Byron Scott wasted no time showing off his loyalty to the Los Angeles Lakers, which ironically makes the organization's feet-dragging even worse.
ESPN first reported that the Lakers officially hired the former Lakers guard as their 25th head coach. He has a four-year, $17 million deal, with the team holding the option on the fourth year.
The Lakers had been without a head coach since Mike D'Antoni resigned on April 30. General manager Mitch Kupchak said the team was going to take its time in the hiring process, but no one expected the search to go on for nearly three months.
Most analysts speculated that the Lakers weren't going to hire a coach until the free-agent process worked itself out in early July. The theory was that if the Lakers had a chance at big names LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, they were going to let either have a say in whom they wanted as coach.
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Even though they said they weren't going to solicit longtime Laker Kobe Bryant's opinion.
But when the process played out in the first two weeks - with neither James nor Anthony signing in Los Angeles - the prevailing thought was the Scott, who had interviewed twice already and then a third time in mid-July, would be named head coach.
Scott told the CBS' Los Angeles affiliate his thoughts about the drawn-out process.
"I really believe that they wanted to do the diligence and to make sure that I was the right guy," Scott said. "I know there were other candidates out there, and I felt like that with each meeting I thought was better and better, and I felt like they had a better understanding of what I was all about. I thought that the last few hires in their minds, they were a little hasty with, and so on this one, they took their time to make sure I was the right guy for this situation. Again, I think it worked out well for both sides."
But it does bear asking the question: Would the Lakers have made John Calipari go through three interviews or wait this long to hire him?
Do you think the Lakers will return to prominence under new coach Byron Scott? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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