Nets Cut Scott Loose

In a move that would have been shocking if it hadn’t been so easy to see coming, the New Jersey Nets on Monday fired Coach Byron Scott, who had taken them to the last two NBA Finals.

“It happens to almost every coach eventually, your message isn’t well received and taken onto the court,” Net President Rod Thorn said at a news conference in East Rutherford, N.J.

Scott’s assistant, Lawrence Frank, will coach the Nets for the rest of the season.

NBA history has little precedent for such a move. Butch van Breda Kolff left the Lakers under a cloud after two losing appearances in the Finals in 1968 and 1969, but he resigned. The Lakers fired Paul Westhead in 1981, one season and 11 games after winning the 1980 title.

The Nets, who had won one playoff series in their 24-year NBA history, reached the Finals under Scott in 2002, falling in four games to the Lakers, and returned last spring, losing to San Antonio in six.

Even with this season’s slow start -- the Nets are only 22-20 -- Scott leaves behind a first-place team, the only team with a winning record in the Atlantic Division.

“I knew there was a possibility,” Scott told WFAN radio in New York. “It’s not the end of the world. I’m a bounce-back person....

“Rod Thorn gave me an opportunity to coach and that’s what I’ve been wanting for the past six years.... To me, he’s like a father figure and the organization has been good to me, so there’s no animosity whatsoever.”

Scott, 42, holds the franchise record with 149 coaching victories. After a 26-56 record in his first season, the Nets were 52-30 in 2001-02 and 49-33 in 2002-03.

Despite the Nets’ success, there were constant reports of problems between the blunt Scott and the team’s star, Jason Kidd. Before Kidd re-signed last summer, the New York Post and the Bergen (N.J.) Record reported that he’d complained to management about Scott. After the Game 6 loss in San Antonio, the Post quoted Kidd as telling friends that his young son T.J. “could have coached better.”

Nevertheless, with the team in the process of being sold, Thorn brought back Scott, who was in the last season of a four-year contract, but without offering him an extension.

When they started 7-11, Scott went back into the frying pan. In Memphis on Dec. 13, after a 47-point loss, Kidd was heard ranting through the closed dressing-room door. Other players told reporters that much of it had been directed at Scott.

Nevertheless, Scott stayed on the job and the team rallied, winning 13 of 16 games. Kidd, asked his New Year’s resolution, said, “No tirades.”

However, when the Nets lost five in a row, Scott’s support went from tepid to barely discernible. Said Thorn, once Scott’s strongest backer: “I have supported Byron since he has been here, and I will continue to support him as long as he’s our coach.”

That turned out to be two more days. The Nets returned home and ended the losing streak with a 19-point victory over the Celtics. Scott was ejected for only the second time in his career, and Frank wound up coaching the rest of the way.

After the game, Thorn told Frank, 33, he’d be taking over and informed Scott on Monday morning.

Thorn said he’d begun considering firing Scott a month ago. Last week, the team’s sale to developer Bruce Ratner was announced and within days, Scott was axed.

As he had throughout their time together, Kidd denied Monday he had ever had a problem with Scott.

“I had nothing to do with this,” Kidd said after the Nets’ practice. “The team as a whole hasn’t been playing well. And with the sale of the team and a lot of other things that are going on, [that] might have been the cause of this. You would have to go to Rod and the owners to find out what happened.”

Said Scott to New York’s WFAN, “I keep hearing what Jason did. I have no proof that he had anything to do with this day.... We had a good relationship. As good as a player [and] coach can be.”

Asked to assess his time with the Nets, Scott, typically candid, noted, “I would say, based on the question the way you asked me, I would say I did a hell of a job.

“I turned around a franchise that won 26 games and we went to the NBA Finals the next two seasons and were the prohibitive favorites to go back there this season. I would say myself and my staff, along with Rod, [New Jersey Devil President] Lou Lamoriello, we did a heck of a job of turning this franchise around.”

They didn’t get it turned around all the way, but it’s someone else’s problem now.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Riding the Carousel

Teams that have changed coaches for the 2003-04 season with the former coach and his replacement:

* Miami Heat: Pat Riley; Stan Van Gundy (Oct. 24).

* Orlando Magic: Doc Rivers; Johnny Davis (Nov. 18).

* Chicago Bulls: Bill Cartwright; (Pete Myers, interim Nov. 24); Scott Skiles (Nov. 28).

* Phoenix Suns: Frank Johnson; Mike D’Antoni (Dec. 10).

* New York Knicks: Don Chaney; Lenny Wilkens (Jan. 15).

* New Jersey Nets: Byron Scott; Lawrence Frank (Jan. 26).

SCOTT’S COACHING RECORD

*--* Year Team W L Pct. 00-01 New Jersey 26 56 317 01-02 New Jersey 52 30 634 02-03 New Jersey 49 33 598 03-04 New Jersey 22 20 524 Totals 149 139 517

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PLAYOFFS

*--* Year Team W L Pct. 01-02-x New Jersey 11 9 550 02-03-x New Jersey 14 6 700 Totals 25 15 625

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x-Eastern Conference champions

Times wire services contributed to this report.