[TimesPicayune] 'A PERFECT FIT'
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'A PERFECT FIT'
Byron Scott officially introduced as new Hornets coach
Saturday, May 29, 2004
By Jimmy Smith and John Reid Staff writers
In the hours after Byron Scott had sat across from Hornets
owner George Shinn following their first formal interview
session 12 days ago, Scott sat in a room in the Wyndam Hotel
at the foot of Canal Street and pondered still another
question.
This time, the query came from Scott's wife, Anita.
"We were sitting on the bed and she bluntly asked me, 'If they
offer you the job, would you take it?' " Scott recalled Friday
afternoon. "And I said, 'I would.'
"I thought at that particular time, the job was a perfect fit
for me."
So when Shinn called Thursday afternoon and offered Scott a
three-year, $10 million contract that will pay him $3.1, $3.3 and
$3.6 million a year before incentives, Scott was true to his word.
He accepted.
The deal was consummated after about eight hours of negotiations,
from the time Bob Bass, executive vice president of basketball
operations and general manager, first contacted Scott's business
manager Brian McInerney on Thursday morning, until Shinn's telephone
call during which the pair entered into a verbal agreement.
"After our interview," Shinn said, "I felt like he was the guy we
needed. But I felt we had to go through the interviews because
somebody else might have rung a bell. But it always really came back
to him.
"Quite frankly, just yesterday afternoon, I called Byron myself. I
told him what we'd be willing to do. I told him, 'If you're willing
to do that, I want you to come in tomorrow and we'll sign the deal.
He said, 'I'll do it.' "
In addition to the base salary, Scott's contract calls for annual
incentives should the Hornets advance in the playoffs. Scott would
receive a $200,000 bonus for winning the first round, $300,000 after
the semifinals and $400,000 for winning the Western Conference
championship. If he leads the Hornets to an NBA championship, his
bonus is not to exceed $1 million.
Scott beat out former Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers coach
Mike Fratello, New Jersey Nets assistant Brian Hill and the WNBA's
Los Angeles Sparks coach Michael Cooper for the job. Minority owner
Ray Wooldridge did not attend Scott's introductory press conference.
Two factors, Scott said, made the Hornets' coaching vacancy attractive:
potential and challenge.
"There are some very good players in place here," Scott said. "Obviously
I've looked at the roster. I've looked at it the last two or three weeks.
I know the players we have in place here, what type of players we have
here. And I have a good feel in my mind what we need to make this team
successful.
"And I love challenges. This is a challenge just because we move to the
Western Conference next year and we're in a division (the newly created
NBA Southwest) where three of the four teams (San Antonio, Dallas and
Memphis) won 50-plus games. So that's a challenge."
With Scott's appetite for challenges whet, he telephoned Memphis'
basketball chief Jerry West, who held the same position with the Los
Angeles Lakers when Scott was a player as part of three NBA championship
teams.
"Jerry, who I consider a father figure and a guy who I'll call about
every major decision I'm going to make -- and obviously I talked to
him about this job; he told me the same thing he told me when I played,"
Scott said.
"Most men, if you're a real man, you like challenges. And you need
challenges during your life. This was a challenge I need. And I think
it's a challenge most of the guys on this team need as well."
Scott, 43, comes to the Hornets after guiding the New Jersey Nets to
back-to-back Eastern Conference championships the previous two seasons.
He replaces Tim Floyd, who was fired on May 7 following a 41-41 regular
season and a first-round elimination in the playoffs.
He has a 149-139 regular season record as a head coach and a 25-15 mark
in the postseason. Scott was fired after 42 games with the Nets this
season, in part because of reported player dissatisfaction with his
coaching tendencies.
On Friday, faced with yet another blunt question, this time in the New
Orleans Arena Courtside Club restaurant, not a swank hotel, Scott again
had a quick answer.
Asked whether he had concerns he was joining a team that had fired its
two previous head coaches following first-round playoff exits, Scott
merely smiled.
"I really don't know," Scott said. "I was fired after going to the
(Finals) the last two years."
. . . . . . .
Jimmy Smith can be reached at jsmith@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3814.
John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3787.
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