New Orleans Hornets fire head coach Byron ScottSubmitted by admin on November 12, 2009 - 1:45pm |
After taking the most embarrassing loss of the season on Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns, 124-104, the New Hornets have fired head coach Byron Scott.
On Thursday, the team announced that Scott would be replaced by general manager Jeff Bower who will have Tim Floyd serve as his top assistant. The Hornets have gotten out to a 3-6 start and look incredibly terrible in their first nine games.
Hornets’ owner George Shinn thanked Scott for his service, but said Bower "knows this team better than anyone" and gives the Hornets "our best opportunity to reach our goals this season."
According to the team’s vice president of basketball Chad Shinn, accountability was something that the Hornets were keeping in mind this offseason and Scott has not met the goals set forth this season.
We talked about the fact that everyone on our staff is held to a certain standard of performance and we didn't feel this was happening at the head coach level," Chad Shinn said. "We feel like we still have an opportunity with our nucleus to get to where we want and Jeff is the right guy, right now to move us in that direction from the bench."
In 2008, Scott was the NBA Coach of the Year after leading the team to a record of 56-26 with the help of point guard Chris Paul. The Hornets won the Southwestern Division title and got to within a game of the West finals before losing Game 7 at home to the San Antonio Spurs.
After struggling last season with injuries and a record of 49-33, many felt that Scott’s job would be in jeopardy. To compound things, the Hornets suffered an embarrassing playoff exit at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, losing the last home game for the team by 58 points.
Despite the coaching change, the Hornets still need to figure out a way to get Paul more help or else more people in the front office will be in jeopardy of losing their jobs.
Writer title/position:
Contributor 
Post new comment