Byron Anton Scott
Born: March 28, 1961
Position: Shooting Guard
Height: 6-4 (1.93m)
Jerseys worn: #4
In the NBA:
His Game:
A member of the historic Lakers' team that played a basketball style known as "showtime", in the 80's, Scott was a great shooter with explosiveness and good defense skills. His teams qualified for the NBA Playoffs in 13 of his 14 seasons, and his 183 career playoff games are the fifth most in NBA history.
His Career:
Picked in the 4th overall place of the 1983 draft by the San Diego Clippers. Traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Norm Nixon and Eddie Jordan the day before the preseason schedule began.
Scott played for the Lakers for 10 consecutive seasons (1983-1993). During that time he won 3 NBA championships (1985, 1987, 1988). As a rookie he was a member of the 1984 all-rookie team, averaging 10.6 points/G in 22 minutes/G. He led the NBA in three-point field goal percentage (.433) in 1984-85. 1987-88 was his best season. He led the 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.
In the summer of 1993, he was signed by the Indiana Pacers. He played for Indiana for two seasons: 1993-'94 and 1994-'95. Coming off the bench, he averaged 10 ppg in less than 20 minutes/g. The Pacers needed a veteran guard to lead them in important games and Scott did just that, hitting some "big" shots during the playoffs and Indiana advanced to the conference finals both years. In 1995-'96 he played for the Vancouver Grizzlies and didn't make the playoffs for the first time in his career.
In 1996 he returned to the Lakers for his last season in the NBA. He finished his career as the team's all-time leader in three-pointers made (595) and attempted (1595) and ranks 4th in steals (1,038) and 7th in minutes played (25,533) and games (846). In his career he has scored more than 15,000 points (15,097).
Statistics:
| YEAR |
Team |
Games |
Pts |
FT % |
FG % |
3PM |
3-pt % |
Reb |
Trn |
Ast |
St |
Blk |
Min |
Star? |
| 1984 |
L.A. Lakers |
74 |
10.6 |
.806 |
.484 |
8 |
.235 |
2.2 |
1.6 |
2.4 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
22.1 |
No |
| 1985 |
L.A. Lakers |
81 |
16.0 |
.820 |
.539 |
26 |
.433 |
2.6 |
1.7 |
3.0 |
1.2 |
0.2 |
28.5 |
YES |
| 1986 |
L.A. Lakers |
76 |
15.4 |
.784 |
.513 |
22 |
.361 |
2.5 |
1.4 |
2.2 |
1.1 |
0.2 |
28.8 |
YES |
| 1987 |
L.A. Lakers |
82 |
17.0 |
.892 |
.489 |
65 |
.436 |
3.5 |
1.8 |
3.4 |
1.5 |
0.2 |
33.3 |
YES |
| 1988 |
L.A. Lakers |
81 |
21.7 |
.858 |
.527 |
62 |
.346 |
4.1 |
2.0 |
4.1 |
1.9 |
0.3 |
37.6 |
YES |
| 1989 |
L.A. Lakers |
74 |
19.6 |
.863 |
.491 |
77 |
.399 |
4.1 |
2.1 |
3.1 |
1.5 |
0.4 |
35.2 |
YES |
| 1990 |
L.A. Lakers |
77 |
15.5 |
.766 |
.470 |
93 |
.423 |
3.1 |
1.6 |
3.6 |
1.0 |
0.4 |
33.7 |
YES |
| 1991 |
L.A. Lakers |
82 |
14.5 |
.797 |
.477 |
71 |
.324 |
3.0 |
1.0 |
2.2 |
1.2 |
0.3 |
32.1 |
YES |
| 1992 |
L.A. Lakers |
82 |
14.9 |
.838 |
.458 |
54 |
.344 |
3.8 |
1.5 |
2.8 |
1.3 |
0.3 |
32.7 |
YES |
| 1993 |
L.A. Lakers |
58 |
13.7 |
.848 |
.449 |
44 |
.326 |
2.3 |
1.2 |
2.7 |
0.9 |
0.2 |
28.9 |
No |
| 1994 |
Indiana |
67 |
10.4 |
.805 |
.467 |
27 |
.365 |
1.6 |
1.5 |
2.0 |
0.9 |
0.1 |
17.9 |
No |
| 1995 |
Indiana |
80 |
10.0 |
.850 |
.455 |
79 |
.389 |
1.9 |
1.5 |
1.4 |
0.8 |
0.2 |
19.1 |
No |
| 1996 |
Vancouver |
80 |
10.2 |
.835 |
.401 |
74 |
.335 |
2.4 |
1.3 |
1.5 |
0.8 |
0.3 |
23.7 |
No |
| 1997 |
L.A. Lakers |
79 |
6.7 |
.841 |
.430 |
73 |
.335 |
1.5 |
0.7 |
1.3 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
18.2 |
No |
| Career |
Career |
1073 |
14.1 |
.833 |
.482 |
775 |
.370 |
2.8 |
1.5 |
2.5 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
28.1 |
YES |
In Europe:
In the summer of 1997 Scott came in Europe and signed with the Greek team Panathinaikos. During his first (and only) season in Greece, Scott played very well, leading PAO in the first place in the regular season. Despite his age (36 years old), Scott took it very seriously and professionally and surprised those who said he'd have no motivation after a great NBA career and three NBA rings. He played 23 games in the regular season (missed 3 due to problems with his lever) and averaged 18.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.2 apg and 1.4 steals/g, shooting 80% in the free throws, 48% from the field and 40% behind the arc.
Panathinaikos advanced to the play-off finals where he played against PAOK from Thessaloniki. Scott showed his class as he was named the finals' MVP and Panathinaikos won the first championship in 14 years, winning the series by 3-2. In the 5th game (68-58) Scott had 23 points and played an amazing (and surprising) defense on Stojakovic who scored only 14 points (3/13 fgs).