Last week it was announced that former Los Angeles Lakers players, Robert Horry, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard headline a list of nominees eligible to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2025.
The Lakers organization has a rich history of Naismith Hall of Famers including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Pau Gasol, Spencer Haywood and the late Kobe Bryant. More recently, the Hall of Fame inducted former Showtime Laker fan favorite and fan favorite, Michael Cooper to that prestigious list. Playing alongside fellow Hall of Famers, Magic Johnson and James Worthy and head coach Pat Riley, Cooper was a part of the Showtime Lakers that won those five NBA championships in the ’80s.
Byron Scott was also a member of those Championship teams and during an interview with Scoop B Radio this past summer Cooper told me that he’d like to see Scott and other Lakers get the nod in the Hall of Fame.
“I think Byron Scott, Norm Nixon should definitely be in there, hopefully they will be considered there in the future,” he said.
“Robert Horry, one of the players. You know what, I found out that the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame isn’t about what you did on the court most of the time; it is, but it’s your contribution to the game. Giving back to the game in any form or fashion.”
Byron Scott Discusses Naismith Hall of Fame Chances
With career averages of 14.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists during his 14-year NBA career, Scott is a three-time NBA Champion. He said he’d welcome the honor if the Hoop Hall calls his name. “Oh I would love to be a Hall of Famer,” Byron Scott shared on today’s episode of Scoop B Radio.
“I think anybody that played in the NBA and said that they don’t care about it is lying, you know? You would love to be a Hall of Famer! But that won’t define me on who I was as a basketball player and it doesn’t define who I am as a man. So if it happens, that’s great, you know? It would be a blessing. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t change my life either, you know what I mean? So, we’ll see what happens but at this particular time.”
Scott did share that he’s glad to see Michael Cooper finally get inducted earlier this year. “It means a great deal to me because number one, that’s my brother,” he shared.
“I love Coop like a brother because I’ve been through wars with that man and I understand what that man has gone through and what he meant to the game of basketball and especially what he meant to the Los Angeles Lakers. So, for him to get inducted I was so happy and proud of him. I thought it was well overdue. I thought he deserved it years ago, but to see him get in and then start talking about that I should be in and all that other stuff, it just shows the type of teammate and the type of friend and the type of brother that he is.”
New Jersey Nets Princeton Offense, Triangle Offense & Today’s NBA
After his playing career in the NBA, Byron Scott transitioned into coaching. The NBA’s Coach of the Year during the 2007-08 NBA season, He led the New Jersey Nets to back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
During his time in New Jersey, Scott helped improve the Nets by 26 wins between his first season and second seasons due to Jason Kidd running the offense with Kenyon Martin, Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin on that roster.
What was intriguing about New Jersey at that time was that they implemented the Princeton offense into their playbook.
The Princeton offense was inspired by legendary coach and Hall of Famer, Pete Carril during his 29-year, 514-win tenure as coach of the Princeton Tigers. The Princeton offense is a two-guard offense that doesn’t require having a great point-guard. To effectively execute the Princeton offense, all five players must be skilled at dribbling, passing, shooting from outside, or be able to post up inside.The offense’s emphasis is on constant motion, back-door cuts and picks on and off the ball. “It kind of ran its course as far as the NBA,” said Byron Scott.
“Everything now is more isolation and high pick and rolls so that’s not what the Princeton Offense is all about. The Princeton Offense is all about having five guys being involved in the game of basketball on the offensive end and then it’s played on reads — that’s why you have to have a basketball IQ to be able to do the Princeton Offense as well. So, those days of having five guys involved are gone now. Now it’s two guys or three guys and then you have the other two guys standing in the corner and waiting for the ball to be delivered to them.”
Pete Carril’s basketball IQ is highly celebrated. So too was the late Tex Winter. Winter is known for his contributions to the triangle offense, which Phil Jackson used to coach the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Winter published The Triple-Post Offense in 1962 while he was the head coach at Kansas State.
Scott wishes that Carril got love for the Princeton offense like Winter gets for the triangle. “They give Tex Winters a lot of credit for the Triangle Offense in Chicago but again, that was something Pete Carrill was doing a long time ago at Princeton when they just called it the Princeton Offense,” said Scott.
“So, he doesn’t get enough credit for what he was able to do at Princeton; we ran it in Sacramento to a certain extent and then obviously when I got the head coaching job I ran it in New Jersey and I did it also in New Orleans. So, it’s a great offense if you have very good basketball players that understand the game of basketball.”
JR Smith & Peja Stojakovic
In addition to coaching the Nets, Scott also coached the New Orleans Hornets from 2004-2009. During that time, Scott has seen his fair share of prolific scorers.
When asked who he ranks as the best three-point shooter that he’s ever coached, Scott believes that there are two names that stand out the most. “Peja Stojakovic is probably the number one three-point shooter that I’ve coached,” Scott said with no hesitation.
“J.R. Smith is right up there. A guy who could get it done on a night to night basis who had unlimited range. I think J.R. is right behind Peja, you know? And so that’s big shoes to fill when you’re talking about Peja Stojaković.”
A two-time winner of the NBA’s 3-point shooting contest, he averaged 18.4 points for his career and Internationally helped lead the senior FR Yugoslavian national team to gold medals in the 2001 FIBA EuroBasket and the 2002 FIBA World Championship.
A two-time NBA Champion and the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award recipient in 2013, J.R. Smith hasn’t played NBA basketball since winning the NBA Finals as a member of the Lakers in 2020. Since then, Smith has completed movie docs, enrolled in college and become a student-athlete as a golfer and done television analyst work.
Kyrie Irving & Luka Doncic
Last year when Byron Scott chatted with Scoop B Radio, he shared that he thought it would be difficult for head coach Jason Kidd to use Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic together because both players are very dominant with the ball.
Irving and Doncic proved Scott wrong and appeared in last season’s NBA Finals. Scott sees the light. “I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong because I didn’t see how he and Luka Doncic would be able to share that basketball,” Scott shared on today’s episode of Scoop B Radio.
“But they figured it out. And you gotta give Kyrie a lot of credit, you know? For a man just to say, Listen. I’ll be second fiddle. I’ll be Robin to your Batman… and with the ego that we have as basketball players, but he did it for the betterment of the team so you gotta give Kyrie a lot of credit; and I coached Kyrie. I know what type of person he is; but for him to be able to do that and have the success that they had, kudos to that man.”
Scott and Irving have history. Scott coached the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2010 to 2013. During his tenure in Cleveland, Scott drafted future stars in both Irving and Dion Waiters. He also turned around the Cavaliers after a poor start.
Scott shares that he became familiar with Irving’s game during his high school career at St. Patrick’s High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Irving, a native of West Orange, New Jersey, grew up one town over from Scott who once lived in nearby, Livingston, New Jersey.
“Yeah, he was a senior in high school,” recounts Scott.
“I kept hearing about this kid and also I heard that he was going to Duke which I was like, ‘Ehhh… you know.’ But I was able to follow him through his senior year of high school and then follow him for the eight to nine games that he played in college. And then obviously I got the opportunity to bring him in for workouts when I was coaching in Cleveland and just loved him as a person and I thought that he was just one of the most skilled basketball players I’ve EVER seen at 19 years old. He had no weaknesses. So, I know that he was going to be a great player in the NBA and again, he continues to play the way that he’s playing he’ll be a Hall of Famer.”
Byron Scott discussed tons on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast. You watch the entire episode by Clicking here.
