While Jason Kidd seemed overmatched in his first few months as head coach, he figured it out shortly after the new year.
“I think some of the young guys have developed and the biggest thing with Jason is we have a system and identity,” Billy King said. “So now putting a team together, I know which players to add. That’s something we’ve been searching for for a while, is getting an identity so now in the offseason, Jason and I have already talked about the type of players he wants and have a feel for.
“That’s the key, you have a system. A lot of the credit, the players have played well, but Jason has been amazing. That one scout that took a shot at him early in the year, I wish he’d speak up now because it’s easy to criticize somebody when you have injuries, you have a new team, and you’re trying to put it together. Now, nobody’s saying how great of a job he’s done.
“A lot of success that we’re having is directly related to him.”
Kidd refuses to accept credit for the success.
“It’s a marathon and that’s the nice thing about the NBA season,” Kidd said. “You can be judged on the first game, but the ones who know best, you’re not judged until the end, and that’s when you look at our team. We’re a veteran ball club and no one in that locker room panicked. We kept playing. No one used any excuses. We kept getting to know one another from coaches to players, and we all felt that it could turn.
“We just had to keep working the process and that’s what guys did, and I don’t think we would like it any other way. I know it was tough there early on, but we understand what it feels like when things go bad so we can always reflect, and I think in the last couple of games, we’ve reflected and hopefully we’ve improved from those mistakes that we’ve made.”
