Brooklyn Nets Trade Jason Kidd For Two Picks
The only way this headline could be anymore scandalous is if it were 2003, but at least in this scenario the Brooklyn Nets aren’t the bad guys.
Jason Kidd‘s latest power grab seems to have forced the fork in the road for the Brooklyn Nets, who will now be trading their head coach to the Milwaukee Bucks for a pair of second round draft picks. ESPN’s Chris Broussard originally reported the completion of the deal, which Marc Stein later confirmed. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Kidd was being traded for a second rounder in 2015 and 2019.
This whole progression of events has been a bit of a fiasco. The Nets granted the Bucks permission to talk with Kidd about their head coaching position, a position already occupied by Larry Drew, after Kidd was turned down in his quest to be given control over Brooklyn’s basketball operations.
As of right now, Kidd will only be Milwaukee’s head coach, but according to Woj, many believe it’s only a matter of time before he has full control over basketball operations for the Bucks. Woj also reported that Bucks management communicated nothing to head coach Larry Drew about his job being auctioned off, making the move even more shameful and borderline scandalous for Milwaukee.
That being said, Kidd is probably an upgrade over Drew, whose lineups in Milwaukee weren’t always popular among fans. The unceremonious exit of such a respected coach is less than honorable, but Kidd has a lot of promise as a head coach for a team that finished with the worst record in the NBA last season. With raw talent in Giannis Antetokounmpo and No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker on the roster, Kidd is the kind of disciplinarian the Bucks need.
Say this for Bucks basketball: Right or wrong, it's suddenly on the map.
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) June 30, 2014
For the Nets, they got a pretty decent return for a head coach on a personal power trip, although it wasn’t quite the 2015 first rounder they were asking for. Two first round picks for a rookie head coach who compiled a 44-38 record in the Eastern Conference is a great move. Now the question becomes who the Nets will replace Jason Kidd with as head coach.
According to Stein and Broussard, there are a couple of options, but the best one right now seems to be former CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina, who has ties with Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. Lionel Hollins, George Karl and Mark Jackson are other strong candidates for the position.