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Byron Scott's biggest coaching error in the 2003 Finals was his refusal to double team Duncan
Will he make the same mistake twice?
Although I believe this Hornets team is tougher than the 2003 Nets, even if they did push us to 6 back then.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c....c18c4811.html
Buck Harvey: Re-rise of Scott: Calm of Hornets
San Antonio Express-News
In a San Antonio hotel suite, with Spurs fans celebrating in the streets, Jason Kidd reacted this way in 2003.
“Get rid of him,” Kidd told the principal Nets owner.
Him was Byron Scott.
“T.J. could’ve done a better job of coaching,” Kidd said.
T.J., Kidd’s son, was four years old at the time.
Kidd would later deny this account that was detailed then in a New Jersey newspaper. But Kidd would come back to San Antonio that summer to flirt with the Spurs, and he would eventually get his way. Scott, after taking the Nets to back-to-back Finals, would be fired before the next season’s All-Star break.
But it was Scott’s reaction then that was so telling, and this is also why the Hornets won’t go easily over the next few weeks.
Scott will fold his arms, and he will remain calm, and he will act as if everything will work out.
For him, it usually does.
That won’t be enough now. The Spurs will win in six games for the usual reasons. In no specific order, they are Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
Coaching will be a reason, too. Gregg Popovich’s system will hold up as it has this decade, with intelligence and discipline and calculated luck.
An example came last week, when Popovich stomached Boris Diaw on the block. That wasn’t easy to do as Diaw scored, but Popovich didn’t adjust, even as the Suns’ advantage continued, because he feared other options more.
Then, with Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire not as involved, Popovich sent some double teams at Diaw in the fourth quarter. With pressure on a less-than-tested Diaw, a late turnover went the Spurs’ way.
That series likely ended Mike D’Antoni’s career in Phoenix, and that says a lot about Popovich’s longevity. He’s been around so long that rivals rise and fall and he remains; Avery Johnson’s departure in Dallas signals another.
Scott takes that further. He’s risen, fallen and re-risen in this Spurs’ era. More significantly, he’s done this through his NBA career.
From the first day. Then, 25 years ago, the San Diego Clippers traded his rights to the Showtime Lakers. That was a break, naturally, but he had been exchanged for a popular player, Norm Nixon. When the Lakers lost to the Celtics that year in the Finals, the Scott trade was seen as a mistake.
Scott worked through that with both talent and a bright view of life. He was a locker-room leader who didn’t complicate things and, after 14 years as a player, that at ude served him well as a coach.
There’s peace and simplicity to his approach, and that meant a lot in previous years when the Hornets shuttled between Oklahoma City and New Orleans. Last year, when he kept his guys compe ive despite injuries, might have better than this coach-of-the-year season.
Pat Riley was his mentor, but Scott didn’t mimic him. Scott doesn’t do gimmicks, and he’s not into the great analogies of life and death. He’s the same guy every day.
Is there anyone better for the young Hornets?
But none of those qualities meant much in 2003, even after taking the Nets to the Finals against the Spurs. Then Scott was cast as lazy and for delegating too much, and Kidd led the coup. According to stories then, Kidd listened only to an assistant coach, Eddie Jordan, who now runs the Wizards.
Talking to the Spurs as a free agent was part of that. Kidd had no intention of leaving the Nets, but this way he could make his point and get a few concessions.
Here’s now Scott reacted: He didn’t.
He wasn’t defensive, and he didn’t try to make everyone think he’d been up all night watching tape. He was too secure for that.
Scott didn’t go back on the offensive, either, and he didn’t last week when the Hornets eliminated Kidd and Dallas. Scott instead took the kind of high road that encourages others to veer toward the onramp.
So when the Spurs win one of these first two in New Orleans? When a young team such as the Hornets should come apart?
There will be Scott, with the posture of someone who believes, extending this series.
Byron Scott's biggest coaching error in the 2003 Finals was his refusal to double team Duncan
Will he make the same mistake twice?
Although I believe this Hornets team is tougher than the 2003 Nets, even if they did push us to 6 back then.
3 ?'s in Bucks column. Loves em.
