EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) Byron Scott was a key component of the Los Angeles Lakers' Showtime teams, a smooth shooting guard with sizzling competitive fire. He believes his purple-and-gold championship pedigree makes him the ideal coach to return the struggling 16-time champions to NBA contention.

"This organization is all about championships, period," Scott said Tuesday at his introductory news conference. "We don't look at Western Conference finals, Western Conference championships. We look at (NBA) championships. And we know we have some work ahead of us, but I'm excited. ... I love challenges anyway, so this is going to be fun."

Scott's fellow Lakers greats are already backing that notion. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes surprised Scott before he was formally named the 25th coach in franchise history, standing behind him in a towering show of support.