no timetable is clear at this point.
  • The Clippers are largely done with their offseason moves, as coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers tells Eric Patten of Clippers.com. Rivers added that the club had begun researching guards during the latter part of this past season in anticipation of the departure of Darren Collison.
  • Commissioner Adam Silver and Shelly Sterling have talked about reducing Donald Sterling’s lifetime ban, and Silver said Tuesday that he’d be willing to listen to more discussion of the idea if Donald agreed to sell the Clippers, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). Silver also said Tuesday that it’s possible, given Donald’s legal challenges to the league’s attempt to force him out, that he will continue to own the team at the start of next season, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.

Chuck Myron and Ryan Raroque contributed to this post.

Lakers Notes: Scott, Kelly, Henry, Johnson

There are a few notable links to pass along regarding the Lakers tonight, and you can find them below:

  • Medina also confirms the earlier report that Scott will be interviewing with Kupchak and Buss tomorrow. Their meeting will likely involve discussions about the team’s personnel following their recent roster moves, although no offers or contract negotiations regarding the head coaching job are expected yet (Twitter links).

Earlier updates:

  • GM Mitch Kupchack and Jim Buss will meet with Byron Scott tomorrow, sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). As we noted last month, Scott appears to be the leading candidate to be the team’s next head coach.
  • Ryan Kelly is expected to reach a deal with the team soon, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
  • Medina adds that while the Lakers like Xavier Henry, no deal is imminent. As for Wesley Johnson, it appears unlikely that he’ll be kept.
  • In another piece, Medina writes that it isn’t clear if they’ll make a bid for recently-amnestied forward Carlos Boozer. He also says that the team is expected to sign 2014 second-round pick Jordan Clarkson soon.
  • If L.A. does plan to go after Boozer, Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times explains how L.A. can clear some cap room to make a more competitive bid during the waiver period.

Pacific Rumors: Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Pierce

The Warriors have been closely linked to Kevin Love trade talk for several weeks, but Golden State GM Bob Myers doesn’t think his team needs a drastic upgrade, as he told Bob Fitzgerald Monday on KNBR radio. Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group has the transcription.

“What I think people often do and maybe sometimes make the mistake doing is pull the trigger quickly on your roster without giving it time to develop,” Myers said. “And we think we’ve got a lot of youth, and we do think we’ve got a higher ceiling than 51 [wins last season]. We like our roster. Obviously if you’re not good enough, you’ve got to make changes, but we think we’re good.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Perceived Lakers coaching front-runner Byron Scott has already interviewed for the job three times, but he’d likely need to go through another interview before he could be named coach, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. GM Mitch Kupchak said in an appearance Monday on NBA TV that he believes the team will make a hire in the next couple of weeks, as McMenamin notes.
  • Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers believes the franchise’s muddied ownership situation is taking its toll during free agency, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News details. It has hurt us some this summer,” Rivers said. “You go in to talk to a free agent and most guys, teams will bring their owner. I go in, looking like this, by myself. I don’t know what effect that has had but that’s not been great for us.”
  • The Clippers fell short in their pursuit of a sign-and-trade for Paul Pierce, and while previous reports indicated that the Nets had no interest, Brooklyn would have been on board if a third team were involved to absorb players from the Clippers, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com.
  • Darren Collison indeed received slightly less than the $5.305MM mid-level exception from the Kings, and his salary will be $4,797,664 for the coming season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

Pacific Notes: Suns, Tucker, Sterling, Lakers

The Suns are more likely to spend wisely this summer now that their chances of landing Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James are all but over, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Phoenix wasn’t expected to offer the max to Gordon Hayward if the team had the chance to meet with him, as was the plan before Hayward inked his offer sheet with the Hornets. Here’s more on the Suns and the rest of the Pacific Division:

  • Restricted free agent P.J. Tucker met Wednesday with Suns owner Robert Sarver and Jeff Hornacek, as Coro notes in the same piece, and Tucker’s reps at the Arete Sports Agency plan to continue the dialogue with the Suns today, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
  • The Suns originally planned to let 50th overall pick Alec Brown sign overseas for this coming season, but that was before fellow stretch power forward Channing Frye agreed to a deal with the Magic, Phoenix GM Ryan McDonough said, as Coro observes. Brown is drawing interest from a team in Spain in case he doesn’t end up on the Suns this year, according to Coro.
  • Donald Sterling vowed never to sell the Clippers and threatened to maintain lawsuits against the NBA for the rest of his life, making those remarks during testimony Wednesday in probate court, as Linda Deutsch of The Associated Press details. The trial continues today to determine whether Sterling’s wife, Shelly, has the right to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
  • Kobe Bryant said he would welcome former teammate Byron Scott as coach of the Lakers, citing their “tremendously close relationship” over the years, notes Sean Lewis of The Associated Press. Bryant also said that he was “extremely proud” of the team’s efforts to rebuild its roster, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding observes.
  • The Lakers remain in contact with free agent Kent Bazemore, tweets Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.

Byron Scott Takes Lead For Lakers Coaching Job

TUESDAY, 8:08am: Scott and Kobe Bryant have been engaging in conversations on “coach/player terms,” while Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Michael Cooper, a few of Scott’s former Lakers teammates, are pushing the Buss family to hire him, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.

MONDAY, 12:41pm: Byron Scott has become the front-runner in the race for the Lakers head coaching job, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Shelburne also identifies Lionel Hollins, Mike Dunleavy and Alvin Gentry as serious candidates. The inclusion of Gentry on that list is curious, since he’s agreed to leave his job as a Clippers assistant coach for an assistant’s job with the Warriors.

Scott has interviewed three times for the position, according to Shelburne. The Lakers have had at least one interview with Hollins, Dunleavy and Gentry, too, and they’ve also spoken with Kurt Rambis, whom Howard Beck of Bleacher Report listed as one of three favorites for the job about two weeks ago.

The 53-year-old Scott took this past season off from coaching after the Cavs fired him last year. It was the first time since the Nets hired him in 2000 that he hasn’t spent at least part of the season as the head coach of an NBA team. He’s 416-521 overall with the Nets, Pelicans (then Hornets) and Cavs, but he was the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2008 with New Orleans.

The Lakers are the only team without a head coach at this point, and while they appear poised to go through the draft and the start of free agency without one, they like the idea of waiting to see what potential signees are looking for in a coach, Shelburne tweets. Scott and the others still in the mix aren’t necessarily the only ones who’ll get consideration for the job as the Lakers remain open to other candidates, Shelburne adds (Twitter link).