June 30, 2014

Jason Kidd joins Bucks as head coach: The Milwaukee Bucks have finalized a deal to break Jason Kidd away from his contract with the Brooklyn Nets.

posted by BornIcon to basketball at 11:15 AM - 10 comments

Why is Jason Kidd a sought-after coaching prospect? Wait, I'll rephrase. Is Kidd using witchcraft or sorcery in order to convince owners to hire him? The Bucks gave up two second rounders for Kidd and there was some talk of giving him full control, even if it's just the coaching position for now. I have no idea how Kidd commands this level of respect.

posted by tron7 at 11:42 AM on June 30, 2014

Or the pay. I don't get why Kidd and Derek Fisher who are basically interns getting on-the-job training are worth about $5 million/ year each.

posted by yerfatma at 12:06 PM on June 30, 2014

The NYT suggested Kidd made this happen after trying and failing to take personnel control of the Nets. The Bucks saw how he turned around the mess in Brooklyn and figured they'd give him a shot. Incredibly pushy, though, no?

posted by werty at 12:15 PM on June 30, 2014

The Bucks saw how he turned around the mess in Brooklyn...

That's one way to look at it. You could also say he was a big part of the mess at the beginning of the season. When the dust settled he had a team that finished 8 games under their preseason over/under and wasn't a serious playoff contender. There was bad and good. I don't see how he gets out of the season smelling like a rose when he looked like a bumbling idiot for the first couple months of the season.

posted by tron7 at 12:40 PM on June 30, 2014

I wouldn't say he was "smelling like a rose" -- clearly, the Nets didn't want him anymore, while the Bucks were desperate for anything to bounce back from the worst season in franchise history.

posted by Etrigan at 03:29 PM on June 30, 2014

Bear in mind this is also the new Milwaukee ownership group that may have paid up to $150M more than needed to acquire arguably the league's weakest franchise.

Smart decisions may not be their forte.

posted by Ufez Jones at 04:20 PM on June 30, 2014

This looks really embarrassing for him from the outside. It looks like he overplayed a weak hand in a power grab, lost the bet, and then only landed on his feet because a friend bailed him out via his newly acquired ownership stake in Milwaukee.

posted by feloniousmonk at 04:53 PM on June 30, 2014

He leaves NY without having gotten a chance to become Dolan's Isaiah 2.0

posted by beaverboard at 08:26 PM on June 30, 2014

posted by phaedon at 09:37 PM on June 30, 2014

Bear in mind this is also the new Milwaukee ownership group that may have paid up to $150M more than needed to acquire arguably the league's weakest franchise.

Or $100M less than the highest offer. Yeah, it seems high but every franchise being sold right now is going for way over the expected price.

I wouldn't say he was "smelling like a rose"

Well Buck's ownership would. I appreciate that Lasry and Edens wanted to make a splash but I can't believe they went with this particular cannonball.

posted by tron7 at 10:07 PM on June 30, 2014

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