Byron Scott coached Jason Kidd with the New Jersey Nets for three-and-a-half seasons from 2000-2004, and helped guide the team to two trips to the NBA Finals during that relatively short span.
But when Scott was fired midseason in January of 2004, one of the reported reasons was a lack of support from Kidd, who at the time was the team’s most prominent star player.
Even though that was a decade ago, the relationship remains cordial, at best. With the Lakers in Milwaukee to take on the Bucks on Wednesday, Scott was open and honest about the way things currently stand.
From Bill Oram of the Orange County Register:Reporter asks Byron Scott about coaching JKidd, who was known as a “unique personality.” Scott: “He was kind of known as being an a--hole.”
Asked about his relationship with Jason Kidd, Byron Scott said, “Cordial. And that’s about as good as it’s gonna get, too.“
On reports Kidd conspired to get [Scott] fired: “That’s all I’ve heard. Now did he actually go and talk to Rod Thorn & those guys? I don’t know.”
A lot goes into the particulars of an organizational decision to fire a head coach, and how the players are responding under him can certainly play an important role. In Scott’s case with the Nets, even after two seasons that ended with trips to the Finals, a slow 22-20 start in year four (with some reported locker room strife thrown into the mix) was enough for the change to be made.
Kidd’s personality can indeed be prickly at times, and after a solid finish to the season in his first year as head coach with the Nets, that was the reported reason he finds himself in Milwaukee today. Scott merely confirmed that, in his eyes, not much has changed over the last 10 years.
