Byron Scott (basketball)

Byron Scott

Byron Scott in 2008 as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets.
No. 4
Shooting guard
Personal information
Date of birth	March 28, 1961 (1961-03-28)
Place of birth	Ogden, Utah
Nationality	American
High school	Morningside
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
College	Arizona State (1979–1983)
NBA Draft	1983 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall
Selected by the San Diego Clippers
Pro career	1983–1998
Career history
As player:
1983–1993	Los Angeles Lakers
1993–1995	Indiana Pacers
1995–1996	Vancouver Grizzlies
1996–1997	Los Angeles Lakers
1997–1998	Panathinaikos (Greece)
As coach:
1998–2000	Sacramento Kings (assistant)
2000–2004	New Jersey Nets
2004–2009	New Orleans Hornets
2010–present	Cleveland Cavaliers
Career highlights and awards
3× NBA Champion (1985, 1987, 1988) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1984) NBA Coach of the Year (2008)
Career NBA statistics
Points	15,097 (14.1 ppg)
Assists	2,729 (2.5 apg)
Steals	1,224 (1.1 spg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Byron Antom Scott (born March 28, 1961) is a retired American National Basketball Association player and current head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. He was formerly the head coach of the NBA's New Jersey Nets and New Orleans Hornets. He attended Arizona State University, but left school in his junior year to sign with the then San Diego Clippers. He was an important component of the Los Angeles Lakers championship teams of the mid-to-late 1980s. Scott grew up in Inglewood, California and played at Morningside High School, in the shadow of what was then the Lakers' home arena, The Forum.

Playing career

NBA

Scott and Lakers teammate Kurt Rambis speak with the media after the Lakers won the 1988 NBA Finals.

Selected by the San Diego Clippers with the 4th pick of the 1983 NBA Draft, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1983 in exchange for Norm Nixon. During his playing career, Scott suited up for the Lakers, Indiana Pacers and Vancouver Grizzlies. Scott was a key player for the Lakers during the Showtime era, being a starter alongside Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He played for the Lakers for 10 consecutive seasons (1983–1993). During that time he was on three NBA championship teams (1985, 1987, 1988). As a rookie, he was a member of the 1984 all-rookie team, averaging 10.6 PPG in 22 MPG. He led the NBA in three-point field goal percentage (.433) in 1984-85. 1987-88 was his best season, leading the NBA champions Lakers in scoring, averaging a career-best 21.7 ppg, and in steals (1.91 spg). Although he was an excellent player and an integral part of one of the greatest teams in NBA history, Byron Scott was never selected to play in the NBA All-Star game. He was the Lakers' starting shooting guard from 1984 until 1993. In 1996-97, the last year of Scott's playing career in the NBA, he went back to the Lakers and proved to be a valuable mentor for a team led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

Panathinaikos

After 14 seasons in the NBA, Scott played the last season of his basketball career (1997-1998) with the Greek team Panathinaikos BC.

In the summer of 1996 Scott signed with the Greek League team Panathinaikos for the 1997-1998 season. Byron Scott led his team to the Greek Championship by scoring in many crucial games. After one year with the Greek champions, Scott retired from professional basketball.

Coaching career

Byron Scott began his NBA coaching career in 1998, when he began the first of two seasons as an assistant with the Sacramento Kings. He specialized in teaching perimeter shooting during his tenure with the Kings and helped to lead the team to an excellent three-point shooting percentage during a pair of playoff seasons.

New Jersey

In 2000, Scott took over a struggling New Jersey Nets team. His team performed poorly in his first year, but that changed in the 2001-02 season with the arrival of Jason Kidd as the Nets raced to a franchise record of 52 wins. In the process, they won their first Atlantic division crown and appeared in their first NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite losing the championship series to LA, Scott came back to coach the team through another successful season during the 2002-03 campaign, once again taking the team to the NBA Finals, but losing once again—this time to the San Antonio Spurs. New Jersey was up by double figures in game six, but the Spurs tightened up their defense and won the game and the championship.

Scott was fired during the 2003–04 season, as New Jersey had a disappointing 22–20 record coming into the All-Star break, even though they were leading their division at the time of his dismissal. Rumors of a rift between Scott and Kidd circulated media outlets, with sources allegedly claiming that Kidd wanted Scott out of Jersey. All the parties, including then Nets GM Rod Thorn, denied the reports. Scott claimed that he was "very surprised" by the report and that he and Kidd "always got along".

He was succeeded by his assistant Lawrence Frank.

