A week ago, one of the best floor generals in the history of the NBA in Jason Kidd decided to hang it up after realizing his limitations at the age of 40. When you retire from a career you’ve held onto for 19 years, you’d think some kind of nice vacation to a fancy island is in order. Instead, news has broken that Kidd has become a real candidate to become the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Does this guy love the game of basketball or what? Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports broke the story:
After meeting with Brooklyn Nets management Monday, the head coaching candidacy of Jason Kidd has emerged as formidable in possibility, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Kidd has convinced Nets management of his seriousness of committing the time and energy necessary to move into a head coaching job within weeks of his retirement as a 10-time NBA All-Star point guard, league sources said.
The Nets could make a decision within the next several days, and Kidd’s candidacy has been a consideration for the past two to three weeks, league sources said.
Nets ownership has long been intrigued with making a star hire in the coaching spot, and Kidd’s history with the franchise and standing in the sport’s history makes him an even more attractive candidate.
Kidd is competing with Indiana Pacers associate head coach Brian Shaw for the job now, sources said. Nets GM Billy King met with Kidd on Monday, and will interview Shaw on Wednesday.
Brian Shaw has more than paid his dues as an assistant coach for nine seasons and has championship experience, so it’s great to see him wanted by great teams with coaching vacancies. In terms of carrying a team as a head coach, though, his experience is as good as Kidd’s. Kidd obviously doesn’t have experience in the coaching field, but he has always been a leader and few understand the game as well as he does. It’s also worth noting that he knows what it means to carry a franchise as a point guard, and Deron Williams is in that mold. The two are great friends from their days as Olympics teammates and even seemed to consider the idea of joining the Nets together during last summer as free agents. From a relationship standpoint, it appears to be a great fit and Kidd could perhaps become the greatest mentor to Williams, who has lost his vibe as a leader of sorts since joining the Nets. Even Gregg Popovich endorsed the idea of Kidd becoming a coach in the league, from Al Iannazzone of Newsday:
“When you’ve played in the league as long as Jason has and played for a number of coaches, he’s pretty much seen everything that the NBA can offer,” Popovich said before Game 2 of the NBA Finals. “So he does have experience.
“If he’s crazy enough to want to be a head coach in the league, I wish him all the best. But he certainly has the intuitive skills to know what’s going on out there. Obviously, he would be able to have relationships with the players that he’s had with his coaches throughout.”
Kidd once helped turn the Nets franchise around from a very sorry state. Some of it was done under coach Byron Scott, but he was also quite good under the guidance of Lawrence Frank, who began his coaching career on a high note with Kidd by his side. Apparently, the two still have great fondness for each other’s presence: Kidd would bring in his former coach as an assistant if he were to win the job, from Marc Stein of ESPN:
The report, however, is conflicting from what Wojnarowski said in his report about the situation:
Kidd has been leaning on his former Nets coach, Lawrence Frank, for insight into the total responsibilities of the head coach, but Frank is nowhere near committing to the possibility of joining Kidd as his top assistant coach, league sources said.
Frank is owed more than $4 million over the next two years as part of his Detroit Pistons buyout, and has started down the path of working as a basketball analyst on television next season. Frank still lives with his family in Northern New Jersey, and had to return home several times during the past season with Detroit to provide support for health issues within his household.
If Kidd does win the job and Frank becomes the assistant, that would be one of the more ironic scenarios in recent memory, but stil full of intrigue nonetheless. If the Nets choose to go this route, next season should be quite a roller-coaster ride – one I suspect would have many more ups than downs.
Onto other news from around the league: