1.Bad move. 2.Can anyone confirm this? I just read it 3 minutes ago on ESPN'S bottom line. 3.If they did fire Scott: What the hell were you thinking Nets? Hopefully now you wont make the playoffs, and may your ventures in Brooklyn fail.
I think he got fired because his players hate him. They think they are winning dispite of him instead of winning because of him. Jason Kidd has spoken out against him several times in public.
I heard him on Mike and the Mad Dog, the top sports show in NYC area for which Scott did a weekly chat with the hosts about the Nets. He was very calm, very composed and talked about how thankful he was for the opportunity. He seemed pretty understanding about it. He mentioned how he was disappointed that he didn't get a contract extension after taking the team to the finals the last two years, but he did admit that it was a business and that he understood why they let him go. I don't think he was a great coach, but he did get results. I think the problem was that everyone in NY, especially the media, credited Kidd with taking the team from a 26 win team to an NBA title contender (though, they were never beating any of the top 3 in the west (LA, SA, SK)). So, Scott didn't get the credit, and while he was given some slack last year when the team went into a funk after the new year but turned it around in the playoffs, he wasn't given as long a leash this year. From what they said, the main reason for the firing was the thinking on behalf of Rod Thorn that the team couldn't pull out of the funk this year as they did last year. So, bummer for him, but he didn't have a contract after this year and I think he was always going to be in a position that as long as they won, he would get a chance to stay, win a title and get a new deal, but once they started to struggle it was only a matter of time until someone got nervous and made the change. He is a decent guy though, and will likely get another shot to coach a team after this year is over.
ESPN's resident Citeh supporter Marc Stein thinks the Nets are a stupidface: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=1719353 I do agree that Scott got shafted in a major way, but the decision was inevitable methinks. I copied and pasted below from the general NBA thread: Byron Scott's firing isn't exactly surprising, considering that he's in the last year of his contract, and it was clear he had lost the players. I think the Nets looked at the options like this: a) Stay with a lame duck coach for the rest of the season and risk flaming out of the playoffs. b) Give him an extension and risk alienating Kenyon Martin and Jason Kidd or c) Fire Scott, shake things up a bit and get an early start on looking for a replacement.
Jason Kidd got him fired. J-Kidd hated Scott. As soon as it was feasible to do so, they axed him. This has been in the works for thee years now. I would say that when you take a team to the finals twice in a row and can't get a contract extension, the writing is on the wall.