[TimesPicayune] GREAT SCOTT
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GREAT SCOTT
Hornets' Shinn takes a huge step toward getting it right with coaching hire
Friday, May 28, 2004
John DeShazier
It's called moving forward, and the Hornets most certainly have
taken a major step.
Actually, they've taken another offseason of aggression and
progression, forcing even the most jaded cynic to conclude that
New Orleans' NBA franchise is serious about its basketball
business.
How large or small a step depends on whom you ask, given that no
coaching choice will be greeted with universal approval.
But from here, it looks mighty big.
It looks like the franchise upgraded significantly Thursday by
landing Byron Scott to coach this team.
Owner George Shinn vowed to go out and get the best man for the
Hornets, and then he did it. Because all things considered -- the
available coaches and the reasons they were on the market -- Scott
is the round peg for the Hornets' round hole.
Heck, if Shinn keeps this up, he's going to fool around and shed a
couple of labels he came to New Orleans with, "miserly" being one
of them.
Shinn has paid his top players (Baron Davis, P.J. Brown and Jamaal
Magloire all have inked lucrative deals over the past two years)
and now -- with a three-year contract offer exceeding $10 million --
he has shown his willingness to pay for the kind of coach his team
needs.
"I'm very excited about this," Scott said Thursday on ESPN, from the
set of the network's pregame show that preceded Game 4 of the Western
Conference championship series between the Lakers and the Timberwolves.
"I'm really looking forward to getting down there and getting to work."
We all should be looking forward to it.
Not that Scott, or anyone, is going to be a miracle worker. The
Hornets still are a little older and less athletic than they need to
be and even with upgrades to the roster, moving from the Eastern
Conference to the Western Conference next season is the equivalent of
jumping from Class AAA to the majors.
But while the addition of Scott isn't the cure-all, it's a good
starting point.
Anyone who watched the Hornets more than three or four times after
they bolted to a 17-7 start last season knows what happened. Playing
for a coach, Tim Floyd, they did not respect, players simply lost
faith in what they were being told, if they ever had faith.
Floyd had no success in his NBA background to lean on and therefore
had little credibility with his players.
And the front office -- including Shinn -- took a hit in the
credibility department by believing, perhaps hoping, that when the
season began to sour, players blindly would follow a coach who never
had led an NBA team anywhere.
That problem doesn't exist with Scott, who has bathed in champagne as
a player (he won three championships with the Lakers) and twice has
been to the NBA Finals as a coach, with the Nets in 2002 and '03.
Granted, there's no guarantee any group of players is going to listen
to any coach.
But, at least, they must be presented someone who is believable, who
legitimately can challenge them because he understands the necessary
effort level, who has experienced enough excellence to be able to
demand it.
What Shinn did was get the best candidate off the market (especially
since former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who won two championships
in Houston, is at least a year away from returning to coaching) before
other suitors could get in on the bidding.
And Scott, who was rumored to be a candidate to coach the Lakers if
Phil Jackson doesn't return after this season, dispelled that notion.
Turns out he likes what he saw on a two-day visit last week to New
Orleans.
"I don't think you can ever just say, 'I'm going to wait until a
particular job opens,' " Scott said during his ESPN appearance. "I
think this is a real great fit and I'm looking forward to it."
So should Hornets fans.
. . . . . . .
John DeShazier can be reached at jdeshazier@timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3410.
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