Byron Scott life and biography

Defining a winner in sports can be a tricky business. There are no tricks when it comes to sizing up Byron Scott. As a member of the great Los Angeles Laker teams of the 1980s, he combined his talent and intelligence to give his club a winning edge night after night. In the 1990s, he took a dysfunctional Indiana Pacers team to the brink of the NBA Finals. And in the early 2000s, he led a moribund New Jersey Nets team to the big dance two years in a row. Now the coach of the New Orleans Hornets, Byron is quietly working his magic again. Their transformation from forlorn franchise to respectability and now to a championship contender is one of the feel-good stories in the NBA.

Byron Anton Scott was born March 28, 1961, in Ogden, Utah. He was one of four children. The family lived in Ogden until the early 1970s before heading west to California.

Quick, strong and well-coordinated, Byron mastered every sport he tried. He developed a passion for basketball, which could be played outdoors year ’round in L.A. As an added incentive, the family home was just a few blocks from the Forum in Inglewood.

Byron lived and breathed basketball, rooting for the great Laker teams of the early '70s—starring Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain. But it was a player on the other side of the country that truly captured his imagination.

By his early teens, Byron was a budding legend in the world of playground basketball. His first true introduction to organized coaching came at Morningside High School, under Carl Franklin. Morningside is the same school that would later produce Lisa Leslie.

Byron was the star of the Morningside varsity by his junior year. Earlier in the school year, he quarterbacked the football team to an undefeated record. And he also pitched for the baseball team. Byron’s gridiron career ended as a senior, when the team’s coach suggested he stick to basketball. That was where his future was.

Byron stood six and a half feet tall, with tremendous quickness and anticipation. He could handle the ball in traffic, shoot long jumpers, and slice through the narrowest openings for layups and dunks. The colleges came calling and life got interesting.

The choice for Byron came down to UCLA and Arizona State. It was tempting to stay local, but assistant coach Jim Newman did a great job selling the educational advantages that came with playing ball for the Sun Devils. When Byron arrived on campus, he learned right away that his feet would be held to the fire academically. The threat of losing basketball threw the switch for him intellectually, and he became a solid student. Meanwhile, Byron was getting it done on the court. He stepped into a starting job his freshman year.

Byron was one of three immensely talented players on the Sun Devils. He teamed with future first-rounders Fat Lever and Alton Lister, who were already being touted as potential NBA stars. Byron remembers feeling that his level of desire and talent was equal to theirs. That is when his dream of moving into pro ball started to become more concrete.

Byron put in three great seasons for the Sun Devils. He averaged double-figures each year (13.6, 16.6 and 21.6), as the team won 65 games over that span. He was named Pac-10 Rookie of the Year and earned All-America mention in several publications as a Sun Devil. He ended his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer and led Arizona State to a memorable upset of top-ranked Oregon State on the last day of the 1980-81 season. Byron played all 40 minutes and scored 25 points.

In the spring of 1983, Byron decided to skip his last season and enter the NBA draft. The big prize, Ralph Sampson, went to the Houston Rockets. After that, the Pacers took Steve Stipanovich and the Rockets picked again and chose Rodney McCray. The first guard selected was Byron, picked fourth by the San Diego Clippers. He was happy to be playing near home—and then ecstatic when he learned that he had been dealt to the Lakers. L.A. gave up Norm Nixon, Eddie Jordan and a couple of draft picks for Byron and backup center Swen Nater.

Byron played 10 seasons for the Lakers, sharing the backcourt with Magic Johnson and becoming one of the best all-around players in the league. He filled a supporting role on a team of superstars, knowing full well that in another jersey he could have been accorded that status himself.

Byron’s best season was 1987-88, when he logged over 3,000 minutes and netted 21.7 points per game. He could read a game and a situation and sense exactly how to tilt it in his team’s favor. Although Byron never earned an All-Star berth, around the NBA people knew how heavily the Lakers relied on him.

Byron learned lessons about playing and winning that would later enable him to make a quick transition to coaching—although he hardly realized it at the time. It wasn’t until he signed with the Indiana Pacers in 1993–94 that he began to see how his knack for winning could rub off on other players.

After two seasons in Indiana, a season with Vancouver, and one last go-round with the Lakers, Byron was looking at end-of-the-bench duty had he hung on in the NBA. Instead of retiring and exploring his coaching options, he surprised everyone by signing a one-year deal with the Greek team.

Byron had always been curious about the basketball culture in Europe, and had vowed to check it out one day. His wife loved Greece, so when the offer came he grabbed it. He joined the Greek team Panathinaikos at age 36, and helped it finish in first place. His teammates included former Celtic Dino Radja and Johnny Branch, a quicksilver guard who took his game overseas after a record-smashing college career.

Byron averaged 18.3 points per game and shot 40% from downtown. Panathinaikos made it to the championship, where they faced Thessaloniki and its sharp-shooting star, Peja Stojakovic. With Stojakovic scoring at will, Thessaloniki seized control of the series. Finally, Byron was assigned to stop him. The entire complexion of the series changed, and Panathinaikos won three games to two.

With another ring on his finger, Byron decided it was time to start thinking about the next step in his career. He was hired by Rick Adelman to work with the Sacramento Kings’ outside shooters.

During the summer of 2000, Byron was considered for a number of NBA coaching vacancies. He ended up in New Jersey, with the Nets.

The Nets doubled their 26 wins and won the Atlantic Division in Byron’s second year at the helm. Their first major gut-check came in the playoffs against Indiana in the first round. In the finale of the best-of-five series, the two teams fought an epic battle that wasn’t decided until a second overtime, 120-109.

The Nets defeated the Hornets and Celtics to reach the NBA Finals, where they were massacred by the Lakers. To the team’s credit, they returned to the Finals a year later.

Byron’s stint with the Nets ended when he was replaced by assistant Lawrence Frank after a 22–20 start in 2003–04. The following year he took the head coaching job in New Orleans, with the Hornets. He slogged through a difficult 18–64 campaign, but put the wheels of improvement in motion. The following two seasons, the Hornets found themselves in the playoff hunt.

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