Byron Scott says Jim Buss 'has done a great job'

These are strange times to be an NBA fan, what with the league's traditional power structure so dramatically inverted and the once-invincible Los Angeles Lakers taking heat from every direction, even from consummate Laker Magic Johnson. 

Johnson spoke Tuesday about the importance of the coming offseason for the Lakers, and how they need to find a way to right the ship, and fast. When pointing fingers for the team's 13-38 start, he came down particularly hard on co-owner and executive vice president Jim Buss. 

"Jim is trying to do it himself and trying to prove to everybody that, 'This was the right decision that my dad gave me the reigns,' " Johnson said of Buss, who inherited the franchise from his late father, Jerry Buss. "He’s not consulting anybody that can help him achieve his goals and dreams to win an NBA championship."

Lakers head coach Byron Scott, himself much-maligned in his first year helming the club, came to Buss's defense. 

"I’ve been very happy with Jim. I think Jim has done a great job," Scott said after his team's morning shootaround Tuesday, according Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News. "I think he obviously put us in a position this summer to do some good things. It just depends on if we can get those things done this summer, obviously. But being around him as much as I have this past six or seven months, personally I like him and professionally I think he’s doing all the right things right now."

Scott also used the opportunity to draw parallels between the purportedly unfair criticism he and Buss have been getting.  

"I think he gets a lot of blame for a lot of stuff that’s not in his control," said Scott, citing the Lakers’ recent string of injuries. "But that’s people, that’s fans. I guess in his position, just like as a coach, you have to deal with that as well, if it’s fair or unfair. I don’t think he loses a ton of sleep over it."