When Jason Kidd had some of the best seasons of his career, Byron Scott was his coach. Scott helped lead the New Jersey Nets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003, when Kidd averaged a career-high 18.7 points per game. That does not mean the two got along.
Scott was fired following a 22-20 start the year after he led the Nets to two-straight Finals appearances. If he had the support of Kidd, things may have gone differently. On Tuesday, the night before Scott’s Los Angeles Lakers took on Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks, Scott made it clear that there is no love lost between the two.
“He was kind of known as an a–hole,” Scott said of Kidd.
Kidd had supposedly gone to management during the 2003-2004 season and demanded that Scott be replaced. Scott said he is unsure if that’s what actually happened.
“That’s all I’ve heard,” he said, per Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. “Now, did he actually go talk to Rod Thorn and all those guys? I don’t know. I never got that story. I always said, though, where there’s smoke there fire.
“I’m in a much better place and I’m sure he’s happy where he is, too.”
When asked about his relationship with Kidd now, Scott said it is “cordial” and that’s “as good as it’s gonna get.” The next morning, Scott tried to backtrack a bit by pointing out that Kidd was robbed of the NBA’s MVP Award during the 2001-2002 season.
As for Kidd, he accused the media of being “bored” and refused to get into a verbal war. He also said he was “just a player” with the Nets and did not have the power to hire or fire anyone.
Scott is not the first person to say something negative about Kidd (here’s another recent example), and he certainly won’t be the last. He did, however, get the last laugh on the court. The Bucks defeated the Lakers, 113-105, in overtime.
