Hornets Fire Byron Scott

The New Orleans Hornets became the first team to make a coaching change this season, firing head coach Byron Scott today.

Scott being fired doesn’t come as much of a shock to anyone who has watched the Hornets play this season. They look brutal. They are just 3-6 this season. Every time I turn on a Hornets game they seem to be getting blown out.

Add that to the fact that Chris Paul looks like he’s about two weeks away from punching a teammate in the face on the way back to the bench and I would say that it was time to make a coaching change.

In reality, Scott should have been fired in the offseason. The Hornets lost game four of their first round playoff series against the Nuggets by 58 points. That’s not a typo. 58 points. And New Orleans was at home.

How in the world does a team lose a home playoff game by 58 points and their coach keeps his job?

The Hornets went on to lose game five in uninspiring fashion and their season was over.

Clearly Scott had lost the team at that point. He was set up for failure coming into this season. If you lose any game, let alone a home playoff game, by 58 points, there has to be some doubt in the player’s minds about the quality of the coaching staff. Why start a season like that? Why not start fresh and send a message to your team that says, “It’s time to move on and focus on 2009-10”?

In fairness, the bad start isn’t completely Byron Scott’s fault. Look at the Hornets roster. He doesn’t have a lot of options. I mean, Morris Peterson has started six games for crying out loud.

Scott will be replaced by GM Jeff Bower. Bower is the “architect” of the current team, so I guess if anyone can figure out what to do with a team that features no wing players, it’s him.

Bower has been with the Hornets for a long time now, and I would assume that he has a pretty good rapport with most of the players. That had to factor heavily into the decision to name Bower as the successor, since the first task will be to talk Chris Paul down.

And Since Bower has no previous head coaching experience, the Hornets ownership is probably looking at this as a last ditch effort for Bower to save his job. These are his players; he built this faulty team. He’s got till the end of the season to prove that this team can win or he’s gone, too.

It seems unlikely that a guy with no prior NBA head coaching experience can turn this ship around, but remember this: While Jeff Bower may not have a ton of experience, he more than makes up for it with his awesome mustache.