Buck Harvey needs to stop trying to jinx the Spurs...That won’t be enough now. The Spurs will win in six games for the usual reasons. In no specific order, they are Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
There were rumors of Scott's being fired a couple of years ago when he was having problems with a player and benched him. Scott won the battle and stayed. The player was let go.
Some Spurs fans wanted the disgruntled player here. Anyone remember his name?
JR Smith.
Rasual Butler?
ron mercer?
Exactamundo! You win the prize.
He hasn't exactly torn up the NBA since he went to Denver, has he?
Well, he hasn't exactly stunk, either. He's shot 44 and 46% from the field in the two seasons, and 39 and 40% from downtown.
I was laughing at one of the Dallas player's quotes. Apparently, Scott was doing some woofing about having a ring and Dallas not getting theirs. The Dallas player was quoted as saying if he played with Magic, Kareem, and Worthy, he'd have a ring, too.
Well, he hasn't exactly stunk, either. He's shot 44 and 46% from the field in the two seasons, and 39 and 40% from downtown.
I was laughing at one of the Dallas player's quotes. Apparently, Scott was doing some woofing about having a ring and Dallas not getting theirs. The Dallas player was quoted as saying if he played with Magic, Kareem, and Worthy, he'd have a ring, too.
First, J.R. Smith is a dumbass (I mean that literally) who has his moments on the court but is an overall detriment to his team.
Second, the Dallas player to whom you're referring is another mental giant . . . Jerry "Clank" Stackhouse. Scott's remark about "the ring" was merely a muted response to Stackhouse's trash talk.
I can confirm that JR Smith is a grade A moron. He didn't "get it" then and he doesn't "get it" now. He's never played Defense, he is constantly late for team meetings and practices, he flirts with the law but manages to not get arrested, he jacks up shots at half court during practice instead of running drills.... he's a ing idiot.
I was happy has when Scott ran him off.
And yeah, Stackhouse was trash talking Scott the hole series for some reason, so Scott just mentioned his ring, which shut Clank up pretty fast.
Along with JR Smith, Byron Scott didn't think so highly of Stephen Jackson either when Jackson played for him on the Nets.
I like Byron Scott, but maybe he has a problem reaching players with at ude problems
He was 18 or 19 years old with the Hornets. What male ISN'T a dumb ass at that age?
What I really liked is that after his absolute playoff meltdown last year, he was HUGE for Denver this year in their series. At this point, he isn't much different mentally than Steven Jackson was when we picked him off Byron Scott's scrapheap. He has that rarest combination of deadeye shooting, ball handling, and screaming hops that you almost never see, and you could probably have him for the MCE. Denver has over $65M tied up in just 5 players: Iverson, Melo, KMart, Camby, and Nene. It would cost them ~$11M per year, including tax, to match an MCE offer.
Eh, when Jerry Sloan does it it's called "being no-nonsense old-school" and "sticking to your guns". While these players have had degrees of success after leaving Scott, there's no question his teams were better off without them.
I like Scott and always felt he was being underrated. Also, game 2 of the 203 Finals his parents sat in front of us at the SBC. Good people, they took as good as they got. (Unfortunately it was the game the Nets won in SA.)
I don't know that it's a problem of "reaching" players with at ude problems, but he won't bend over backwards for them. If they don't get with the program by working hard at practice, showing up on time, and listening to the coaches during games, he'll let them sit on the bench and eventually hit the road. It took Julian Wright (a good kid) most of this season to get playing time, but he earned it Scott's way. Incidentally, I think he may be one of the surprises during this series.
You either let 19 year old inmates with ego and at ufe run the asylum that is an NBA team or you let a coach with some rings and experience do it. He's hired to bring that knowledge and experience to his players.
I respect the out of coaches who are try to maintain discipline in the face of the enormus egos they deal with and that group includes Pop, Scott, Sloan, Karl, Phil Jackson and a few others.
(You might note that these coaches share one thing. They all have been to the big one--the Finals.)
Was that back when basketballs was made of dinosaur skin?
I knew Shoog was old, but that old?
sheesh
That was back when we called it the BC Center.
And then came the Christ ...
As for Scott as some of yo were sang IMO he is also underrated.
Him being so stoic is ubelivable even when he gets angry he does not jump like Pop used to do or Sloan.
And most of the game he has poker face.
I wonder how the coach batle will look like all series long - adjustments.
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