Hiring Jason Kidd to chase Giannis Antetokounmpo? More fool’s gold for New York Knicks

If Jason Kidd is a front-runner for the New York Knicks head coaching job because he is seen as a portal to Giannis Antetokounmpo, this is fool’s gold.

At the end of the 2020-21 season there are going to be 30 teams lining up to sign the Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo. According to Stephen A. Smith of ESPN, Jason Kidd is a front-runner for the New York Knicks job because of his relationship with Antetokounmpo, with the thought Kidd could help New York land last season’s MVP.

This is total fool’s gold. Antetokounmpo may have liked Kidd. He may have been upset when he was fired, but Antetokounmpo is not going to move to the Knicks on a personal relationship.

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Kidd has a good reputation for developing younger players; he was a key person in developing the Milwaukee Bucks superstar. However, Antetokounmpo is driven by winning a championship and the Knicks are one of the worst teams in the league. Kidd is going to do very little to change that in the next year and a half.

In his time with the Bucks, Kidd had a 139-152 record, a .478 winning percentage, over three and a half seasons. In the season he was fired, the Bucks were 23-22 under Kidd before improving to 21-16 under interim coach Joe Prunty.

Current coach Mike Budenholzer, since taking over the Bucks job, has an 87-26 record. Antetokounmpo won the MVP last season and the Bucks finished at the top of the Eastern Conference with the best record in the NBA.

In the time that Budenholzer has been coach, the Knicks have a 24-89 record. Why would Antetokounmpo leave one of the best teams in the NBA to go to one of the worst?

Budenholzer has managed to unlock the well of talent that is Antetokounmpo in a way that Kidd was never able to. He has put 3-point shooters at every single position on the floor to open up the paint.

The game plan that Budenholzer has employed has allowed Antetokoumpo to be an even greater threat in the paint, where  he is unstoppable with his length and quickness. Get Antetokounmpo one-on-one anywhere near the basket and he scores, especially since he is often isolated thanks to the talent around him.

Antetokounmpo had career highs in points (27.7), rebounds (12,.5) and assists (5.9) per game. This year he has increased his points production (31.0) and rebounds (12.9) per game. He is pulling these numbers on a relevant team.

If Antetokounmpo was to move to the Knicks, he might be able to produce these numbers, but they would be empty numbers. He would help the Knicks win some more games, but certainly not make the playoffs for another season or two, minimum.

Also, another issue with Antetokounmpo going to the Knicks is their total inability — for a long time now — to sign a major free agent. If Antetokounmpo signed, the Knicks would still need another big name to come with him. Based on past history, that is incredibly unlikely.

If the New York Knicks are hoping that Jason Kidd as head coach will help them land Antetokounmpo, they are sadly mistaken. If true, it has the feeling of a franchise trying something out of left field to get back to relevance and is quite simply fool’s gold.