When the New Orleans Hornets were knocked out in the first round of last year's playoffs it appeared that Byron Scott's head coaching job was in jeopardy. This season's ugly 3-6 start was the last straw.
In this case Scott is nothing but a scapegoat for the Hornets' front office. The question that needs to be asked in this situation is, how is it the coaches fault that his team's roster is far inferior to the opponent's on most nights?
With the exception of Chris Paul, the entire roster needs to be re-evaluated and several moves need to be made. First and foremost getting a legitimate scorer should be on the top of their priority list. When Joe Johnson becomes a free agent this summer the Hornets should aggressively go after him. Their secondary goal should be getting Paul a big man to go to when the shooters are cold. They thought they did this when they traded Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor but they were sadly mistaken.
David West is supposed to be one of the Hornets' big scorers but he has been less productive than any of the "experts" could have imagined. I don't know why his struggles are such a shocker, you take a great point guard away from him and your looking at a young Joe Smith. West is a solid player but to expect him to play like an All Star night in and night out is unrealistic.
Hornets' GM Jeff Bower will take on the coaching duties from here and that too is a big mistake. It's never a good idea to have the coach as the GM because it's never a good idea to give anyone that much power within an organization.
