Advertisement

New Lakers Coach Byron Scott’s coaching record

Former Laker greats Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes praise new Coach Byron Scott.

Share

New Lakers’ Coach Byron Scott will be charged with helping the franchise rebound from a 27-55 season.

Scott has coached 13 years in the NBA, starting with the 26-56 Stephon Marbury New Jersey Nets (since relocated to Brooklyn).

In the summer of 2001, the Nets acquired Jason Kidd, quickly ascending to Eastern Conference champions in both 2002 and 2003 after 52 and 49-win seasons, respectively.

Advertisement

The Lakers knocked out the Nets in the 2002 NBA Finals; the Spurs did the same the following year.

Scott was fired by the Nets after a 22-20 start, midway through the 2003-04 season. He was quickly hired to coach the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans), the year point guard Baron Davis was traded midseason to the Golden State Warriors.

By virtue of a difficult 18-64 season, the Hornets were able to land Chris Paul with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. The team quickly improved to 38-44 and 39-43 through the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

Scott was named NBA coach of the year the following season, helping the Hornets jump to 56-26. New Orleans defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs in five games, before falling to the San Antonio Spurs in seven. Outside of his trips to the NBA Finals with the Nets, this was arguably the pinnacle of Scott’s coaching career.

The Hornets tailed off slightly through the 2008-09 season, winning 49 games but falling in the first round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets (4-1). Scott was let go the following season after New Orleans started the year 3-6.

Scott’s next stop was less productive, taking the Cleveland Cavaliers job about a week before LeBron James chose to leave for the Miami Heat.

Advertisement

The rebuilding years were difficult with the Cavaliers winning just 19 games in 2010-11. The team made a slight leap during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign, winning 21 of 66 (31.8%) -- but the team dipped down to 24 wins (29.3%) in Scott’s final year.

Through his 13-year career, Scott has been charged with five rebuilding efforts.

Excluding his final nine-game stint with the Hornets, Scott has managed a 305-229 (57.1%) record over eight non-rebuilding seasons.

That’s a solid coaching record, and reason to believe that Scott is good at his job, although it certainly helped to have elite point guards Kidd and Paul.

Scott survived a brief rebuilding process in New Jersey and New Orleans, but his stint with the Cavaliers was disappointing.

The Lakers still have All-Star Kobe Bryant, who is returning from an injury-plagued 2013-14 season (knee and Achilles’ tendon), but does Scott have enough on the roster to compete in the Western Conference?

With a 47-win average while coaching quality teams, Scott may be hard-pressed to get much more than 37 with this particular Lakers’ roster in the competitive Western Conference.

Advertisement

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.

Advertisement