Why Jason Kidd would be better Nets coach than Greg Popovich

[The_Hater]

Fans could be legit frustrated with him and spit out the 'worst coach in the league' hyperbole, and that's the part I agree with. That's just hyperbole and fans being fans, though. But look at Kidd's coaching record and the situations he started with and you'll find someone who stumbled a bit in the beginning, then turned things around dramatically. That's a really good sign IMO.

The fact that Kidd couldn't take the Bucks to the next level is a legit criticism, but not so unexpected for someone who threw himself in to the fire with little prior experience. I don't hold that against him. Those who do...

Once again, this is why context matters.

Fair points but I do think he was in the running for league’s worst coach in Milwaukee, I don’t think it’s the hyperbole you think it is. And I also think fans dismiss the possibility that coaches, just like players, can improve at their craft

I just think the Nets s are sitting there with what looks like a very good, very deep roster next season and they should go out and get the best coach they can find instead of taking a risk that a failed coach can suddenly become good. That doesn’t usually create respect with the players in the locker room. And you as a Nets fan should want somebody better than Kidd so they can reach their potential. KD and Kyrie have exporation dates on them so the team doesn’t have 2 seasons to screw around with he wrong head coach.

I suggest reading "old skool's" comment above. When you look at it season by season, Kidd actually had a couple brilliant seasons, one solid season, and a couple disappointing ones. I'm just not going to be one of those who slams him for the disappointing ones and doesn't take the context in to account, or doesn't give him credit for his positives. But if I was a Bucks fan, I can understand feeling differently.

Also, I never said I wanted Kidd for our HC. I think it would probably be good for him to stay an assistant for a while longer. Like I said, I doubt Pop moves, and there's a good argument for keeping Vaughn even though he's a noobie as a HC.

Our team isn't necessarily all that great and all that deep, either. There's huge question marks right from the top, like how Kyrie's going to hold up with his chronic shoulder issue, how an aging KD's going to look coming back from a typically severe sports injury, whether LeVert's health will hold up and how he'll function moving back to a 3rd / 4th option combo guard role, and what we're going to be able to get from our generally underperforming pool of forwards and big men talent. Payroll issues and the desire for another star may lead to big changes too, and those don't always work out.

I think the Nets will be a good team, probably a solid team, but we haven't really accomplished anything yet. It remains to be seen if we can move in to the tier of Boston, MIL and Toronto. Those are really good teams, so unlike most Nets fans, I'm optimistic, but not assuming anything.

I strongly disagree with the definition of ‘brilliant’ coaching in this case and also with Old School’s season by season grading of Kidd.

You’re free to think that Kidd is a good head coach with a sometimes brilliant track record but there’s a lot of solid reasons why a huge majority of people think that Kidd was clearly a bad head coach. If he ends up being the Nets guy, I just can’t see that team reading their full potential.

[gigantes]

Fair points but I do think he was in the running for league’s worst coach in Milwaukee, I don’t think it’s the hyperbole you think it is. And I also think fans dismiss the possibility that coaches, just like players, can improve at their craft

I just think the Nets s are sitting there with what looks like a very good, very deep roster next season and they should go out and get the best coach they can find instead of taking a risk that a failed coach can suddenly become good. That doesn’t usually create respect with the players in the locker room. And you as a Nets fan should want somebody better than Kidd so they can reach their potential. KD and Kyrie have exporation dates on them so the team doesn’t have 2 seasons to screw around with he wrong head coach.

I suggest reading "old skool's" comment above. When you look at it season by season, Kidd actually had a couple brilliant seasons, one solid season, and a couple disappointing ones. I'm just not going to be one of those who slams him for the disappointing ones and doesn't take the context in to account, or doesn't give him credit for his positives. But if I was a Bucks fan, I can understand feeling differently.

Also, I never said I wanted Kidd for our HC. I think it would probably be good for him to stay an assistant for a while longer. Like I said, I doubt Pop moves, and there's a good argument for keeping Vaughn even though he's a noobie as a HC.

Our team isn't necessarily all that great and all that deep, either. There's huge question marks right from the top, like how Kyrie's going to hold up with his chronic shoulder issue, how an aging KD's going to look coming back from a typically severe sports injury, whether LeVert's health will hold up and how he'll function moving back to a 3rd / 4th option combo guard role, and what we're going to be able to get from our generally underperforming pool of forwards and big men talent. Payroll issues and the desire for another star may lead to big changes too, and those don't always work out.

I think the Nets will be a good team, probably a solid team, but we haven't really accomplished anything yet. It remains to be seen if we can move in to the tier of Boston, MIL and Toronto. Those are really good teams, so unlike most Nets fans, I'm optimistic, but not assuming anything.

I strongly disagree with the definition of ‘brilliant’ coaching in this case and also with Old School’s season by season grading of Kidd.

You’re free to think that Kidd is a good head coach with a sometimes brilliant track record but there’s a lot of solid reasons why a huge majority of people think that Kidd was clearly a bad head coach. If he ends up being the Nets guy, I just can’t see that team reading their full potential.

Sports fandom is full of idiocy, laziness and hot takes, and none of that concerns me. Particularly when it comes to fans assuming progress is linear and that their team should always keep improving.

"Brilliant" may or may not be too strong, but two cases stand out to me:

- Kidd started with zero coaching experience, taking over a good 49-33 Nets team, trying to integrate Paul Pierce and KG in his first season. Doesn't sound so bad except both guys were fairly shot at that point, and they didn't get along with the nominal star, Deron Williams, either. They started horribly (almost predictably so), at 10-21, and finally came together, going 34-17 the rest of the way, developing in to one of the top defenses in the league IIRC. That's a damn big turnaround, and Kidd's imprints were all over the team. You can't tell me something like that happens under a terrible coach. It just doesn't.

- Next season he took over a 15-67 Bucks team, the worst team in the league by far, and immediately turned them in to a 41-41 team, the sixth seed in the East. That's a HUGE jump by any definition. He also saw something in a #15 pick who put up decent but hardly amazing numbers, and jumped him up to 31.4 minutes a game, giving him a much larger share of team-wide responsibilities. That's pretty unusual right there. You can't tell me those things happen under a terrible coach, and I think Giannis himself would be the first person to tell you he's grateful for Kidd's early vision.

Jason Kidd plateauing or disappointing in later seasons is not my point. That part's probably not even a surprise given his lack of coaching experience.

Fans can believe what they want, but the fact that Kidd is consistently on teams' coaching lists probably speaks for itself. Not real surprising given his successes I mentioned above, nor the fact that he's still widely considered one of the smartest players to ever play the game.

I'll leave the last reply to you, as I think I'm done.

[kamaze]

The Nets need to stop fooling themselves and hire Tyron Lue Popovich ain't coming.