Hornets Happenings | Byron Scott: Should He Stay or Should He Go?

Hornets fans have likely not yet gotten over the Hornets' ugly 58-point loss at home in Game 4 in the playoffs. 

After being dominated by the Denver Nuggets in round one of the NBA playoffs, the question of the day is: Where do the Hornets go from here?

The Hornets have recently committed to honor the final year of coach Byron Scott's contract. He will definitely be back next year.  Is that a bad idea?  In this writer's opinion the answer is a resounding NO.

Granted, the Hornets performance this year, especially in the home stretch, was at times stomach turning.

I spent many an evening screaming at my Panasonic Viera and pounding my head as I watched the Hornets slide from division champion contenders to barely squeaking into the playoffs.

Let's take an objective look at the situation with the Hornets and coach Scott.

• At the end of last season, Scott was named 2008 NBA Coach of the Year. He led the Hornets to a franchise-record 56 victories and to within one win of the Western Conference finals. A coach does not go from being "that good" to "that bad" in one season.
  
• Hampered by injuries, they finished 49-33 this season and were the No. 7 seed in the West. This record was still better than 20 other teams in the league. 
• The Hornets were forced to do without the services of Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic for large chunks of the season. Chandler never really recovered.
  
• I suspect that the injury to Peja is worse than was every publicized.  Even after he returned, you could see him often wince in pain after he let go one of his patented long-range bombs. Take it from someone who has played a substantial amount of basketball and has back problems...it is hard to be an effective player when your back is in pain. It is not one of those injuries that you can just shake off.
• Even though they played in 76 and 78 games respectively, forward David West and point guard Chris Paul played this season with some significant nicks, bumps, and bruises.

Another important consideration is a look at the alternatives.  What coach is available that would be at least as good, and hopefully better than Byron Scott? Does a name  come to mind right away? Likely not.

So, if the problem is not coaching, what is it?  I assert that is player selection, retention, and development.

In the next Hornets Happenings, I will examine how the selection and retention of players over the last several years has gotten the Hornets to where they are and what needs to happen to make a deep playoff run in the future.