New Orleans Hornets’ coach Byron Scott was voted the NBA’s coach of the year on Tuesday, earning 70 first-place votes. Boston’s Doc Rivers finished in second with 23 votes, and Houston’s Rick Adelman received 17 votes, good enough for third place. As reported by ESPN:

“This is a very humbling experience for me because this is something you never think about,” said Scott, joking that the statuette of Auerbach “kind of looks like me.

“All I think about is getting great guys and trying to make them better and trying to win basketball games, so this is very special,” Scott said. “I’ve got an unbelievable group of guys that I enjoy being around every day. They are a special group. I love them dearly. There’s not a coach in this business that has a better job than I do.”

This is Scott’s fourth year as coach of the Hornets. He also spent four years coaching the New Jersey Nets, which included two finals appearances. Scott won three NBA Titles during the Showtime era with the Lakers in the 1980s. 

In his four years with New Orleans, Scott has increased the team’s win total each season, from 18 wins in 2004-05 to 38 in 2005-06, 39 in 2006-07, and a whopping 56 wins this season, including the Hornets first division title in franchise history.

Scott credited Pat Riley, Larry Brown, and Rick Adelman as the key influences in his coaching career. He played under Riley and Brown in L.A. and Indiana, and was an assistant under Adelman in Sacramento. 

“I’ve had three guys that have taught me how to approach this game from a coaching standpoint,” Scott said. “It’s kind of rubbed off. I always thought, if you didn’t take something from those guys then you were doing yourself an injustice.”

Chris Paul, the Hornets star player and MVP candidate, says Scott “really understands players because he’s a players’ coach.” 

The Hornets won their series with the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night; just hours after Scott received the Red Auerbach trophy. New Orleans eliminated the Mavericks in five games, and will play the winner of the Spurs/Suns series in the Western Conference Semifinals.

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