I still eat canned peaches and enjoy watching Star Wars... but basketball is no longer something I enjoy. But today I read on ESPN that my childhood favorite player was in negotiations for the head coaching position with his former team and my former favorite team: The Los Angeles Lakers.
Back in the 80's, Byron was a lights out shooter. As a kid, I practiced his baseline jumper on a regular basis and eventually got pretty good at it.
A few years later, I started collecting basketball cards and quickly started targeting Byron's cards. One of my first big purchases was a copy of his 1986-87 Fleer rookie card.
In 1993, the Lakers released him after he spent ten seasons and won three titles with them. That didn't keep me from collecting his cards.
Three years later, he rejoined the Lakers after spending some time in Indiana and Vancouver. That year he wrapped up his career mentoring a kid named Kobe.
He eventually came back to the NBA as an assistant coach and eventually spent over a decade as a head coach for the New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, and Cleveland Cavaliers.
After the Cavaliers struggled for three straight seasons, Scott was fired towards the end of the 2012/13 season.
But life is filled with second chances. And even though I won't be watching or following professional basketball anytime soon... I was happy to hear that my favorite player from back in the day is getting a second chance as a Los Angeles Laker.
Good luck Byron! Happy Friday and sayonara!
3 comments:
It's always great to see a childhood favorite returning to your team. I'm still waiting for Patrick Ewing to come back to the Knicks.
There are a lot of great players in the Knicks franchise history... but the one name that pops into my head first is always Patrick Ewing. He was amazing to watch at both Georgetown and in New York.
I grew tired of watching teams (mainly the Lakers) "buy" championships. When I was a kid, the Showtime Lakers were fun to watch. But I was a kid... and things like buying championships never really popped into my head. Plus the Lakers were really my only "good" team for many years. Yeah the A's went on a streak during the late 80's... but for most of the 80's they were average at best. The Padres were worse. And the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers weren't that good either.
So that's why I jumped on the LA Lakers bandwagon. But over the years, that sort of wore on me. And the more and more I disliked teams like the New York Yankees and Detroit Red Wings... the more I felt guilty of being a Lakers fan. I gave basketball one last chance and tried supporting the local team... but by then I couldn't get the sour taste out of my mouth.
I still check in every now and then on the sport. For example... I was happy to hear Lebron decide to go back to Cleveland. But overall... the NBA is in the past. If I ever get to the point where baseball, football, and hockey aren't enough... I'll probably start following soccer before I get back into the NBA.
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