Byron Scott

For the politician, see Byron N. Scott.
Byron Scott

Scott coaching Cleveland in 2012
Personal information
Born (1961-03-28) March 28, 1961
Ogden, Utah
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight 195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High school Morningside (Inglewood, California)
College Arizona State (1979–1983)
NBA draft 1983 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall
Selected by the San Diego Clippers
Playing career 1983–1998
Position Shooting guard
Number 4, 11
Coaching career 1998–2016
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
As coach:
1998–2000 Sacramento Kings (assistant)
2000–2004 New Jersey Nets
2004–2009 New Orleans Hornets
2010–2013 Cleveland Cavaliers
2014–2016 Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards

As player:

As coach:

Career NBA statistics
Points 15,097 (14.1 ppg)
Assists 2,729 (2.5 apg)
Steals 1,224 (1.1 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Byron Antom Scott (born March 28, 1961) is an American professional basketball former head coach and player. He last coached the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he won three NBA championships with the Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s.

Early life

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. He played college basketball at Arizona State University for three years, then left after his junior year to play for the NBA.

Playing career

NBA

Selected by the San Diego Clippers in the first round, with the fourth pick of the 1983 NBA draft, Scott 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, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and A. C. Green. 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, Scott 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. In 1987–88, Scott enjoyed his best season, leading the NBA champion Lakers in scoring, averaging a career-best 21.7 ppg, and in steals (1.91 spg). 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 featuring Shaquille O'Neal, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and 18-year-old rookie Kobe Bryant.

Panathinaikos

Scott with Panathinaikos in 1998

In the summer of 1997, Scott signed with the Greek Basket League team Panathinaikos for the 1997–1998 season. That season, he played with Panathinaikos in both the FIBA Saporta Cup (known then as the FIBA EuroCup), Europe's second-tier level competition after the top-tier EuroLeague, and the Greek Basket League. In the Saporta Cup's 1997–1998 season, he averaged 13.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals, in 25.6 minutes per game, in 17 games played.[1]

Scott helped to lead his team to the Greek Basket League championship with his scoring in many crucial games. In the Greek Basket League's 1997–1998 season, he averaged 17.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, in 33.7 minutes per game, in 34 games played.[2] After one season with the Greek Basket League champions, Scott retired from playing professional basketball, and began his coaching career.

Coaching career

Sacramento Kings

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 Nets

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, which 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".[3]

He was succeeded by his assistant Lawrence Frank.

While coaching the Nets, Scott lived in Livingston, New Jersey.[4]

New Orleans Hornets

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. 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 Gregg Popovich.

In the 2008–09 season, 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.[5][6] Scott was relieved from his head coaching duties for the Hornets on November 12, 2009, following a 3-6 start.[7] He was 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, a few days before the team lost star LeBron James to the Miami Heat.[8][9] During Scott's first season at the helm of the Cavs, he watched his team endure the longest losing streak ever in the NBA. The 26-game streak ended on February 11, 2011 when they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime at home. The Cavaliers ended the season with a 19-63 record, which was the second-worst record in the NBA, ahead of only the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, like his tenure in New Orleans, Scott coached another Rookie of the Year point guard, Kyrie Irving, whom the Cavaliers selected first overall in the 2011 NBA draft. Scott's second season in Cleveland saw them improve to 21 victories in a shortened 66-game schedule.

On April 18, 2013, Scott was fired by Cleveland Cavaliers management.[10] During his tenure, the Cavaliers struggled defensively, ranking in the bottom five of the league in defensive efficiency in each of his three seasons.[11]

Los Angeles Lakers

Scott spent the 2013–14 season as a Lakers television analyst on Time Warner Cable SportsNet.[12] After the season, he was the frontrunner to become the new Lakers head coach. Scott interviewed three times for the position, which had become vacant after Mike D'Antoni's resignation.[13] On July 28, 2014, he signed a multi-year contract to coach the Lakers.[14]

With the team rebuilding in 2014–15, Scott finished his first season as coach of the Lakers with a 21-61 record. In the 2015 NBA draft, the Lakers selected Ohio State point guard D'Angelo Russell with the second overall pick. The Lakers finished a franchise-worst 17–65 in 2015–16, Kobe Bryant's final season before retiring. It was the fifth straight season in Scott's coaching career that his team finished last in their division. On April 24, 2016, the Lakers did not exercise their option on Scott's contract for the following season, deciding to pursue a new coach.[15] His 38-126 (.232) record with the team was the worst of any of the 16 coaches who had led the franchise for at least two seasons.[16]

Playing career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes seasons in which Scott won an NBA championship

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1983–84 L.A. Lakers 74 49 22.1 .484 .235 .806 2.2 2.4 1.1 .3 10.6
1984–85† L.A. Lakers 81 65 28.5 .539 .433 .820 2.6 3.0 1.1 .2 16.0
1985–86 L.A. Lakers 76 62 28.8 .513 .361 .784 2.5 2.2 1.1 .2 15.4
1986–87† L.A. Lakers 82 82 33.3 .489 .436 .892 3.5 3.4 1.5 .2 17.0
1987–88† L.A. Lakers 81 81 37.6 .527 .346 .858 4.1 4.1 1.9 .3 21.7
1988–89 L.A. Lakers 74 73 35.2 .491 .399 .863 4.1 3.1 1.5 .4 19.6
1989–90 L.A. Lakers 77 77 33.7 .470 .423 .766 3.1 3.6 1.0 .4 15.5
1990–91 L.A. Lakers 82 82 32.1 .477 .324 .797 3.0 2.2 1.2 .3 14.5
1991–92 L.A. Lakers 82 82 32.7 .458 .344 .838 3.8 2.8 1.3 .3 14.9
1992–93 L.A. Lakers 58 53 28.9 .449 .326 .848 2.3 2.7 .9 .2 13.7
1993–94 Indiana 67 2 17.9 .467 .365 .805 1.6 2.0 .9 .1 10.4
1994–95 Indiana 80 1 19.1 .455 .389 .850 1.9 1.4 .8 .2 10.0
1995–96 Vancouver 80 0 23.7 .401 .335 .835 2.4 1.5 .8 .3 10.2
1996–97 L.A. Lakers 79 8 18.2 .430 .388 .841 1.5 1.3 .6 .2 6.7
Career 1073 717 28.1 .482 .370 .833 2.8 2.5 1.1 .3 14.1

