Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott has moved to clarify his recent comments on how he “wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole” with certain players on his team.
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Scott made the remarks in relation to which players he would like to see come back to the team next season, but naturally the content and way he explained it caused controversy.
“I got a sense of a whole lot of them I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with,” Scott said after practice Monday at the Lakers’ facility, ESPN reported.
“I think they’d end up shooting me in the back. So I’ve got a pretty good sense of the guys that I think are going to be around, that we will build around, build together in this process and go through it.”
Although he stopped short of naming names, Scott has made no secret of his respect for Kobe Bryant, but has publicly criticised both Jeremy Lin and Nick Young through the season.
The Lakers coach wants to see a desire to win from his players in the final few games of the season even though the franchise would benefit from falling as low as possible for a better chance in the lottery of grabbing the top Draft pick.
However, Scott admitted that the frustration of back-to-back heavy defeats to the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers had left him angry and he may well have worded his point better.
Nevertheless, he reiterated that he still wants to find out which players he would go to battle with as it will play a big role in the organisation’s decisions this summer on who to keep.
The Lakers will be rebuilding the roster ahead of next season with their Draft pick and significant salary cap space at their disposal, and so it remains to be seen who survives for next year.
While Bryant is a lock in, rookie guard Jordan Clarkson has certainly impressed and he will be one to watch in years to come provided that the Lakers don’t bring in a top point guard who severely limits his playing time.
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