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Scott came to the Lakers having coached two superstar guards, Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul, early in their careers. He was also famously teammates with both Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant, two of the greatest guards to ever don the purple and gold.

But, for some reason, he was never able to get on the same page as Russell, and it showed in how strict he was with Russell. Scottโ€™s assistant coach Jim Eyen viewed that as tough love, as he told Jake Fischer for the book โ€œBuilt To Lose: How the NBAโ€™s Tanking Era Changed the League Foreverโ€:

Scott would Russell when he thought the rookie was freelancing instead of settling the table for teammates. Heโ€™d offer varying reasons as to why he benched Russell during crunch time situations. โ€œI think Byron coached Dโ€™Angelo from the heart. He did what he thought the best thing for Dโ€™Angelo was. It would have been easier had he just taken the path of least resistance,โ€ Eyen says. โ€œBut he didnโ€™t. Itโ€™s a lot more difficult to try to do it, what you feel is the right way, and discipline when you need to disciple. Pat him on the butt me give him accolades when he deserves it and just do what you need to do for not only the team, but for the long term of the player.

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Russell viewed their relationship just a bit differently:

Russell, frankly, disagrees. Scott didnโ€™t handle sophomore forward Julius Randle with the same kids gloves. โ€œHeโ€™s an idiot,โ€ Russell says of his coach.

Russell felt Scott often yanked him from close contests purely to spark controversy and attention for his postgame media availability. โ€œI just think he was malicious for no reason,โ€ Russell says. โ€œHeโ€™s a solid man. But as a coach, he was bad. He was just bad at his job.โ€

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Russell admitted that he didnโ€™t do everything he could to bridge the gap that existed between them, though:

When Scott summoned Russell back to the bench, Russell would take his most circuitous path in order to duck high-fiving the coaching staff. โ€œI was just young. I used to do all types of shit to avoid talking to him,โ€ Russell says. The guard bristled in his seat at the end of Los Angelesโ€™ pine. Lakers officials diagnosed the dynamic evidence of Russellโ€™s immaturity issues scouts across the league has flagged before the draft.

But again, if thereโ€™s anyone that deserved the benefit of the doubt, it wasnโ€™t Scott.