With all the conspiracy theories swirling around the Seattle Seahawks late game decision/blunder in the Super Bowl (why didn’t Marshawn Lynch get the ball?), there’s another West Coast conspiracy theory brewing that started long before Pete Carroll’s screw up. There’s a well-subscribed theory that Lakers head coach Byron Scott just doesn’t like guard and fan favorite Jeremy Lin–and some of the speculation about why isn’t pretty. Lin and Lakers fans have talked boycott, claiming Scott is not only ineffective (Lakers are 13-35) but that his decision-making may be influenced by unacknowledged bias.
Scott recently benched Lin for an entire game in a loss against the Spurs. And this weekend, in yet another Lakers loss at Lin’s old Linsanity stop Madison Square Garden, Scott played Lin just 23 minutes–during which Lin scored 4 points and dished 7 assists. (For perspective, had Lin averaged this for the whole game he’d have notched 14 assists. Washington’s John Wall leads the NBA with 10.2 assists per game.) Scott’s conclusion about Lin’s performance: “It wasn’t good,” the coach said. But whose performance was? The Lakers lost to a Knicks team that’s 10-38. Lin, who played well last year for a much better team in Houston, has got one year left on his big money deal in LA. What are Byron Scott’s reasons? 14 assists is a lot.