http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/108572793540190.xml GREAT SCOTT Hornets' Shinn takes a huge step toward getting it right with coaching hire Friday, May 28, 2004 John DeShazier It's called moving forward, and the Hornets most certainly have taken a major step. Actually, they've taken another offseason of aggression and progression, forcing even the most jaded cynic to conclude that New Orleans' NBA franchise is serious about its basketball business. How large or small a step depends on whom you ask, given that no coaching choice will be greeted with universal approval. But from here, it looks mighty big. It looks like the franchise upgraded significantly Thursday by landing Byron Scott to coach this team. Owner George Shinn vowed to go out and get the best man for the Hornets, and then he did it. Because all things considered -- the available coaches and the reasons they were on the market -- Scott is the round peg for the Hornets' round hole. Heck, if Shinn keeps this up, he's going to fool around and shed a couple of labels he came to New Orleans with, "miserly" being one of them. Shinn has paid his top players (Baron Davis, P.J. Brown and Jamaal Magloire all have inked lucrative deals over the past two years) and now -- with a three-year contract offer exceeding $10 million -- he has shown his willingness to pay for the kind of coach his team needs. "I'm very excited about this," Scott said Thursday on ESPN, from the set of the network's pregame show that preceded Game 4 of the Western Conference championship series between the Lakers and the Timberwolves. "I'm really looking forward to getting down there and getting to work." We all should be looking forward to it. Not that Scott, or anyone, is going to be a miracle worker. The Hornets still are a little older and less athletic than they need to be and even with upgrades to the roster, moving from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference next season is the equivalent of jumping from Class AAA to the majors. But while the addition of Scott isn't the cure-all, it's a good starting point. Anyone who watched the Hornets more than three or four times after they bolted to a 17-7 start last season knows what happened. Playing for a coach, Tim Floyd, they did not respect, players simply lost faith in what they were being told, if they ever had faith. Floyd had no success in his NBA background to lean on and therefore had little credibility with his players. And the front office -- including Shinn -- took a hit in the credibility department by believing, perhaps hoping, that when the season began to sour, players blindly would follow a coach who never had led an NBA team anywhere. That problem doesn't exist with Scott, who has bathed in champagne as a player (he won three championships with the Lakers) and twice has been to the NBA Finals as a coach, with the Nets in 2002 and '03. Granted, there's no guarantee any group of players is going to listen to any coach. But, at least, they must be presented someone who is believable, who legitimately can challenge them because he understands the necessary effort level, who has experienced enough excellence to be able to demand it. What Shinn did was get the best candidate off the market (especially since former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who won two championships in Houston, is at least a year away from returning to coaching) before other suitors could get in on the bidding. And Scott, who was rumored to be a candidate to coach the Lakers if Phil Jackson doesn't return after this season, dispelled that notion. Turns out he likes what he saw on a two-day visit last week to New Orleans. "I don't think you can ever just say, 'I'm going to wait until a particular job opens,' " Scott said during his ESPN appearance. "I think this is a real great fit and I'm looking forward to it." So should Hornets fans. . . . . . . . John DeShazier can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3410. --

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