Skip to content

Lakers' Scott to Nick Young: Improve or it'll be tough to get minutes

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

One year into what could be a four-year marriage, Byron Scott and Nick Young still don't have things figured out.

The duo, who stand as a perfect avatar for the 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers, continued their public non-feud this week, with Scott revealing his notes from Young's exit interview on TWCSportsNet.

What Scott said was nothing new - he's been fruitlessly asking the same things of Swaggy P for months, much to Young's chagrin - but he did offer a bit of a threat in terms of Young's playing time for 2015-16. Here's Scott:

If you want to look at one thing offensively you have to do, it's move without the basketball. Learn to catch and shoot. Learn to take two, three dribbles. Pull-up and shoot. Two, three dribbles. Get to the basket. No more of this nine dribbles and everyone kinda watch, because that's a home run or its a strikeout. You got to get better at moving without the basketball. That's number one on offense.

I said number two defensively. Nick is a pretty good defender when he has guys that challenge him. He takes the challenge. He'll guard pretty much one-on-one, but when the ball is off that guy's hands, he has to be a better help defender, a better weak-side defender. Those are just two areas him and I talked about, and we did that during the season in Phoenix. It's no secret the things that I told him to do to improve on.

I told him 'If you don't, it might be hard for me to put you out there.'

Again, none of this is new. The 29-year-old has spent eight seasons unapologetically being himself, a one-dimensional scorer who gives varying degrees of effort on defense and adds little to a team when his shot isn't falling. A tiger can't change his stripes, and it seems unlikely Young suddenly becomes an engaged defender.

The offensive suggestions Scott is making may be things Young has to do just to get his touches. The Lakers figure to add at least a piece or two this offseason and will bring Kobe Bryant back into the fold, meaning Young could have the ball in his hands less frequently.

That hurt his numbers this season, when he averaged 13.4 points with a 52 true shooting percentage, well down from 17.9 and 56.4 percent a season ago. As he hits age 30, Young would be well-served to become a better off-ball player, simply because that's how he's likely to be used. And Scott's points about the type of shots Young takes are somewhat warranted:

Young Shot Type % of shots eFG%
Catch and Shoot 24.3% 53.5%
Pull-up 58.6% 42.4%
0-2 dribbles 57.3% 50.5%
3-6 dribbles 30.0% 42.3%
7+ dribbles 12.7% 30.8%

It also wouldn't hurt for Young to look to pass a bit more, though again, tiger, stripes, and all that. Young averaged fewer passes per game than any other player in the league who appeared in at least 40 games and averaged 20 minutes.

Young has three years and $16.3 million remaining on his contract, one the Lakers will reportedly attempt to trade this offseason. They'll fail in those attempts, and so Scott and Young need to iron out these differences of opinion and style ahead of October.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox