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Not to roil New Jersey Nets fans, however few of them there are out there, but I’ve got to make a small point. As word leaked out of northern New Jersey that head coach Lawrence Franks’ job is “safe” going into the offseason, regardless of whether or not the Nets qualify for the postseason, I thought of one man whose name never came up in any conversations about the team yesterday—former head coach Byron Scott.

Who? Oh, you known who. The present head coach of the surging New Orleans Hornets—the second best team in the wholly talented Western Conference and perhaps the third best team in the NBA behind the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. The former head coach of the Nets, having led them to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2001 and 2002—a plateau they have not come close to reaching since?

Can we agree that his firing from the Nets might be one of the greatest tragedies in recent NBA history? I mean, all the man did was take a team best known during its affiliation with the ABA, when it had one of the 50 greatest players in basketball history before he became truly famous–Dr. Julius Erving—and convert them into a perennial competitor for postseason play and a force to be reckoned with on the hardcourt. Back to back NBA Finals? When was the last time the New York Knicks were able to accomplish that feat? That’s right—NEVER.

And why pretell was he fired? Because the Nets were performing poorly at the start of the 2003-2004 season…or at least that’s what some might say. Most would say it was because he lost point guard Jason Kidd—the same person who purportedly “quit” on the team this year, according to General Manager Rod Thorn, and who sought a trade out of New Jersey since the beginning of the 2006 season. Can we now agree that it was Kidd who ran Scott out of town? And can we say that the act was despicable and deplorable at best? And, moreover, can we finally criticize Thorn for being gullible enough to have let that happen?

All Scott has done is convert an expansion franchise in New Orleans–under the most difficult of historical circumstances—into an NBA powerhouse. Yeah, New Orleans wasn’t particularly good the two years previously under his tutelage—but how good would you be with a team that was shuffled between two towns—whose fan base was decimated after Hurricane Katrina—whose team talent was defined by one young point guard, the amazing Chris Paul, and by a whole slew of retreads.

One year later, he has the Hornets playing explosive basketball—along with Paul, Tyson Chandler, David West and now, Jannero Pargo—New Orleans has a team that could become the next dynasty in modern basketball. And who has brought them all together? Hmmm, maybe the greatest former coach in Nets history.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Franks. In many respects, he has been handed a raw, raw deal in New Jersey. But Scott was underrated…tossed to the curb as if his contribution to the Nets’ success earlier in this decade was akin to the towel boy. I think its about time that the management of New Jersey own up to its mistake—and acknowledge what we all know now—that Scott made the Nets a viable, marketable franchise.

In some ways, the situation is far more fortuitous for the NBA brass—Scott is needed more in New Orleans given all the city has been through over the last three to four years. So in that respect, the Nets can be thanked. But it is of little consolation to the Nets fans—and a state that could use a little infusion of pride in its own identity.