Lakers Coach Byron Scott has confidence in management’s vision

The crests and dips of a Lakers fan’s confidence would be easy to map over time.

An incredible number of highs for several decades. Many, many lows the last three seasons.

But Coach Byron Scott said he stood by the vision of Lakers executives Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak, going back to meetings he took with them during the lengthy interview process that eventually led to his hiring last summer.

“I have a tremendous confidence in those guys that this won’t take long. I truly believe that,” Scott said Wednesday before the Lakers’ 111-95 loss to the Washington Wizards. “We’re going to be a little down this year, next year’s going to be better and the next year [after that] we feel we’re going to be right back where we belong.

“They just had a very clean insight to what they wanted to do. I liked what I was listening to.”

Scott must support Buss and Kupchak. They’re the ones that gave him a four-year, $17-million deal (the fourth year is a team option).

But Scott was fairly open about some of the conversations they had before he officially joined the Lakers in late July.

Kevin Durant’s name was almost surely brought up in looking at the summer of 2016. Perhaps Kevin Love’s name as well, a possible free agent next July.

Despite failing the last two years to convince Dwight Howard to stay, Carmelo Anthony to come and Pau Gasol to stay, the Lakers believe they will find someone to take their money.

Until then, there will be some pain. The Lakers are 5-14 this season. The meetings between Scott and his eventual bosses weren’t all roses and rainbows.

Said Scott: “Their question was, ‘Any coach that we hire, you know it’s going to be rough the first year or two. You do understand that and are you able to deal with that?’ And I said, ‘Of course I am. I’ve dealt with it before. It will be a little bit harder here because my expectations of this organization are a lot like everybody else’s.’ ”

When Scott coached in New Orleans, the team drafted Chris Paul. There was the promise of youth.

It’s not quite the same in Los Angeles, where the Lakers’ future is sidelined for the season (Julius Randle). And there’s no guarantee they get to keep their first-round pick next July.

Scott keeps moving forward.

“I’m holding up,” he said. “Every now and then, I wouldn’t say I lose it, but I kind of let them know how I feel because I’m not used to losing. I don’t think anybody in that room wants to get used to that. If you get used to it, then it’s time for you to move on to another team.

“We all know that it’s going to be a tough year and it was going to be a hard year. But we still can be competitive and we still can win basketball games. That’s still our goal and that’s what we’re going to continue to shoot for.”

Scott has an ally in the locker room. It’s his former teammate, the fresh-faced rookie from the 1996 draft.

“I think anybody who’s been winning, who has won championships, when you lose, it should hurt,” Scott said before referring to Kobe Bryant. “I know No. 24, it hurts, because we end up texting each other almost every night for two or three [hours], until, like, 2 in the morning where I finally text him and say, ‘Go to bed.’ ”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan