Byron Scott Says Dwight Howard Lacks Kobe’s Drive For Championships

Dwight Howard and the Los Angeles Lakers should want to forget that he ever wore the purple and gold. On eve of the Houston Rockets center’s second game back at Staples Center since his contentious departure, though, Byron Scott refused to let that happen. Asked why Howard clashed with Kobe Bryant during their season as teammates in 2012-2013, the Lakers first-year coach pointed to Howard’s drive for championships being lower than Bryant’s as justification.

Via ESPN’s Baxter Holmes:

“My outside perspective is Kobe is a real serious guy and wants to win championships,” Scott, the Lakers’ first-year head coach, said after his team’s practice at their facility Monday. “I don’t know if Dwight is that serious about it. I know No. 24 is. I think that probably was the clash.”

This shouldn’t even be incendiary.

Kobe’s maniacal dedication to greatness is unquestioned and well-chronicled, as is Dwight’s far more casual approach to NBA life. Detractors of Los Angeles’ prospects before their lone season together mentioned those disparate mentalities as potential cause for concern, and they ultimately helped lead to Howard spurning the Lakers in free agency for Houston two summers ago. Tension between the two was so obvious at one point during their ill-fated time together that Bryant shared a photo of the superstar pair mock fighting to prove otherwise:

Kobe and Dwight didn’t get along, and much of that had to with their differences in competitive mindset. Bryant’s is ultra-serious and has yielded five championships. Howard’s is perhaps too laid back and he’s yet to win a title. We get it. And this simply doesn’t matter anymore.

Would Howard be a better player if he had Bryant’s intensity? Likely. Would Bryant be a more popular teammate if he took up a portion of Howard’s care-free attitude? Likely. Would both teams be in more optimal positions if their stars adopted at least some of the other’s mental ideals? Almost certainly.

But it’s Kobe and it’s the Lakers, so everything is magnified to unhealthy degrees – especially in wake of so much recent criticism facing the Mamba. We ask Scott to ponder this, though: Would his team’s present and future be far more comfortable and secure if Howard were manning the L.A. middle? Would he rather Bryant ease up to appease a talented teammate or play in the Western Conference cellar?

The answers seem as obvious to us as the pointless nature of Scott’s comment. The Lakers host the Rockets at 10:30EST tomorrow night on TNT.

What do you think?

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