I'm out on the 2023-24 season ....

[SkenfromLMF]

Great stuff Sken. But is it possible that once the team learns to "figure it out" and "fix it yourself" they may be in position to run the offense and defense without a bunch of play calls from the coach? 

I like how your post addresses the X's and O's side of this discussion. But what do you think about the "figure it out" and "fix it yourself" approach regarding the emotional side of the game. I feel like Kidd is trying to teach them to calm themselves down, don't get discouraged, deal with your emotions for yourself, rather than relying on the coach to do that for you, on top of figuring out X's and O's.

Thanks… I believe that the emotional/game management maturity is necessary and Kidd is pretty astute in this part of the development - Admittedly much more than Rick - However, scheme wise his sets/secondary actions are fairly limited for this level of basketball. If you can stop P&R action and sag the backside wings to take away skip passes to the corner Dallas struggles mightily in the half court if Luka/Kyrie are not in Superman mode.

I think Kidd struggles to take a team to the next level because he is a motion flow guy as a player and coach, therefore he needs an Offensive Coordinator to help develop advanced sets. That requires Kidd to intimately trust his assistants (plural). I am not sure he has that level of trust in him. He does seem to have faith in Sweeney but that seems to be as far as he has such trust, TO THIS POINT.

There have to be times when the players know instinctively how to execute set plays against top defenses. Playing through these situations against lesser teams until you make 3’s or get open looks at the basket leaves a hole when trying to match an elite team that can defend.

All that said, Kidd may be able to grow into a comfort zone as a coach, which allows growth. Not sure history supports this as likely, BUT he is also approaching his longest tenure as a HC, so the waters are uncharted per his ability to take a team past year 3/4 successfully.

Big questions are how long before he can adjust to the needs for a more structured offense and how patient Luka will be during the process.