SCOTT FREE: For reasons known only to themselves, the New Jersey Nets today fired Byron Scott as their head coach. Nevermind that Scott led the long-moribund franchise to two consecutive Eastern Conference championships, or that in only three-plus years Scott was the winningest coach in Nets history, or that, a recent five-game losing streak notwithstanding, the Nets are currently in first place in the Atlantic Division. This is the sort of nonsensical, undeserved firing much more common to hockey than to the NBA.
So what happened? Well, the team was sold this week- although that supposedly is unrelated to the firing. More importantly, Scott supposedly lacked the support of star point guard Jason Kidd, who was reported to have demanded Scott's firing as a condition for his agreeing to re-sign with New Jersey last summer- perhaps there was some side deal related to that contract that would trigger Scott's dismissal if Kidd gave the say-so. But honestly, Scott is probably getting out at the right time- pre-relocation lame duck teams don't exactly have a stellar history across sports, and given that he took a team with one playoff victory in 24 years and led them to six more, he'll likely have his choice of job openings- and this being the NBA, there are always plenty.
Scott will be replaced on an interim basis by Lawrence Frank, an Indiana product whose name sounds more like that of a synagogue president than an NBA coach.
UPDATE: David Aldridge backs up the it's-all-Kidd's-fault theory.
Posted by Stephen Silver at January 27, 2004 01:24 AM