Real talk, last night I saw the Suns blow out Chris Paul and the Hornets and thought to myself, wow, Byron Scott is going to get fired soon.

I thought, oh I’ll write up in the morning how just like last time, Byron Scott was probably fired, and he no way of changing his job security. We’ve seen countless times how players get rid of great coaches, and this is just another example of how it went down again. Unfortunately for Scott, this is his second time…both times with one of the best point guards in the league.

Let’s back track.

June 2003 – The New Jersey Nets led by Jason Kidd and coached by Byron Scott are eliminated from the NBA Finals for the second consecutive time, and are defeated by the Spurs 4-2. In 2000, the Lakers swept the Nets, so hey, they made some level of improvement, right?

The 2003-2004 season, The Nets struggled mightily. And Jason Kidd made sure we knew it. At that point, Kidd was having one of his worst  years and made comments about the teams inability to play defense and just unable to downright score.

After going 22-20, Byron Scott was fired and replaced by Lawrence Frank (who still coaches the Nets). Re-inspired, Jason Kidd led the Nets to a 14 game win streak under Lawrence Frank and made Frank look like a genius coach, also being the youngest ever to take the reigns of an NBA team.

Some said Jason Kidd looked like he had found himself again and enjoyed playing basketball again. This was the season that began as the rise of Detroit Basketball…and the Pistons eliminated the Nets in the semi-finals, 4 games to 3…the rest of the Nets story is irrelevant.

But Jason Kidd’s energy and attitude is. As is Chris Paul’s.

We can go back to last year in the playoffs, when the Hornets absolutely quit on not only Byron Scott, but the idea of basketball itself. Somewhere in the middle of the first round, the Hornets found themselves beat by 58 points. I still cannot fathom how that happens in the NBA Playoffs, but it did.

Insert a summer trade of Tyson Chandler  for Emeka Okafur and you have a less entertaining Hornets team and not as athletic.  So of course struggle was anticipated this season. A record of 3-6 isn’t that bad to start, but being 11th thus far in the Western Conference and a team that was selected as a front runner for being a contender last year has definitely fallen from grace. And fallen hard.

But after each and every game, we heard Chris Paul’s comments of not being able to score. Not being able to stop other teams, and even though the team is full of good players, something is missing.  Sounded a little bit too familiar to me.

I’m not saying that Chris Paul is the reason Byron Scott was fired. I just think when a star player starts complaining, management seems to get super worried and try to make drastic changes. Penny Hardaway did it. Shaq did it. And yes, even Lebron did it to get Paul Silas out of the way. Hell, people still believe Kobe pushed Shaq AND Phil Jackson out. He probably did, but we know how that story turned out.

How will this turn out though? With minimal coaching experience, can GM  Jeff Bower do something significant here? Or is it just a matter of a refresh so Chris Paul and the rest of the Hornets feel like playing basketball again, and they go on to win a quick 10?

Time will tell. But Byron Scott just got the bad end of that star player-coach complex and got cut out of the system…again. But I don’t see him sitting for too long. He’s already been considered as one of Phil Jackson’s replacements (along with Brian Shaw and Kurt Rambis, and of course we can’t forget coach K) as he and Kobe are close friends.  But I think there will be a few more firings before the season ends so Scott will surely find himself a job.

As for the Hornets? Avery Johnson? Jeff Van Gundy? Mark Jackson? Maybe Chris Paul needs a former point guard coach to steer him into the right direction. Or maybe…Paul needs a change of scenery.

Like Penny. Like Shaq. Like Jason Kidd… players typically get their coaches fired and then leave soon after. Chris Paul to follow suit?

*UPDATE – 11.13.09

Chris Paul today told the media that he was disappointed in Scott’s firing, and that he felt like he and David West -  both captains – should have been at least in the know before the decision was made.

We always heard that Paul and Byron Scott had a close relationship, but with the comments he had made in the press, for team management, it only meant that something had to change. And trades are hard to come by, so what was the next best solution, although a terrible one?

Let’s see what happens with the Hornets now…and Paul’s future.