A member of Showtime is about to return to the Lakers in his dream job.
Byron Scott, who played 11 seasons in Los Angeles, coached the Nets to two Finals and was later voted NBA Coach of the Year with New Orleans, has been offered the Lakers’ head coaching job.
“Basically, we’re going through the normal process of finalizing matters,” said Emanuel Hudson of HSI.net, the firm that represents Scott. “He’s looking forward to bringing the Lakers back to prominence. He’s very excited. This is his dream job.”
“He knows it won’t be easy but Byron has built teams up before.”
Scott, 53, owns a 416-521 record in 11 full coaching seasons and parts of two others with the Nets, New Orleans and Cavaliers. Under Scott, the Nets were Eastern Conference champs in 2002 and 2003.
Scott was Coach of the Year when he led New Orleans to 56 victories in 2007-08, one season after the then-Hornets posted a losing record.
Scott won three NBA championships with the Lakers as Magic Johnson’s Showtime backcourt mate in 1985, 1987 and 1988.
The slick-shooting two-guard played 14 seasons, the first 10 with the Lakers, followed by a two-season stop in Indiana and one season in Vancouver before he finished back in Los Angeles, where he mentored Kobe Bryant as a rookie in 1996-97.
A career .482 shooter, Scott averaged 14.1 points per game.
Scott was out of the country Friday and could not be reached, so there was no immediate time frame for him to accept the multi-year deal.
Scott will replace Mike D’Antoni, who the Lakers chose after a courtship with former coach Phil Jackson. New Nets coach Lionel Hollins was among those also considered for the Lakers job.
Paul considers sitting out
The Clippers’ Chris Paul told ESPN.com he would join coach Doc Rivers in possibly sitting out the season if Donald Sterling is still the owner of the team when the season begins.
The star point guard, who called it “unacceptable” if Sterling remains in control, said Rivers, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan would talk about what to do if nothing is finalized in regards to ownership.