The Cavaliers are in their third season since losing LeBron James to the Heat, and Cleveland’s records – 19-63, 21-45 and now 22-52 – have fluctuated between various stages of bad. Byron Scott, who has coached the Cavaliers during this rebuild, doesn’t see that as a problem. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal:
Scott said he expected the Cavs’ rebuilding project to take between three and five years, the first time anyone in the organization has put a timetable on the development.
“It’s still right on that timetable, as far as I’m concerned,” Scott said. “But there’s been some times it’s probably been tougher than I expected. But if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.”
Whether he’s actually better than Scott or not, the next Cavaliers coach will almost certainly look better. Without doing anything, he’ll get a more-experienced Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters and (maybe) more than 25 games from Anderson Varejao.
Thompson realizes only so much is under Scott’s control:
“All the rumors about Coach Scott, hot seat and all that crap, that’s bogus,” Thompson said. “It’s up to us to go out and compete and play hard because we’re the ones out there. When he was out there playing, he won championships. It’s up to us to go out there and play.”
