Byron Scott Fired as Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach: Cavs Finish Season with NBA's Third Worst Record, Owner Dan Gilbert Calls it A 'Difficult Move'

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced Thursday that the team has fired head coach Byron Scott. The Cavs finished their third straight losing season under Scott at 24-58. The team lost 16 of their final 18 games while finishing with the third worst record in the NBA in 2012-2013. Byron Scott's tenure with the Cavs may best be remembered as him being the first coach to take over the head coaching duties following LeBron James' decision to leave the team and sign with the Miami Heat.

While the Cavs were expected to be a poor team when Scott first took over in 2010-2011 they failed to show any improvement over the last few seasons. Scott was 64-166 in three seasons as the Cavs head coach. Scott was originally hired by the Cavs before James decided to leave the team, putting him in a tough situation from the beginning once James signed with the Heat. In a statement from Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert via ESPN, he said, "I wish Byron Scott and his entire family the best going forward...Byron is a class guy, both on and off the court, and I thank him for his three years of coaching the Cavaliers. I fully support the difficult move that was made today. Although we saw progress with young individual player development, we did not see the kind of progress we expected on the team level this past season."

The team is expected to immediately start a search for a new head coach. Cavs general manager Chris Grant said, "I have tremendous respect for Byron professionally and a great deal of admiration for him personally...At the same time, it is critical for where we are as a team to ensure that we capitalize on every opportunity for development and success, and we have fallen short of that on the court. I believe we needed to make this change in order to get to a better position to achieve our goals."

Before coaching the Cavs, Scott was the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets for six season, leading them to a Western Conference Semifinals in 2007-2008. Scott's first NBA head coaching job with the then New Jersey Nets included two trips to the NBA finals.