Byron Scott took a huge shot at critical Los Angeles Lakers fans who think he should be out of a job.
Expressing his confidence in his job security Friday, Scott revealed he “absolutely” believes he’ll be coaching the Lakers next season, per Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
He also said this to his critical fan base:
Byron on fan criticism: "To be honest, I'm a lot smarter than all of them when it comes to basketball."
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) April 15, 2016
Way to take the high road, there, coach.
To be completely fair, it’s impossible to judge Scott’s performance this year. The Lakers went all-out to give Kobe Bryant a memorable farewell tour throughout the season. Never mind that in the meantime the organization also set itself up to land another top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
That said, there was plenty that went wrong this year under Scott’s watch that he can be held accountable for. What happened between Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell wasn’t Scott’s fault, but he surely didn’t get through to the rookie this past year in any way, shape or form.
Heck, it took a couple of Los Angeles Clippers television broadcasters to get Scott to finally let Russell play more in the second half of the season. The coach had inexplicably cut the rookie’s minutes and gave a lame excuse of a defense when Don McClean ripped him during a live broadcast.
Scott responds to criticism from Don MacLean and others who have questioned his handling of rookie D'Angelo Russell pic.twitter.com/NkceFEk37i
— Bill Oram (@billoram) February 1, 2016
What we see here is a coach who has a recent history for talking down to anyone who points out his shortcomings or dares to make any negative comment about his mistakes.
Taking minutes away from Russell was a mistake.
The Lakers weren’t going to win many games this year, regardless.
Scott isn’t the next Phil Jackson. He hasn’t built up the currency in the eyes of the public to be making statements like “I’m a lot smarter than all of thewhen it comes to basketball. ”
Even if he’s right.