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From Hoopshype.com
1/24/08
http://hoopshype.com/blogs/johnson/index.php

HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Eddie Johnson
Gypsies No More

Yeah, Chris Paul is great. But give Byron Scott a lot of credit.

The New Orleans Hornets are the gypsies of the National Basketball Association. They have relocated twice in the last few years and have adjusted splendidly. I felt the Hornets would be a surprising team, but no one thought that they would be fighting for the best record in the Western Conference halfway through the season.

I know that Chris Paul has been getting the bulk of the attention for this huge turnaround, but before I start with Paul, I want to look at the marvelous job Byron Scott has done in improving this team with everything they have had to deal with over the last few years.

Scott, who is a disciple of Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, Larry Brown and Rick Adelman, has taken a little from each and created a consistency at the coaching position that has gone unrecognized for a number of years.

Remember this is the same coach who took an overachieving New Jersey Net team to the NBA Finals twice and was promptly fired because rumor had it he was not paying attention to detail. Well, the Nets have not sniffed the Finals since and are presently sitting in the eighth position of the Eastern Conference 15

bryon needs props for letting chris run plays. even though his shot was off last night against the jailblazers - as long as darius miles is still on that team hey - chris still took over the game.

sometimes when players don't look so good enough in the first, the coach panics and micromanages. i don't like coaches that call plays up and down the court all game. it takes away from the game, and as far as i'm concerned, the players should know all the plays and thats what practice is for. he was really smart in noticing how talented chris' mind is, - and because of the he won rookie of the year - getting all that freedom to be a student of the game has helped chris become a great floor leader.

not to mention scott's help with tyson. i remember watching him in chi town, and he had all these little things that i couldn't figure out why he did them, because if he corrected them, he'd get more minutes and would be a better player for it. scott to his credit helped him develop, got rid of bad habits like throwing the ball out after he got an offensive rebound etc - and tyson has plays run for him in new orleans - i don't think that ever happened in chicago! byron may be togh like scott skiles, but he's isn't mean. and tyson needed someone that wasn't mean and had encouraging things to say - lets face it tyson has a personality on the court - being mean to players like that will get you nowhere.

thats where knowing your personelle comes handy. you can't treat every player the same. and not to mention the development of dwest. hopefully, chris paul can get it into him to not hesitate to take shots. he looks scared out there sometimes. and chris has mentioned his hesitation.


plus, i think byron got all his own assistant coaches, guys who look like they want to coach one day, and i think quite a few of them are former players that understand the nba. whenever a coach hires 2 or 3 guys he knows want to coach one day, it amazing, scary for the coach - but ultimately a smart choice in terms on competing.

and coach is a great motivator. he called out the bench for being so pathetic, and its been like 6 game in a row where the bench has either contributed or saved us. having both ely and bowen back helps with our offense and our hustle factor respectively, so thank good they are back! now that is a phil jackson move if i ever saw one. he criticized them in a good way though.

again pargo/bowen like paul/tyson or west lite huh? i can only dream!

Nice article by Eddie. He gave Paul lots of praise during the Suns/Hornets last meeting. Didn't say all that much about Scott at the time but I guess he's had some time to think about it.