Lakers coach Byron Scott has seen the error in his ways in dealing with Kobe Bryant last season. So in essence, the five-time NBA champion will be his own coach in 2015.
Scott said he will defer to Bryant in the number of minutes the Lakers star guard plays in 2015-16 after admitting that he didn't listen to the Black Mamba last year in a Q&A session with the Orange County Register.
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"Because the one thing I want, if this is his last year, I want him to go out standing," Scott said of Bryant. "I don't want him to go out hurt.
"Obviously we want to keep him as efficient as possible, but I know he knows his body better than anybody. When we start talking about those minutes, I want to listen to him more than anything. I'm not going to go by what I think he can play like I did last year, I want to really go by what he thinks he can play. Then I want to make sure we stick to that."
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Scott was asked whether he regretted playing Bryant more minutes than Bryant thought he should play. The Black Mamba's season in Los Angeles came to an abrupt end in late January after suffering a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
"I felt bad about it," he said. "I don't know if I would say guilty. I know Kobe's a competitor and he's going to play as many minutes as you want him to play. I'm also a competitor, so I want to win and I know having him on the court gives me the best opportunity to win. But I also know that I've got to think about him more than anything. And I thought there were points in time last year where I thought he could play a certain amount of minutes. He told me Day One the minutes that he thought he could play in and like I told him at the end of the day, 'You were absolutely right and I was wrong.' I won't make that mistake again."
Scott vowed he would stick to the game plan concerning Bryant's minutes, even if that meant benching him during an overtime game if he has reached his limit.
"Win or lose, I'm going to stick to it," the coach said.
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