Before the monster trade that brought Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets they did something else that shocked the league; hired Jason Kidd as the new head coach just days after he announced his retirement. With five All-Stars on the team and what’s considered one of the deepest benches in the league, the expectations were high but so far they’ve failed to even come close. Though they’ve been stricken with injury word around the league is, that first offseason decision is the cause of it all.
With names like Lionel Hollins, George Karl and even Phil Jackson thrown into the mix, the Brooklyn Nets decided to go with Jason Kidd as their head coach. Though he’s considered a Hall of Fame point guard, he had no prior coaching experience. Now he has a monster team under his charge and they’ve gone 3-7 in their first ten games.
“Just bad coaching,” is how Jason Kidd described what’s ailing the Nets, but his players defended him Tuesday. It is surely too soon to judge Kidd’s coaching acumen, but it is fair to wonder whether he was ready for this job, on this stage, with these weighty expectations. A veteran scout, interviewed earlier in the day and speaking on the condition of anonymity, called Kidd’s bench comportment “terrible,” observing that the play-calling has fallen mostly to his top assistants, Lawrence Frank and John Welch. “He doesn’t do anything,” said the scout, who has watched the Nets several times. “He doesn’t make calls. John Welch does all the offense. Lawrence does all the defense. … I don’t know what Kidd does. I don’t think you can grade him and say he’s bad. You can give him an incomplete.”
