Rumors

On his "Byron Scott's Fast Break" podcast, the Los Angeles Lakers legend claimed that while the 76ers look good on paper with James' addition, expectations must be tempered about Philly easily winning it all. Using the ill-fated 2003-04 Lakers as an example, Scott said the new-look 76ers with James are still not assured of claiming an NBA title. ‘I mean we can go all the way back to the early parts in the 2000s. You got Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Shaq [O'Neal], and you still got [Derek Fisher], you know, you still got an unbelievable starting lineup. And on paper, everybody said, 'Oh, they going to win a championship.' What happened? They played Detroit Pistons, who was a team, much better team, a much better cohesive group of guys who wanted nothing more than to win. And you had friction on that Laker team with Gary Payton and some of the other guys. And then you had the Peacemaker Karl Malone. And then Karl got hurt which really killed their chances of winning the championship and Detroit went through them four games to one. Right? So talent on paper don’t mean a whole lot.’

BasketNews

Byron Scott on LeBron James: "If they didn't have James Harden, I think he would have did it a third time. But then again, we also heard reports that Donovan Mitchell wasn't a good fit with LeBron."

YouTube

Byron Scott: "If they don't win a championship this year, who they going to blame? LeBron. If they win a championship, who they going to say? Well, we supposed to, right? So he has to me, it's not that he doesn't have a choice, but being that he's been in this league this long, he's accomplished every f*cking thing that you can accomplish. So why not just say, look, you guys, it's your team."

YouTube

NBA Courtside: Byron Scott says everybody thinks it’s LeBron James decision to stay at the Lakers, but the organization should say we’re moving on: “We’re gonna start looking at other options to bring in to make us a better organization.” (Via Byron Scott’s Fast Break)

x.com

Byron Scott says LeBron James is not a top 5 All-Time Lakers player, he might be top 10: “I’m going by if you put that purple and gold there’s a different standard. So, I’m going to elaborate on a little bit. There’s a different standard and you look at the top guys, the Kareem, the Magic’s, the Kobe’s, the Shaq’s, you know, guys like that. Those guys got multiple championships with this organization.”

x.com

It'll take plenty of work, but Thomas Scott is willing to put that work in. He has seen hard work all of his life watching his dad. It’s one of the things his father passed down to him. “I’ve always observed my dad being very disciplined and always moving as a professional,” he said. “Very punctual. Very consistent on a day-to-day basis. Somebody that knew how to lock in and stay very focused. He has a lot of personality off the court. But when it came down to working, his work ethic is unmatched.”

New Orleans Times-Picayune

“Life has a way of doing that to you and taking you full circle,” Byron Scott said. “My son’s time in New Orleans is when he really started getting the bug about getting involved in basketball. One thing about him is he’s worked his (butt) for years to get in position to do something like this. I’m so proud and happy for him."

New Orleans Times-Picayune

JR Smith: "Anybody knows who Byron Scott as a coach, probably second to none on you're going to be in shape where they're going to make you quit. And we did this drill that lasted, first 35 minutes of practice, and it was all running. And I literally thought to myself for sure I should have went to college."

YouTube

The Lakers aren't far from being a championship-caliber team, but they may need to make a couple of significant changes this offseason in order to get to that level. Byron Scott, a former star for them during the Showtime era, feels one of those changes has to be telling James to hit the road. “You getting paid $50 million,” Scott said. “You’re 41, 42, 43 years old, right? You got a three-headed monster like you’re talking about. The Lakers, if you want to move on and be a championship team for the next five, six, seven years, you got to build around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves. You can’t do that if he’s still here. He’s $50 million. That comes off the cap. You can go get two really good basketball players. And young basketball players that can come in there and help.”

USAToday.com

Jorge Sierra: There are the top playoff scorers... among players who never made the All-Star. CJ McCollum could soon crack the Top 10.

Twitter

James Worthy: Celebrating Byron’s birthday w our Showtime teammates 💜💛 @official_bscott @ShowtimeCooper @bgoodvlade @MagicJohnson @kaj33 #JamaalWilkes #GaryVitti

Twitter

NBA Courtside: “I think this is his final year with the Lakers. I think he’ll go back to Cleveland and play one more year there” - Byron Scott on LeBron James (Via Byron Scott fast break)

x.com

NBA Courtside: Byron Scott and Olden Polynice don’t think LeBron will retire in LA because he is not a ‘true Laker’ Olden: He’s not a true Laker Byron: I think that’s part of it. You got so many greats who have retired a Laker. I think LeBron likes going off script Olden: I’m not trying to be disrespectful but just his mentality. Just like the fan base. There are Laker fan base, and there are Kobe fan base.

x.com

Jeremy Lin spent one year on the Lakers during the 2014-15 season, which was Bryant’s penultimate season in the league. During a recent episode of Dwight Howard’s “Above the Rim” podcast, Lin dished on one incident that led Bryant to ice him out for several months. The Taiwanese-American guard recalled a disagreement he had with Bryant during a late-game situation that year. Bryant was supposedly telling Lin to foul intentionally, while then-Lakers head coach Byron Scott urged Lin not to. The conflicting advice kept Lin from fouling right away. Lin noticed Bryant display negative body language toward him over the incident, prompting the point guard to text his superstar teammate after the game. “I texted him, ‘Hey man, I don’t appreciate the body language,’ Lin recounted to Howard. “And he came back with a sharp response, and I came back at him. “It ended cordial, where I ended up saying, ‘I’m not saying you can’t teach me. You’re obviously a hundred times the player that I am. I want to learn anything and everything I can from you. I’m just asking if, could you just say and do it in a way that’s respectful to me as a man.'” According to Lin, Bryant initially responded positively, saying he understood the message and even gave him specific areas to work on. Lin then revealed that Bryant didn’t speak to him “for the next five months.”

Larry Brown Sports