This past summer everyone was completely taken by surprise when Jason Kidd became the Milwaukee Bucks new head coach including their coach at the time Larry Drew!
Kidd reportedly went to the Nets seeking more power including being above their general manager Billy King. They refused to oblige and Kidd quickly found a team that would, the Milwaukee Bucks. Things moved rather quickly and before you knew it, the Bucks handed over a second round pick to the Nets, hired Jason Kidd and fired Larry Drew.
The whole saga was quite a shock to everyone including Drew:
via Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:
“From their (the owners’) standpoint, there’s no set time for these type of things,” Drew said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel.
“It caught me in a position when I least expected it. But I know how these things work. I don’t have any hard feelings, any grudges against anybody.
“Marc (Lasry) called me and I just wished him luck. I’ve got to keep moving forward.”
Maybe the most embarrassing snub Drew suffered was having to sit at the introductory news conference with No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker at the Milwaukee Public Market on the day after the draft, even though the owners already had talked to Kidd by that time.
“The whole Jabari thing, putting me in that position, I don’t think it was very professional,” Drew said. “I wish it wouldn’t have happened that way, but it did.
“If I had been a new coach, I might have reacted differently (to the firing). But because I’ve been in this so long and I’ve had friends who have had these type things happen to them, I was OK.
“This is the life we choose and sometimes you have to expect the unexpected.”
Drew may not be the man in charge anymore but he landed a nice job on David Blatt’s coaching staff with the Cleveland Cavaliers where he’ll get to work with LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. From worst team in the league to a championship contender, I’m sure whatever anger he held has probably dissipated.
