There is no denying that Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott is of the “old school” variety.
While he hasn’t confiscated a child’s ball that just so happened to end up in his back yard (that we know of), Scott has hinted many of times that he misses his era of the NBA. Throughout the season, he has frequently lauded coaches like George Karl, Greg Popovich and Jerry Sloan. He has reminisced about days of old when players wanted to beat their rivals rather than joining them, and he has questioned what truly motivates “today’s” NBA player. After all, he called today’s NBA landscape “scary,” as in “things sure aren’t like they used to be.”
Alas, it comes as little surprise that Scott is wholly disgusted with the last year of player movement within the league in which he played for 14 seasons. He just won’t put his mental angst in to on-record words.
“You don’t want to know my opinion on what happens with players today, so I’m going to leave that alone,” said a visually-frustrated Scott following Tuesday afternoon’s practice. “You’re going to [try and] get me talking about it, but I really don’t want to voice my opinion on how I really feel about our league and our players – I’m going to leave it alone.”
A noble effort of toung-biting to say the least.
While his Cavaliers team was negatively impacted by free agent-based events of the past summer, Scott’s issues exist more with players under contract attempting to dictate where they finish said contract out. During his days in the league, players stuck with their teams for considerable amounts of time, with big-name movement being a bit more scare than it is today. Scott also takes umbrage with the fact that players who mind their own business, come to work every day and do not have media-fueled trade rumors get thrown in to the mix as if they’re merely token ingredients within a big vat of soup.
People like Chauncey Billups (who has stated his negative feelings about leaving Denver), Wilson Chandler (who wanted to stay in New York) and even Sheldon Williams (who was dealt merely to make numbers match) get added into these deals solely because of one player who has made this entire season a 25-point-per game charade.
As Ethan Sherwood Straus said in January, “Too often we use the ESPN Trade Machine and unfounded rumors to discuss player movement as commodities trading.” Scott discussed how these rumors can effect players around this time of year as several of his own have been involved in the media whirlwind. He also addressed his own feelings, stating that it took him a good five or six seasons before he was able to fully ignore his name being in various mid-February line items.
Scott and the Cavaliers opt to ignore much of what is said and do not address any rumors with players on the team. As the coach of the franchise, it is his job to prepare the 15 players whom he is provided during any given season. The rest, Scott says, is up to Chris Grant who continues to take and make phone calls with the trade deadline less than 48 hours away.
“I’m glad [the Carmelo Anthony trade] over so we can stop reading and hearing about it,” Scott firmly stated.
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(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
