Byron Scott Hire Shows Los Angeles Lakers Are Still All About Kobe Bryant

More important than the four-year commitment the Los Angeles Lakers made to Byron Scott is the short-term vow it reinforces: Everything is about Kobe Bryant.

Time has changed the Lakers in a variety of ways. They are different, and they are swiftly approaching a new era in which the franchise face remains shrouded in mystery. 

But they're not there yet.

As long as Bryant is on the Lakers, only so much can change. No amount of time will warp their motives.

Appeasing Bryant, playing for Bryant, is top priority. Doubts to the contrary are wrong and misguided and have since been subverted by their latest addition—that of the Black Mamba-approved Scott.

 

Kobe-Approved



Hiring Scott wasn't only about Bryant.

Pickings were slim. Scott was one of, if not the absolute best option available. 

And yet the pool of eligible coaches was only so shallow because the Lakers waited and waited. And waited. Mike D'Antoni resigned at the end of April, and Scott wasn't introduced until nearly three months later.

Although there was a growing sense the job would be his, things could have turned out differently if all other vacancies hadn't been filled and there were countless options at Los Angeles' disposal. It's not like the Lakers didn't consider other candidates, after all:



Then again, the Lakers were always destined to hire Scott. They prolonged their search with such confidence, such deliberateness as they pursued superstars like Carmelo Anthony, another Bryant-endorsed asset the Lakers openly pined after.

The outcome felt inevitable, because it was. Once Bryant publicly ratified Scott's intangible nomination, it was over:



Bryant wasn't chirping about any other options. Nor did he speak so highly of Mike Brown or D'Antoni before or during their Lakers tenures.&n...

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