Byron Scott

Byron Antom Scott (born March 28, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was an important component of the Lakers championship teams of the mid-to-late 1980s.

Early Life

Scott grew up in Inglewood, California and played at Morningside High School, in the shadow of what was then the Lakers' home arena, The Forum. He attended Arizona State University, but left school in his junior year to sign with the then San Diego Clippers.

Playing career

NBA

Selected by the San Diego Clippers with the 4th pick of the 1983 NBA draft, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1983 in exchange for Norm Nixon. During his playing career, Scott suited up for the Lakers, Indiana Pacers and Vancouver Grizzlies. Scott was a key player for the Lakers during the Showtime era, being a starter alongside Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and A. C. Green. He played for the Lakers for 10 consecutive seasons (1983–1993). During that time he was on three NBA championship teams (1985, 1987, 1988). As a rookie, he was a member of the 1984 all-rookie team, averaging 10.6 PPG in 22 MPG. He led the NBA in three-point field goal percentage (.433) in 1984-85. 1987-88 was his best season, leading the NBA champions Lakers in scoring, averaging a career-best 21.7 ppg, and in steals (1.91 spg). He was the Lakers' starting shooting guard from 1984 until 1993. He was a player who contributed by his shooting. In 1996-97, the last year of Scott's playing career in the NBA, he went back to the Lakers and proved to be a valuable mentor for a team featuring Shaquille O'Neal, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and 18-year-old rookie Kobe Bryant.

Byron N. Scott

Byron Nicholson Scott (March 21, 1903 - December 21, 1991) was an American lawyer and politician. The Democrat Scott served as the second United States Representative for California's 18th congressional district for two terms, from 1935 to 1939.

Background

Scott was born on March 21, 1903 in Council Grove in Morris County, Kansas. He was raised in Council Grove, and went through the town's public school system. He went to the University of Kansas at Lawrence, and graduated from the school in 1924. After graduating, Scott became a teacher in Tucson, Arizona and taught there until 1926. Afterwards, he moved to go teach at public schools in Long Beach, California. During the while, he went to the University of Southern California where he obtained is Master's degree in 1930. He taught in Long Beach until 1934, when he got involved in politics.

Politics

Scott first served as a delegate to the California Democratic state convention in 1934. Scott also ran for the United States House of Representatives seat for California's recently formed 18th congressional district. After getting the Democratic nomination, he ran against Republican William Brayton. Scott defeated Brayton by capturing 56.3% of the vote, in comparison to his 43.2%. From June 23, 1936 to June 27, 1936, he served as a delegate in the Democratic National Convention held at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which they renominated Franklin D. Roosevelt to be the presidential candidate, and John Nance Garner as his vice-presidential running mate. Later that year, Scott ran for re-election as the representative for the 18th district, and easily defeated Republican challenger James F. Collins by more than 18,000 votes in a 58.9%-41.0% majority.