The Cleveland Cavaliers announced Thursday morning that they've decided to part ways with head coach Byron Scott.

"I wish Byron Scott and his entire family the best going forward," owner Dan Gilbert said in a release. "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.

"We understand it was challenging with the injuries, but when you are at our stage in the building process, you don't only measure team progress in wins and losses."

In his last season with the Cavaliers they lost 16 of their final 18 games to finish 24-58, the third-worst record in the NBA.

Scott's tenure with the team was marred by poor defense and injuries to key players as they franchise began their rebuilding project in the wake of LeBron James' departure to the Miami Heat in free agency in 2010.

Cavaliers GM Chris Grant is expected to immediately begin a search for a replacement for Scott.

"I have tremendous respect for Byron professionally and a great deal of admiration for him personally," Grant said. "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."

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