The Lakers won’t win the NBA championship next season.
Too much age. Too many injury questions. Too much Western Conference.
And unless they get a much-needed infusion from the free-agent market next summer (Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge?), they won’t be in the title hunt in 2015-16, the final season of Kobe Bryant’s contract.
It’s why hiring a former Lakers player is a sensible move for the franchise from a PR standpoint.
It’s hard to imagine any “Fire Byron” chants from the upper levels of Staples Center. No more “We Want Phil!” shouts from dissatisfied fans.
A coach with three championships as a Lakers player should buy some time for a franchise that sorely needs it.
But … there’s ... reality.
There’s not much Scott, 53, can do with a roster that has an aging backcourt of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, along with a couple of recent castoffs from other teams (Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer).
There will be some youthful vigor from Julius Randle and possibly second-round draft pick Jordan Clarkson, but any wisdom Scott has accumulated through the years as a player and coach might mean only marginal changes in the win column for a team that won 27 games last season.
As a sweet-shooting player, Scott averaged a career-high 21.7 points and 4.1 assists a game as the Lakers won the second of back-to-back titles in the 1987-1988 season.
There might be times he wished he could revisit those days next season. Wouldn’t blame him.
