D’Angelo Russell was not on the floor for the close game against the Mavericks because Byron Scott benched him for not sharing the ball and letting the flow of the game come to him.
“I saw the last couple minutes that he was in that he was really trying to take over the game, and that’s not him yet,” Scott said. “I want the ball to move a little bit. I thought it stuck with him. He tried to make the big shots and things like that. I understand that, but to me, that’s not him right now….He’s been more aggressive to score. I think sometimes he’s taking what they’re giving him, and I think there’s other times where I think he’s kind of forcing the issue. He has to find a happy medium. He’s learning.”
Scott continues to show tough love to the rookie, it’s funny he’s talking about happy medium but that’s not the approach he’s using with D’Angelo Russell. The Lakers coach didn’t see his play in the last minutes as a sign of confidence but rather him hurting the team.
“I love the fact that he has confidence,” Scott said. “When it gets to the point where it’s cockiness, then we’ve got a problem.”
Byron Scott is doing a very job if he doesn’t want to return as the Lakers’ coach, I can only imagine what the exit meeting for the young players will sound like with Mitch Kupchak but before that they will have to deal with the tough love until April.