Hornets Hot Seat: Byron Scott
January 29, 2007
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Periodically throughout the 2006-07 season, Hornets television play-by-play announcer Bob Licht is putting members of the team on the Hornets Hot Seat. In this edition, Licht grilled head coach Byron Scott with several probing questions.
Watch for Hornets Hot Seat features on Cox Sports Television’s half-hour pregame show “Hornets Tonight.”
Cox Sports Television is airing 65 Hornets regular season games this season. For a list of games on CST, click here.
Licht: Byron Scott, you are officially on our special L.A. edition of the Hornets Hot Seat.
Scott: OK, give it to me.
Licht: From 1983 through 1993, you were a member of the Showtime Lakers. For nine consecutive seasons, you finished above .500. What was it about that Lakers era, that club, that decade, that made that nickname ‘Showtime’ so perfect?
Scott: The biggest thing was Magic Johnson. He was a Showtime type guy who brought that flair to L.A. We all just kind of went with the flow. The biggest thing about our team was that we all had one common goal: to win championships. That was the bottom line.
Licht: And you won championships. You won three in a four-season period (1985, 1987 and 1988). Which of those was the most satisfying for you personally?
Scott: 1985. Because it was against the Boston Celtics. There was always that saying that we could never beat the Celtics. The Celtics’ players always said that if the Lakers and Celtics meet in the NBA Finals, the Celtics were supposed to win. It was to get the monkey off our backs, and off Jerry West’s shoulders, and Wilt Chamberlain’s shoulders as well. I think that was the most satisfying one.
Licht: You didn’t just beat the Celtics. You clinched in Boston.
Scott: Yeah that was why it was so great. We beat them in the Boston Garden, on the parquet floor, in Game 6. That was the best thing, not only beating the Celtics – beating them on their homecourt, on a day where they really felt they were going to win and get (the series) to a Game 7.
Licht: When you clinched in Boston, what are the sounds you remember?
Scott: I remember it being very quiet in the Garden. I remember our locker room obviously celebrating, the joy that we had, you could hear champagne corks flying all over the place, guys screaming and whooping and hollering over beating the Celtics. After an hour of enjoying it, you just sit down and realize what you’ve just accomplished. And then some little tears of joy start coming out, because of all the Lakers-Celtics series ever, we were the first ones to do it.
Licht: How quiet was the Garden?
Scott: I mean you drop a pin in there (and hear it). It was unbelievable. The players walked off the court and we could only hear each other. The crowd, it just seemed like they were stunned that it happened.
Licht: In 1988, you beat Detroit in seven games to win the championship. But what an odd postseason, you went seven games in each of the last three rounds of the playoffs.
Scott: Back then, the first series was three out of five. I think we played Denver and swept them three straight. Then it was Utah for seven games, Dallas for seven games, and Detroit for seven games. We played 24 out of a possible 26 games that you could play in the playoffs at that particular time. It was the most exhausting playoffs I’ve ever been involved in. When that was said and done, we were just exhausted. It was amazing.
Licht: After winning in 1987 and 1988, you were going for a three-peat in 1989. I do have to say that you were going up against the team that I grew up following, the Detroit Pistons…
Scott: [laughs]
Licht: After all that hard work of trying to three-peat, you got swept.
Scott: Yeah, (but) we got hurt. I had a partial tear in my hamstring the night before the (first game). Magic pulls his hamstring in Game 1, so the entire starting backcourt was gone for that series. I think we were probably one of the first teams ever to have a 13-game playoff streak going into that series against Detroit. We went in playing extremely well and were extremely confident, and then they beat us in four straight. We were disappointed, very disappointed.
Licht: And that was pretty much the end of the Showtime Lakers?
Scott: Pretty much. You know, we felt like we still had a couple more good years left in us. Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) was at that stage where he was about to retire. Magic I thought was still in his prime and so was James Worthy, but that dominant big man was going to be missing (after Abdul-Jabbar retired). We got to the Finals one more time against Chicago, which was Michael Jordan’s first NBA Finals.
Licht: Who was your best friend on those Lakers teams?
Scott: There were two of them. Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper. We hung out together on the road and hung out, went to dinner and the movies. We called ourselves The Three Amigos. We had each other’s back, no matter what. We took a lot of pride in outplaying the opposing guards, and we took a lot of pride in what we did. We hung out a lot and we had a great bond on and off the court.
Licht: Which opposing player did you absolutely hate going against?
Scott: Michael Jordan was probably number one, because he was such a complete basketball player and had no weaknesses. Every player you played against, you always tried to exploit their weaknesses, but he had none.
Isiah Thomas was another one. He was a tough little point guard who could score and beat you in so many ways.
The third one would probably surprise some people, Rolando Blackman in Dallas. We had some great wars against each other. We were both two-guards. I looked at him as one of the best two-guards in the league, along with (Michael Jordan). It was a great challenge to play against him, especially in the Western Conference, because we saw each other all the time.
Licht: Magic Johnson. Clear-cut best point guard to ever play in the NBA?
Scott: I wouldn’t say clear-cut, but he’s right there. Oscar Robertson was about the best ever at that position. Magic and Oscar are 1-2, and John Stockton is right up there as well. But any time you can average a triple-double like Oscar did, that will probably never be done again.
Licht: Is Chris Paul in that general vicinity?
Scott: He’s on his way. I just named three, but I also talked about Isiah, another guy who is up there. Chris Paul is on his way. He has all the attributes that you need to be a great point guard in this league. He has the toughness, that competitive nature, he has the big-shot capabilities, the ability to find guys all over the place. He has that will to win and passion for the game.
Licht: Is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the best center of all time?
Scott: I think so. I think with the numbers he put up and the longevity he had in the league, I don’t think there’s anyone better.
Licht: And finally, is Pat Riley the best coach in the history of the NBA?
Scott: [hesitates briefly] I think so…
Licht: Now, there’s no pressure. He’s not going to call you.
Scott: I know that. To me, for him to do what he did with us – everyone said, ‘Anyone could win that (Lakers) team’ – but for him to push us and drive us the way he did… For him to go to New York and go to the NBA Finals with that team, then to go to Miami and win a championship there, there aren’t too many coaches in this league who could do that. He’s one of the best motivators and hardest-working coaches I’ve ever been around, and the passion that he has for competing and winning, I don’t think there is anybody better.
Licht: Is the best example and greatest evidence of that the championship team that he assembled in Miami last year?
Scott: I think so. That was a team he assembled and he put them together. They were probably underachieving when he took over (early in the season). Then they got to the Finals and won a championship. He took a lot of heat for bringing all of those guys in, but obviously as an executive as well, he knew what he was doing.
Licht: Byron Scott, you are officially off the L.A. edition of the Hornets Hot Seat.
Scott: Good, because it was getting hot in this seat right here.
