With Byron Scott, Cavaliers have picked a winner as coach

Former Cavalier Devin Brown thinks Byron Scott is the perfect new coach for the Cavs and the sort of guy who just might persuade free agent LeBron James to re-sign with the team.

With Mary Schmitt Boyer, The Plain Dealer

Former Cavalier Devin Brown thinks Byron Scott is the perfect new coach for the Cavs and the sort of guy who just might persuade free agent LeBron James to re-sign with the team.

"He demands respect," Brown said of Scott, his coach for two-plus seasons in New Orleans. "I really think he was a great hire for Cleveland. I think it was a move to show LeBron that they are serious about what they're trying to do. I really think it's a great fit."

The 49-year-old Scott was officially hired to replace Mike Brown in a release that came just after midnight this morning.

A three-time NBA champion as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers, Scott also coached the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals twice.

He has been known to use his championship rings to inspire players, as he did a couple of seasons ago when the Hornets were getting ready for the playoffs.

"He brought in those rings and said, ‘This is what we're chasing,' " said Brown, a free agent who played with the Cavs in 2007-08. "He told us: ‘This is it. This is what it's all about.'

"That can't do anything but motivate you."

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert obviously hopes it will work.

But it is unclear exactly what sort of team Scott will inherit. Will it be the James-led squad that recorded the best record in the regular season two seasons in a row before two crushing playoff exits? Or will it be a James-less bunch Scott will have to piece together?

He is one of the few coaches confident enough to take the job without knowing.

In Scott, who seemed to have initially slipped in, then out of and then back in the running, the Cavs put the fate of the franchise into the hands of a man known, for better or worse, for speaking his mind and whose résumé reflects mixed results handling superstars but a clear knack for winning.

He's reached eight NBA Finals, winning three, as a player and coach. That can't help but impress James. And while it's not known whether James will rejoin the Cavs, one of Scott's former assistants said Scott was the perfect coach for the young superstar.

"He has the résumé and the confidence to coach LeBron," said the coach, who preferred not to be quoted by name. "He will not be in awe of LeBron James. He played with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."

Born in Ogden, Utah, Scott grew up in Inglewood, Calif., a gang-infested neighborhood in the shadows of the old Forum, where his favorite team, the Lakers, played. He made a promise to his friends he would become a Laker someday, then fulfilled it.

Scott was a member of the famous "Showtime" Laker teams of the late 1980s, winning his three titles under coach Pat Riley, who, along with Charlotte coach Larry Brown, is more than a mentor to him.

In a 2004 interview with New Orleans CityBusiness soon after he was hired to coach the Hornets, Scott was asked how he was shaped by playing for the slicked-back Riley, whose Miami Heat is among several teams in the hunt for James and other star NBA free agents.

"It made me who I am today," said Scott, once brought in by the Lakers to mentor a young Kobe Bryant. "Pat Riley's determination and his drive made me who I am as a coach. I carry all those same traits from watching him and learning from him, and it's served me well so far.

"It's just a will to win. I still have that as a coach. I hate losing games. I like winning."

Scott had no previous head coaching experience at any level when New Jersey plucked the former Sacramento assistant in 2000 to turn the miserable team around. The Nets went 26-56 his first season. By year three, New Jersey had set a franchise record for wins in a season and captured back-to-back Eastern Conference championships, losing in both NBA Finals.

"He was determined to change the culture in New Jersey," said Lawrence Frank, who served as a Scott assistant in New Jersey and eventually succeeded him as head coach. "He's committed to winning. He'll command instant respect from the guys."

Scott, described by some as headstrong and even stubborn at times, gained a reputation for publicly criticizing players. He's known to have little patience for repeated mistakes, especially by young players.

"That's called accountability," Frank said. "Every coach I've ever been around has done that. Otherwise you're not doing your job. I always felt he was just trying to get the best out of his guys."

In the middle of his fourth season with the Nets, he was fired over what has been reported as a falling out with the team's former superstar point-guard Jason Kidd. Although Scott has denied any friction with Kidd, he once admitted to Yahoo Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski that: "At times I went too overboard. I was too much of a disciplinarian. My communication is better now."

Nets General Manager Rod Thorn admitted he never wanted to fire Scott.

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, no doubt about it," Thorn told the Newark Star-Ledger in 2008. "Most of it was because I liked him so much personally. But people tend to forget, Byron was terrific for that team we had."

Scott wasn't sidelined for long. New Orleans needed major reconstruction and eyed him for the job.

In early 2004, New Orleans owner George Shinn told the Times-Picayune that he spoke with Thorn at an owners' meeting about Scott's ability to get along with players before deciding to hire him.

"It's a situation where you've got a star player [Kidd] who got upset at Byron because Byron said he didn't play well one night. And he didn't play well that night," Shinn said at the time.

"So, why can't you be candid? I mean, let's all grow up here. I believe if had I been in their shoes, I'd have kept him and traded the other guy."

When New Orleans hired him, Scott, who stresses defense and prefers an up-tempo offense, demanded full control over choosing his assistants. His teams reflected his personality — scrappy and tough, not just physically but mentally.

When Hurricane Katrina wiped out their city just before training camp in 2005, the Hornets had to move their "home" games to Oklahoma City, but the team kept its focus. By his fourth season in New Orleans, he had the Hornets in first place, with young guard Chris Paul emerging as one of the game's top guards. The two remain close.

But Scott was fired just nine games into this season, with the Hornets off to a 3-6 start. His team had just given up 75 first-half points in a one-sided loss in Phoenix. That came on the heels of a disappointing end to the previous season, in which the Hornets suffered a first-round playoff loss to Denver. Scott's team was ousted in five games, including an embarrassing 58-point loss at home in Game 4.

In yet another example of the league's fickle nature, his firing came just two years after being named NBA Coach of the Year. His hiring will come a year after the recently fired Mike Brown was named Coach of the Year.

But Devin Brown is sure the Cavs will succeed under Scott.

"Coach Scott brings a different kind of intensity," said Devin Brown, a free agent represented by Cleveland-based agent Mark Termini. "He has won championships. He has been there as a player, so he knows what it takes to get there. Every day he comes ready to work. He's going to ask you to work hard, but he always has the players' best interests in mind.

"He has been through the wars. He knows exactly what it takes."

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: blubinge@plaind.com, 216-999-5531
mschmitt@plaind.com, 216-999-4668