Are We Surprised?

by Jordan Britt

On Monday June 30, news broke that Jason Kidd, the former coach of the Brooklyn Nets, has been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for two second round draft picks. Here are the facts: Jason Kidd is a known jerk. The Bucks are young and for the most part, irrelevant. And Brooklyn is trying to make money fast under the guise of ‘winning’ basketball games. My initial question is: are we really surprised? 

Jason Kidd

Kidd had an abysmal season as a first year coach with the Brooklyn Nets. Yes Brooklyn made the playoffs, and yes they beat Toronto. But let’s back up a minute here and look at this again. Let’s start with Brooklyn’s roster… Brooklyn, a team with KG, Paul Pierce, Deron Williams, and Joe Johnson, was the six seed in the East. Now, I am the first to admit that KG and the Truth are way past their prime, but I am a big believer in locker room leadership and experience. Joe Johnson and Deron Williams are both young enough to play very good and effective basketball. Johnson probably needs to be more assertive as a scorer and go-to-guy. Williams needs to sharpen up his point guard play and find the D Will that tore through teams in Utah. Regardless, those two are fine. As for the rest of the team, they did suffer a big blow in the loss of Brook Lopez, but this led to the coming out party of Mason Plumlee, who had a very good rookie year. Also, Shaun Livingston came back from a tragic career plagued by injuries and not only played as an effective back-up point, but also had everyone who has a heart tearing up a little. Andray Blatche is hit-or-miss, but there is no doubt he is talented. He has potential to be a very skilled big man, although his chance of being a dominant big in the NBA is probably gone now. But if you look at this roster, they are about 7 deep of high quality players. And in the second half the season, you saw the team that most people had been waiting for all year. But the question posed is, “Who gets the credit?"

I personally would like to give that credit to the veterans, KG and Paul Pierce. Those two led many untalented rosters to playoff berths throughout their entire careers, until they united in Boston with Ray Allen (but that is another story for another day). KG and Paul Pierce know, and know very well, what it means to be on a bad team. KG CARRIED those Minnesota teams. KG might be in the discussion for greatest power forward of all time had he not run into the greatest power forward of all time so many times (Tim Duncan). Pierce played on a Boston team where he was the best player and the number two options fluctuated between Antoine Walker and young Al Jefferson. No disrespect to any of those players, but neither of them is a top tier All-NBA guys. KG, Pierce, Johnson, and Williams have been at least once in their careers. This is where I think we can say that Pierce and KG made Jason Kidd’s job a lot easier. It is very easy to coach when you have two locker room leaders who play and act like coaches on the floor with All-NBA talent surrounding them. Not to mention that both KG and Paul Pierce tend to find something left in the tank in critical moments. These guys are old, but they are not, and never will be, scrubs.  

Let us also take a brief look at the Eastern Conference in two words: Top heavy. We have all heard this before, so I’m going to make this short… The only legitimate title contenders this year by the All-Star break from the East were Indiana and Miami. Chicago lost Rose early on and it is hard to convince me that Toronto ever really had a chance to win the Eastern Conference. I am happy that this organization was able to win some games after falling on rough times, but they are not built to win titles, they are built to make the playoffs in the East. The Wizards are the same way and so on down the line. On the other hand, the West was loaded with 3-4 teams that were legitimate title contenders this year. I’ll sum up my conference analysis: the West REALLY, REALLY good and the East weak. 

Now back to Jason Kidd… The guy took a roster that was built to beat Miami and that was loaded with talent (albeit aging talent) and got them the six seed and a win over a young Toronto team with as much playoff experience as me (to clarify, I’ve never been in the NBA playoffs, but I did make the playoffs in intramurals this year). Congratulations, Coach Kidd, you relied heavily on veterans to get to the second round and get nearly swept by the team you were made to beat… Jason Kidd cannot coach. Great players do not always translate to be good coaches. There are exceptions to this rule like Larry Bird, KC Jones, or Lenny Wilkens (I’d say Doc Rivers, but he is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a basketball player so he was a really good player not a great player). But generally the best coaches were average or pretty good basketball players in the League. Here are some names: Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Doc Rivers, Lionel Hollins, Doug Collins, and Scott Skiles. I’m not claiming that these are the best coaches ever, but this is a pretty decent list of coaches who all have done pretty well in the league. Kidd, on the other hand, was a great teammate of a player but not necessarily a locker room leader. The 2011 Mavs squad was Dirk’s team along with a very good and often underrated coach in Rick Carlisle. Kidd just didn’t turn the ball over. As a coach, he started off with a suspension for a DWI. More to the point is the infamous water-spilling incident. That may not indicate whether he can draw up a good play or not, but it does indicate it must take him longer than other coaches.  