While coaching the Nets, Scott lived in Livingston, New Jersey.

New Orleans

Byron Scott talks to Chris Paul in a 2009 game; Scott was head coach of the New Orleans Hornets from 2004 to 2009.

Scott became the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets in 2004. In the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, he guided the team to a pair of sub .500 seasons. One obstacle was that the team played most of its home games in Oklahoma City due to Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans.

In the 2007–08 season, Scott had his first winning season as the Hornets head coach. They had a winning percentage of .683 with a record of 56–26. They became Southwest Division champions and finished 2nd overall in the Western Conference. The Hornets clinched the Southwest Division title in their win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Byron Scott was named the head coach of the 2008 Western Conference All-Star team, and a few months after, he was awarded the 2007–2008 NBA coach of the year award. Due to his success the Hornets awarded Scott with a two year extension.

The Hornets had a 30–11 home record and a 26–15 road record and clinched the second seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. The Hornets won their first round series against the Dallas Mavericks, posting a 4–1 record for the series. They would go on to face the defending Champion San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals. An unusual trend of home court blow outs would mark the series until the deciding game 7 when the veteran Spurs would pull out a 91–82 win on the Hornets rowdy home court. The win marked the 100th playoff victory for Spurs coach Greg Popovich.

In the 2008-09, the Hornets finished 49-33 and entered the playoffs as a seventh seed. They faced the Denver Nuggets in the first round losing after five brutal games, including 21 and 29-point blowouts, as well as a 58-point loss in game 4, which tied the worst margin of defeat in NBA postseason history.(see:2009 NBA playoffs article for more information)

Scott was relieved from his head coaching duties for the Hornets on November 12, 2009, following a 3-6 start. He had been mentioned as a candidate for several NBA coaching jobs, including the Chicago Bulls, due to his success coaching another young star point guard Chris Paul.

Following his dismissal, he briefly served as a studio analyst for the NBA on ESPN.

Cleveland Cavaliers

On July 2, 2010, Scott was named head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. During his first season at the helm of the Cavs, he watched his team endure the longest losing streak ever in the NBA. The 26-game, record-breaking, losing streak ended on February 11, 2011 when they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime at home. The Cavaliers ended up finishing the season with a 19-63 record which was the second worst record in the NBA, only ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Personal life

Scott's non-profit organization, The Byron Scott Children’s Fund, has raised more than $15 million over the past decade, with the proceeds going to various children’s charities^{[citation needed]}. Scott has recently served as a studio analyst for ABC's NBA telecasts and was featured on ESPN.

Scott and his wife, Anita, have three children, Thomas, LonDen and DaRon.

Coaching record

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss  %
Post season	PG	Playoff Games	PW	Playoff Wins	PL	Playoff Losses	PW–L %	Playoff Win-loss  %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
New Jersey	2000–01	82	26	56	.317	6th in Atlantic	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New Jersey	2001–02	82	52	30	.634	1st in Atlantic	20	11	9	.550	Lost in NBA Finals
New Jersey	2002–03	82	49	33	.598	1st in Atlantic	20	14	6	.700	Lost in NBA Finals
New Jersey	2003–04	42	22	20	.524	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
New Orleans	2004–05	82	18	64	.220	5th in Southwest	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New Orleans	2005–06	82	38	44	.463	4th in Southwest	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New Orleans	2006–07	82	39	43	.476	4th in Southwest	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New Orleans	2007–08	82	56	26	.683	1st in Southwest	12	7	5	.583	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
New Orleans	2008–09	82	49	33	.598	4th in Southwest	5	1	4	.200	Lost in First Round
New Orleans	2009–10	9	3	6	.333	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
Cleveland	2010–11	82	19	63	.232	5th in Central	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Career		789	371	418	.470		57	33	24	.579

See also

• List of National Basketball Association career playoff steals leaders

External links

• Byron Scott coach biography at NBA.com
• Byron Scott player biography at NBA.com
• Byron Scott career highs and selected season stats at NBA.com
• Byron Scott historical playerfile at NBA.com
• Scott's statistics as a player
• Scott's statistics as a coach

Preceded by Don Casey	New Jersey Nets head coach 2000–2004	Succeeded by Lawrence Frank
Preceded by Tim Floyd	New Orleans Hornets head coach 2004–2009	Succeeded by Jeff Bower (interim)
Preceded by Mike Brown	Cleveland Cavaliers head coach 2010–present	Succeeded by Incumbent