After a failed power play with the Nets, Jason Kidd is on his way to Milwaukee.
In the past week, news broke out regarding Jason Kidd and his future as a coach. Today, it has been announced that Jason Kidd will be traded to Milwaukee for a 2015 and 2019 second rounder. This move brings a major change to both teams and raises some interesting questions about how the situation was handled, especially by inexperienced Bucks owners Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens.
The Nets hired Jason Kidd last year to take over head-coaching duties. In this first venture into coaching, Kidd fared pretty well, finishing with a 44-38 record and leading Brooklyn to the playoffs.
Apparently, he thought he deserved a promotion and made that known. Kidd’s power play with the Brooklyn front office, designed to increase his input in personnel decisions, failed enough for the Nets to allow the Bucks front office to speak with Kidd about coaching for them. The Bucks initially offered Brooklyn a second-round pick for Kidd, but Brooklyn asked for a first rounder. Negotiations continued until the two sides eventually settled on two second rounders for Kidd.
So what’s the big deal? Well, while all this was going on, the Bucks still had a coach. Larry Drew was expected to be fired but nothing had been done yet, and he was involved in the draft process. Lasry and Edens went behind Drew’s and GM John Hammond’s backs to talk to Kidd. Simply put, this is a severe misstep for Lasry and Edens. It has portrayed these new owners to the league as shady and backstabbing, and could deter future coaches from wanting to head to Milwaukee.
The timing of this move is one part of the situation that has been often overlooked. The sale of the Bucks happened so close to the draft that if Lasry and Edens had fired Drew and Hammond immediately, they would’ve lost all input for what the Bucks need. They had to keep them around. Now, in the days after, in going after such a big name, the owners signaled their desire to make the Bucks more legitimate (and possibly had already told Drew he would be fired at that point). This was not executed perfectly, but people should still consider the situation from the Milwaukee ownership’s perspective.
As a Bucks fan and basketball analyst, I am excited about the move. Drew was a good coach — if you want to be a No. 7 seed — but was not going to bring the Bucks to higher places. Kidd is young and can grow with the team. And as part of the deal, he will likely have a greater role in personnel decisions. While Hammond may be good at drafting, he struggled to bring the right players together through trades and free agency (see Monta Ellis + Brandon Jennings, Gary Neal, Drew Gooden, etc.). Hopefully, Kidd will be able to influence Hammond in this regard. Kidd is ambitious and will generate more interest in the new Bucks.
On the other hand, there are question marks. Kidd is a new coach and has to develop this young team the right way, a skill in which a more experienced coach would have been more adept. If the owners hadn’t rushed themselves into this situation, they could have taken a look at other coaches available such as George Karl (former Bucks coach) or Lionel Hollins (big name for Nets job now). Along with this, the fact that Brooklyn was willing to give up Kidd so easily raises some red flags over whether Kidd will be a good fit with the structure in Milwaukee.
This situation could go either way. Kidd could be a good fit who uses his ambition and drive to fuel the Bucks over the coming years, or he could have another falling out. The situation should have been handled better, but I believe this move was overall the right one for Milwaukee to take and is a bold and important step for building a better Milwaukee Bucks franchise.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
