Kyrie Irving Won’t Discuss Coach Byron Scott’s Future With Cavs

When asked if he supports the Cleveland Cavaliers’ head coach, Kyrie Irving declined to go into any detail (via Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer):

There’s ample speculation about the future of coach Byron Scott with the Cavaliers, but his star player isn’t publicly addressing it at this point.

Asked whether he supports his embattled coach and would be disappointed if he were fired, Kyrie Irving said little about the topic before Sunday’s game at The Q.

“Until that time comes I’m not really worried about it,” Irving said. “To even imagine that, I’m not going down that road.

Ominous?

Unlikely.

Though Irving wouldn’t discuss Scott’s future or his impressions and relationship of the coach, Reed goes on to note that it is believed the former rookie of the year and now All-Star supports Coach Byron’s return.

At 24-52 and currently sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, there’s cause for the team to part ways with Scott. He hasn’t had a winning season since he took the reins in 2010, and Cleveland has won just three more games in 10 more tries (so far) compared to last season.

The “cause” doesn’t extend much further, though. Scott took over the team while LeBron James was in the process of crippling them, so the fact that he hasn’t had a winning season shouldn’t be surprising. His first year with the team was essentially a wash, and now he’s dealing with young and developing players on a daily basis.

Bear in mind that Scott has also had to coach through an onslaught of injuries. Anderson Varejao was in the midst of a career year before heading to the sidelines indefinitely, and Irving himself has been the equivalent of a glass vase. If Dan Gilbert and the Cavs send Scott packing, I would be interested to see what the expectations were for this faction.

Was Scott really supposed to do a better job than he had? Lead them to playoffs? Turn them into a contender overnight?

Puh-lease.

Much has been made of the way that he handled Irving’s injuries this season, but (usually) conjecture along those lines is severely blown out of proportion.

Still, it may ultimately come down to Irving. He’s the future of this team, the face of the franchise. If he wants Scott to get the axe, then he will. Should he maintain his supposed support of him, though, than Scott has nothing to worry about.

“All the rumors about coach Scott and hot seat and all that crap, that’s bogus,” Tristan Thompson said. “It’s up to us to come out and compete and play hard because we’re the ones out there.”

It’ll be interesting to see if the Cavaliers’ front office, and Irving, see it that way, too.