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1984 L.A. Lakers 20 0 20.2 .460 .200 .600 1.9 1.7 .9 .1 8.6
1985† L.A. Lakers 19 19 30.8 .517 .476 .795 2.7 2.6 2.2 .2 16.9
1986 L.A. Lakers 14 14 33.6 .497 .353 .905 3.9 3.0 1.4 .1 16.0
1987† L.A. Lakers 18 18 33.8 .490 .206 .791 3.4 3.2 1.1 .2 14.8
1988† L.A. Lakers 24 24 37.4 .499 .436 .865 4.2 2.5 1.4 .2 19.6
1989 L.A. Lakers 11 11 36.5 .494 .385 .836 4.1 2.3 1.6 .2 19.9
1990 L.A. Lakers 9 9 36.1 .462 .382 .769 4.1 2.6 2.2 .3 13.4
1991 L.A. Lakers 18 18 37.7 .511 .526 .794 3.2 1.6 1.3 .2 13.2
1992 L.A. Lakers 4 4 37.0 .500 .583 .889 2.5 3.5 1.5 .3 18.8
1993 L.A. Lakers 5 5 35.4 .500 .533 .783 2.2 1.8 1.0 .0 13.6
1994 Indiana 16 0 14.9 .396 .474 .784 2.1 1.3 .8 .1 7.8
1995 Indiana 17 0 17.5 .340 .265 .882 1.5 .9 .6 .1 6.1
1997 L.A. Lakers 8 0 16.8 .455 .364 .895 1.5 1.4 .1 .0 6.4
Career 183 122 29.3 .482 .395 .819 2.9 2.1 1.2 .2 13.4

Head 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 822656.3176th in Atlantic———— Missed Playoffs
New Jersey 2001–02 825230.6341st in Atlantic20119.550 Lost in NBA Finals
New Jersey 2002–03 824933.5981st in Atlantic20146.700 Lost in NBA Finals
New Jersey 2003–04 422220.524(fired)———— —
New Orleans 2004–05 821864.2205th in Southwest———— Missed Playoffs
New Orleans 2005–06 823844.4634th in Southwest———— Missed Playoffs
New Orleans 2006–07 823943.4764th in Southwest———— Missed Playoffs
New Orleans 2007–08 825626.6831st in Southwest1275.583 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
New Orleans 2008–09 824933.5984th in Southwest514.200 Lost in First Round
New Orleans 2009–10 936.333(fired)———— —
Cleveland 2010–11 821963.2325th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
Cleveland 2011–12 662145.3185th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
Cleveland 2012–13 822458.2935th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
L.A. Lakers 2014–15 822161.2565th in Pacific———— Missed Playoffs
L.A. Lakers 2015–16 821765.2075th in Pacific———— Missed Playoffs
Career 1101454647.412 573324.579

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.[17] 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.[18] In June 2013, Byron and Anita separated and in March 2014, Byron filed for divorce after 29 years of marriage due to irreconcilable differences.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ FIBAEurope.com Byron Anton Scott (PANATHINAIKOS BSA ATHENS).
  2. ↑ Career stats & achievements.
  3. ↑ Thorn said no demands were ever made - espnW
  4. ↑ Bondy, Filip. "VISITORS ARE FEELING RIGHT AT HOME IN JERSEY", Daily News (New York), May 25, 2003. Accessed February 24, 2011. "'I've learned everything I need to know about New Jersey,' said Scott, who resides in Livingston during the season. 'You take 280 to the 'Pike to the arena.'"
  5. ↑ Game 4 scoreboard
  6. ↑ Game 4 Recap
  7. ↑ "New Orleans Hornets fire coach Byron Scott". usatoday.com. November 12, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  8. ↑ "Agent says Scott accepts Cavs offer". cbssports.com. July 2, 2010. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  9. ↑ Cleveland Cavaliers exercise contract option on Byron Scott - NBA - Sporting News
  10. ↑ Cleveland Cavaliers fire coach Byron Scott
  11. ↑ Concepcion, Jason (November 4, 2014). "An NBA Detective Story: Who in the Lakers Organization Knows They're Tanking?". Grantland. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014.
  12. ↑ McMenamin, Dave (July 25, 2014). "Byron Scott the right man for Kobe, Lakers". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014.
  13. ↑ Broussard, Chris (July 25, 2014). "Lakers, Byron Scott talking offer". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 25, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Lakers Announce Hiring of Byron Scott as Head Coach" (Press release). Los Angeles Lakers. July 28, 2014. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Lakers Part Ways with Head Coach Byron Scott". NBA.com. April 24, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Byron Scott out after Lakers-worst 17-65 season". ESPN.com. April 25, 2016. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016.
  17. ↑ http://officialbyronscott.com/
  18. ↑ http://www.sportsstarsusa.com/Byron-Scott
  19. ↑ http://www.tmz.com/2014/03/19/byron-scott-divorce-anita/

External links

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