Things haven’t been going so well for the Los Angeles Lakers. After a dismal 2014-15 season, Los Angeles looked to bounce back with a number of free agent signings, a high draft pick and the return of Kobe Bryant in what we now know will be his final season.

Unfortunately, this year has been much of the same in Tinseltown, and all fingers are starting to be pointed at the head coach, Byron Scott.

Scott took over after Mike D’Antoni was fired, and the former Laker himself was placed in a talent-deprived situation with a bleak future but high expectations.

The team finished with a franchise-worst record and lost key players along the way. This year was supposed to be different, however. D’Angelo Russell was going to be the next great Lakers point guard, Kobe would make his triumphant return, and newcomers like Roy Hibbert, Louis Williams, and Brandon Bass would provide depth and experience.

Instead of turning this franchise back around, Byron Scott has led it along its path of embarrassment and turmoil. Watching the Lakers play is an exercise in patience and is mostly driven by wanting to see Kobe play one last time before he finally hangs ‘em up.

But from a tactical and pure basketball standpoint, the Lakers are lost. They rank 29th in defensive rating and opponents points per game, 28th in offensive rating and 26th in points per game.  They shoot the lowest field goal percentage in the NBA and have the second fewest assists. Earlier this season, Nick Young assisted on a Kobe Bryant field goal for the first time in THREE SEASONS.

All of this points to the fact that the Lakers need to move on from Byron Scott. He hasn’t given his young players a chance to develop, the team is in between trying to compete to save their draft pick and trying to still maintain a lottery pick for themselves, and the year has now become the Kobe retirement tour.

Reports now are that the young players think his offensive system isn’t putting the players in positions to succeed (no kidding) and the whole situation is a mess. As the team stumbles towards the halfway point of the season with just four wins, the Buss family has to wonder just where this team is headed.

With Scott at the helm, the answer to that question can only be “nowhere.”