Byron Scott Was Set To Coach Pacers

Mark Boyle's recent podcast with Hornets head coach, Byron Scott revealed how close Scott came to taking over the Pacers after Larry Bird stepped down as coach.

Mark Boyle: How close did you come to getting that job and do you ever wonder how your career might have gone had you landed it?

Byron Scott: I still wonder and I thought, to be honest with you Mark, when I met with Donnie Walsh I thought I had the job. I was excited about it. I went home and talked to my wife and told her how the interview process went. From what I hear, it kind of went down to, Donnie wanted me and the owners wanted Isiah, so obvisouly the owners won. I think back to it and how, in my coaching career, if there had been any changes -- because I thought I would've been in a great situation here with some great guys and a great organization and I thought we would've had a lot of success as well. So every now and then I do think about that but obviously God wanted me to go to New Jersey and everything kind of worked out well for me there.

Oh, that hurts. I wonder if Byron would've been pushing Walsh to bring in Jamaal Tinsley ala Zeke. Speaking of which, to avoid shedding tears I simply have to laugh at this quote from Isiah Thomas from Tinsley's introductory news conference after the draft in 2001.

"He (Tinsley) plays a different kind of game," Thomas said. "He makes his teammates better. There hasn't been a stat invented for the things that a guy like him is capable of bringing to a team."

Well, that last sentence is certainly true.