Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott’s first head coaching tenure was an extremely successful one. He led the then-New Jersey Nets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003 behind star point guard Jason Kidd. Scott was eventually fired and rumors followed about an issue between Scott and Kidd with some reporting that Kidd went to the Nets general manager in an attempt to get Scott fired.
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Kidd is now the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks and with the Lakers facing them on the second game of their Grammy road trip, Scott spoke about Kidd as a player during that time in New Jersey according to the OC Register’s Bill Oram:
Reporter asks Byron Scott about coaching JKidd, who was known as a “unique personality.” Scott: “He was kind of known as being an asshole.”
— Bill Oram (@billoram) February 4, 2015
Though Scott has always denied the rumors about Kidd supposedly getting him fired in New Jersey, when asked about his relationship with Kidd, he admitted they weren’t going to be close anytime soon via Oram:
Asked about his relationship with Jason Kidd, Byron Scott said, “Cordial. And that’s about as good as it’s gonna get, too.“
— Bill Oram (@billoram) February 4, 2015
As Lakers fans are getting used to, Scott is a very hard-nosed coach who has no problem calling out his players in the media. Scott and Kidd may not have had the greatest relationship in New Jersey, but they surely experienced a lot of success together.
Now as coaches, they are going down completely different paths. Scott has struggled to get the Lakers on track amidst a ton of injuries while Kidd has the Bucks over the .500 mark despite the team having the worst record in the NBA last year.
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