Byron Scott said the Los Angeles Lakers ownership wanted him to wait for few seasons to put in place a championship-contending squad, the new head coach of the purple-and-gold said in an interview with Orange County Register.
Scott, who replaced Mike D'Antoni as the Lakers' chief bench tactician, revealed he was asked by Lakers owners Jim and Jenny Buss during his interviews if he's willing to see the Lakers struggles in the initial phase of his tenure before the franchise goes all in for a championship.
"I said, 'Yeah as long as I know we're going in the right direction and as long as I know that I've got the support of you guys and that we're all in this together,'" said Scott, who also underwent a painful rebuild during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In 2010, the Cavs hired Scott to replace Mike Brown, who ironically also coached the Lakers during the spell, with the expectation LeBron James would re-sign. However, King James decided to take his talent to South Beach, leaving him in three miserable seasons that led to the franchise drafting Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Anthony Bennett.
"If he came back, we had a chance at a championship," the new coach of the Lakers said last week. "If he didn't, (Cleveland management) told me I'd have time to rebuild this team, so I felt at that particular time that I was kind of in a win-win situation."
"What I learned from there is that sometimes life isn't fair," Scott said, "and you just move on."
Days before training camp starts in El Segundo, California, Scott said his coaching staff is already working out with the players to keep everybody abreast with his philosophy even before the real action begins.
"You start implementing your offense and your defense and things like that," Scott said, "so you have a good idea in your mind when training camp starts of what you want to do."
The Lakers finished last year's campaign with a 27-55 record, but hoped the hiring of Scott and the acquisition of Jeremy Lin, Ed Davis and Carlos Boozer would help the team to be competitive in a very loaded Western Conference next season.
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