Kobe Bryant told Byron Scott to play Lakers’ young guys

Byron Scott has made a terrible call by benching the Los Angeles Lakers’ young talent, and Kobe Bryant told him to end it during their last game.

Byron Scott is doing everything he can to look like the worst head coach in the NBA right now. Not only has he been playing an inefficient, air-balling Kobe Bryant over 30 minutes a night and instilled no sense of competitiveness or defensive heart, he’s also decided to bench his young stars D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. Unless he’s trying to secretly be a tanking mastermind and make the Lakers as bad as possible (which should still be a terrible idea in anyone’s mind), Scott has made a ridiculous decision by putting them on the bench. Kobe knows that as well, and he made sure his head coach knew that in their last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times has reported Kobe’s comment to Scott late in the third quarter, when he told his coach to let the young players stay in the game.

For a player like Kobe, who has always wanted to compete and do all he can as the driving force of the Lakers for his entire career, it’s an impressive call. He’s realized how the team needs to progress, and that’s with Russell and Randle playing big minutes so they can get as much experience as possible. For Kobe to sit for that much of the game is also a nice indication of his maturity right now.

Even if it’s only one game, hopefully Scott will take the suggestion from Kobe into more consideration going forward, too.

Coming in as a 19-year-old rookie point guard, Russell has the most challenging job of the Lakers’ young players. It’s the NBA’s toughest position with the toughest competition, and he needs time to fine-tune his game and learn how to grow. That can’t happen to nearly the same extent if he’s stuck on the bench.

As for Randle, he’s been highly impressive. In fact, in their last game, he led the team in +/- with an incredible mark (by Lakers standards) of +9 and finished with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 12 rebounds. Yet, Scott decided to bench that kind of ability to start Larry Nance Jr. with 22 minutes. Randle has shown so much potential, from his averages of 12.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game to the way he plays with intensity and can attack the basket off the dribble with such skill and strength.

The Lakers aren’t winning a championship and they aren’t going anywhere with Kobe now. That is why they must utilize their young talent and focus on developing, instead of tanking, or experimenting, or whatever Byron is trying to do.

Ultimately, the Lakers and their fans can thank Kobe for telling Scott to keep the young guys in on Wednesday night. Apparently, it’s going to take the ferocity of the Black Mamba himself to start drilling some sense into Scott’s head.