Lakers Coach Byron Scott wants Nick Young to make an end-to-end effort

Nick Young really hoped this would be a better month, even claimed it would happen because he was a romantic and, sure, Valentine’s Day was coming soon.

But there weren’t any arrows from Cupid heading his way. Only a few barbs from Lakers Coach Byron Scott.

“I told Nick basically in simple terms, you can’t be a one-trick pony. You’ve got to play both ends of the floor,” Scott said Wednesday. “I think he can be a much better basketball player than what he is on both ends.

“He’s shown that he can play defense when he wants to. It’s just all the little things. It just can’t be offense.”

Scott was asked if Young could fit into his system.

“I don’t know. Obviously, we’ve got the rest of this year to figure it out,” Scott said. “He’s got three years left on his contract. He’s got to figure that out. It’s something that we’ve talked about at length and it’s something that I expect.”

Scott was more matter-of-fact than threatening, an old-school coach with a very new-school player. A struggling one, at that.

Young hadn’t seen the court since sustaining a sprained ankle in practice more than a week ago. He shot 32% in January.

He had 16 points in the Lakers’ 113-105 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Also a couple of offensive rebounds, something Scott wanted from him.

“He made some progress on some of the things that we talked about, but it’s only his first game back,” Scott said.

To which Young replied, somewhat curiously, “I’ve got to eat my bowl of cereal, eat my bowl of Wheaties before going out there. They brought me here to put the ball in the hole but I’ve got to learn the ins and outs. Still, we’ve all got to be dogs out there and hollering at the moon.”

Hill’s situation

Jordan Hill rejoined the team after a brief trip to Los Angeles to have a strained hip flexor examined. He might be out until after the All-Star break, Scott said.

In the meantime, Scott had some ideas on how to improve his game. Hill is averaging 12.3 points and eight rebounds, on pace for career highs in each, but Scott wants more.

“My biggest thing with him is just playing hard, because I know he can. I’ve seen glimpses of it,” Scott said. “If he does that on a consistent basis, he will be a double-double guy.

“You can show it to him on tape, and you can see the games where he’s really in tune to playing extra hard, getting up and down the floor and giving that second, third and fourth effort at times. If he can do that

on a consistent basis for a year, then he’d be a monster.”

Follow Mike Bresnahan on Twitter @Mike_Bresnahan