No one within the Knicks organization was disturbed when 10-star Jason Kidd retired. Kidd had only fulfilled one season of a three-year contract and set off to train the Brooklyn nets.
Kidd had thrived in his short Knicks streak – a force in the locker room during that 54-28 season in 2012-13 before lurking in the playoffs.
No one could have predicted that Kidd’s absence would have left a vacuum in command the following season. The Knicks have not returned to the playoffs since Kidd left Garden.
Leon Rose and William Wesley, who ran the basketball department of the Creative Artists Agency and now run the Knicks, saw Kidd personally lead Carmelo Anthony in his best season.
“He was the consummate boss and everyone listened to him that season,” a person familiar with the situation told The Post. “It’s a cliché but it’s true. The point guard is the extension of the head coach on the field. The Knicks were in transition. I don’t think anyone was angry Jason decided to retire. Everyone knew that his career trajectory was coaching. There has been a change in the direction of the team, from older veterans to some younger boys. “
Currently assistant to the Lakers, Kidd returned to the Knicks radar at the age of 47, interviewing a second time last Thursday with Rose, Wesley and GM Scott Perry.
Kidd’s leadership may not be the only attraction for his candidacy.
That Kidd helped develop Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who savored his time with Kidd when he trained Bucks, looks like another.
Antetokounmpo will be a free agent in 2021. When Kidd joined the Lakers as an assistant, the scuttlebutt would succeed Frank Vogel when “The Greek Freak” became free. Antetokounmpo was said to be “devastated” when the Bucks fired Kidd.
“LeBron loves Kidd,” a team manager told The Post. “But Giannis swears it.”
Vogel has done such an exceptional job in Los Angeles that perhaps Kidd realizes that he won’t be his successor anytime soon. Kidd is one of 11 coaching Knicks candidates – and some insiders believe it is the lonely long-term threat to favorite Tom Thibodeau. Wesley likes Kidd too.
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“He is a Hall of Fame player and an innovative young coach who has learned from his past mistakes,” said a staff man who is familiar with the Knicks’ interest. “I think the young Knicks players would have related to him. That it is a factor for Giannis, everywhere [Kidd] go to the coach, that team will surely sit at that dinner table when the time comes. “
Kidd’s career has been impeccable. His coaching career is not so much.
The biggest blemish on his coaching streak was a failed game of power with goals after a 44-38 second round season. Kidd attempted to remove Billy King and take over as head of basketball operations.
Frank Zanin, the Knicks’ new GM assistant, maintained the same position with nets under the king in Kidd’s coup attempt.
When Kidd was rejected, he jumped to the Bucks, run by New York-based opportunist owners, Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry.
“I wouldn’t hire Jason Kidd if he was the last standing coach,” said an NBA source who worked with Kidd. “It would be a terrible choice. There is a reason Milwaukee is where she is now: coaching. ”
While Kidd wanted to be in command in Brooklyn, his momentum ran out in Milwaukee in the middle of his fourth season.
Kidd was fired in January 2018 with a 23-22 record. He never managed to get the Bucks out of the first round despite taking them to the playoffs twice. Mike Budenholzer is 113-34 in his two seasons with the Bucks after Kidd’s layoff.
Sources claim that Kidd’s dismissal was due to his refusal to receive input from others in the organization, which he was stuck doing only in his own way. Bucks’ defense suffered.
Rose recently said on the MSG Network that the new head coach and front office should establish “a collaborative effort”.
It could be a strike against Kidd’s candidacy. However, imagine what Kidd could be like for the young Knicks guards, Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. – not to mention the fact that they draw 6-foot-7 LaMelo Ball.
In March 2019, Kidd visited the Knicks shooter in Phoenix at the invitation of ex-coach David Fizdale. Kidd held a 20-minute summit with newly acquired Smith Jr. and Emmanuel Mudiay, who left after that season.
Fizdale, who played against Kidd in California high school tournaments, asked that morning, “Who better to talk to my top guards than one of the best and greatest ever?”
Who could have imagined then that Kidd had managed to make Fizdale become Smith’s full-time tutor?
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