Scott not concerned with job status

INDEPENDENCE: They have lost 26 games in a row and 36 of their last 37, they were a punchline this week in Jay Leno's opening monologue and they are one loss away from setting the longest losing streak in the history of American professional sports.

But first-year coach Byron Scott's job is safe.

“Byron has the complete and total support of myself and our entire organization," Cavs general manager Chris Grant said on Thursday.

That was evident in Scott, who said he wasn't one bit concerned over his job security.

"I just have a lot of confidence in what I do," he said. "I know I’m the right man for the job."

The Cavs have lost 26 games in a row, tied with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the longest losing streak in professional sports history. Leno tied them to the Egyptian riots on Monday when he joked that President Hosni Mubarak wouldn't step down until the Cavaliers won a game.

"So he should be there for a very long time, ladies and gentlemen," Leno said.

Indeed, Egypt has successfully rioted and overthrown its president since the Cavaliers last won a game. Their skid has spawned the Web site www.didthecavswinlastnight.com. When clicked on, the Web page simply displays the word "No."

"I think we’re in a bigger spotlight now than we were in last year when I got here," Antawn Jamison said.

Scott sharply criticized his players for their lack of effort in Wednesday's loss to the Detroit Pistons, placing the bulk of the blame on them and not him. They didn't give a good effort or come ready to play, he said, and there's nothing he can do about that.

"I never needed a coach to motivate me to go out and play basketball, to go out and compete," he said. "You can’t take responsibility when guys are not ready to play from an energy and effort standpoint. That has nothing to do with us as coaches. All we can do is put you in the best position possible, you’ve got to come out wanting to compete. Our guys didn’t do that last night. That’s on all of us, but more on them because they’re the ones going out there on the basketball court."

Jamison said he has no problems with what the coaching staff is doing.

"Our coaching staff has been phenomenal," he said. "The coaching staff is not at fault here."