So let’s ask ourselves, “What makes a good coach?” For starters; wins, player popularity, and ability to maximize potential talent on a roster. Kidd won…kind of. He got a six seed in the East that we have already established is terrible. They then lost second round after Toronto imploded. I know that Kidd is not popular with the front office and he has been rumored by both the NY Times and USA Today to have made power plays for control of the team. Interestingly enough, I’ve never heard anyone on the Nets compliment Kidd as a coach. Other players compliment their coaches. Erik Spoelstra gets shout outs. Gregg Popovich is basically worshipped. Doc Rivers was, and still is, highly praised by his players. Now two of those players played with Doc and those guys are all but silent in regards to Kidd. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Also, when has anyone ever heard of a coach with legal issues that were not related to divorce? Kidd was suspended at the beginning of the year with a DWI. If it’s a player, it’s probably fine he’s partying too hard. If it’s the coach, why isn’t he watching game film or working with the front office? Not to mention most people forgot about the alleged history of Kidd’s spousal abuse that we can only hope is untrue. This guy is not a nice guy. Larry Bird and Charles Barkley call these kinds of guys “knuckleheads.” Last I checked good or great coaches were not “knuckleheads.” 

 

The Milwaukee Bucks trying to make Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets business model 

Milwaukee was bad last year. Really bad. To make it worse, they were bad in the East. Fortunately, they got Jabari in the draft so they’ve made one off-season move that will help. But I don’t understand the hiring of Jason Kidd. What does it get you? We don’t know that he can develop players or that he can even coach. Why would Milwaukee do this? I think I have an answer. They are imitating the Brooklyn Nets model from last year. Make money under the guise of winning basketball games. I do think Brooklyn was trying to win some games. They have too much talent on that roster to believe otherwise, but they also have too much public spectacle and absurd hiring to think that they weren’t just trying to create a cheap show to sell tickets. Why hire Kidd? Here’s why: he played for the Nets back in Jersey, he’s new and interesting, and Brooklyn fans need a reason to go to the Barclays Center instead of the Garden. So why not go for broke by getting NBA Vets at the last part of their popularity and then pair them with a brand new coach who is beloved by the fan-base? At the very least you’ll sell some tickets, something New Jersey could never seem to do. The Bucks are doing the same thing. They stink, and next year they’ll stink again. They will be better with Giannis and Jabari leading the way, but not enough to be a dominant team or to even contend with the Pacers, Heat, or Bulls. But their attendance is low and has been for a while so why not take a flyer on a guy like Kidd after drafting Jabari? At the very least you’ll sell some tickets.

This is where I get skeptical. I am not sure that this move is a move that is made to win games, but rather to make money. Generating fan interest is good, but winning also generates fan interest. Just ask small markets like Oklahoma City, Indiana, San Antonio, or Portland. Milwaukee isn’t exactly a thriving metropolis and money isn’t flying around up there, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build a winner. San Antonio has been doing it for over 15 years. Jabari is a high character guy like Tim Duncan; he’s the kind of person that will be loyal to fans if they are loyal to him. He’s also the kind of player that will go where he thinks he can win. Like I said, winning generates fan interest and fan interest produces money. I know it’s not that simple in real life, but I think it is not as complicated as Brooklyn and Milwaukee have made it. You don’t need to take flyers to sell tickets, just build a good team and develop the young talent you have with a solid veteran coach. You don’t even have to get a player coach. These kids are young and don’t have as much stake in coaching styles. They need discipline so they can figure out the game.

Is Jason Kidd a Good Hire?

Let me start by saying that I am sorry Larry Drew was fired. That does not bother me, as much from a front office standpoint, new guys have to bring in people that they feel like they can work with and know. Is it always right? Nope. But is it at least understandable? Yes. I’m sorry Larry Drew did not get the chance he deserved; I hope he finds success somewhere else.

Now the main point: was Jason Kidd a good hire for Milwaukee?

I’m going to say no for several reasons. First, Kidd is unproven. What has he done? Won a playoff series against one of the youngest teams in the league? He had more NBA experience on that roster than pancakes at IHOP. They actually knew the difference between playoff basketball and regular season ball. Second, there is no proof he can develop young talent. Admittedly Mason Plumlee did get better this year, but how much of that was going against KG, Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche every day in practice? And how much of Plumlee’s success was because Kidd knew how to exploit match-ups? Hardly any. Plumlee is a hustle player who outworked guys to get rebounds and scored off of good interior passing and offensive rebounds. Plumlee is good. I’d sign him in a heartbeat, but he’s not a hard player to develop. Did Kidd get any other young player better? Not that anyone can remember or even think of. Third, Kidd can’t out-scheme guys. If you watch a Brooklyn Nets game, they do not beat you off of great set plays. They beat you off of good on-ball defense, offensive skill, savvy, and size inside to rebound. I would’ve been very impressed with Kidd had he beat Toronto and won more than one game against Miami. As it stands, I am not. Having said that, I will admit that I may be eating my words at this time next year. Kidd did lose Lopez early on and then had to coach a very bizarre roster in terms of its make-up. But as it stands, I do not think he makes Milwaukee better.