The Metamorphosis of Jason Kidd~From Game Watcher to Brilliant Coach

[WildArkieBoy]

OK. . no stats or "expert" opinions to justify the thread subject, just two days to kill b4 the Nico-revamped home team faces the Celts.

As someone who once wrote a drunken thread damning Avery Johnson and participated in "Fire Kidd" talk, I can't deny that this benchsitter has either morphed into something, grown on the job or been misjudged.

His pre-NBA finals interview posted somewhere was thoughtful, actually scholarly, X and O-filled without braggadocio.  Kidd admitted that he's grown on the job, a revelation I found refreshing.

Anyway, I've used up enough bandwidth.

WAB

[ballsrchr]

There definitely has been a metamorphosis of sorts. Kidd seems much more involved on the side lines now than at the start of the season. His interviews with media are much more informational, and as you say, almost scholarly, and are not so much about him, but the team.

I'm one of those who was completely down on Kidd at the beginning of the season. Actually--I've been down on him for a long time, but what the hell. I'm not ready to get out the anointing oil (shades of Bill Parcells), but I'm ready to give Kidd some more time. Maybe even one more year.

[rocky164]

I have not been a Kidd fan since the start. His lack of play calling after time outs and end of game situations infuriates me. But his success, especially defensively and the last quarter of the season into the playoffs is undeniable. His players seam to love him, especially the ones crucial to his success. He’s earned his extension. That being said, I would still love to see an offensive minded X and O’s assistant hired during the offseason.

[KillerLeft]

Still don't love the offense, but I like it a lot better now that I see how well it works when they run it well, even against good defenses. At the end of the day, it's just not my preferred brand of offensive basketball (though not far off), but it's WORKING, and the ball is even starting to move more and earlier...a little improvement in that area with each passing series.

He has the team believing in themselves and playing hard every night.

He has efficiently and correctly determined how the rotation should work, including making discoveries about players I didn't see coming.

Even the stars are attempting to defend through 75% of these games, and that's really the only reason they have a chance to win this championship.

I was wrong about Coach Kidd.

EDIT: Oh yeah...MAVS IN 4!

[Jmaciscool]

I don't think Kidd is the best coach, but I think he might be the best coach for this team.

[fifteenth]

I don't think Kidd is the best coach, but I think he might be the best coach for this team.

He's not the coach we deserve...er, uh... he's the coach we need but not want, he's... uh, he's not the droid we're looking for. 

[MrGoat]

We're underappreciating some of the assistant coaches here

[WildArkieBoy]

We're underappreciating some of the assistant coaches here

Without a doubt.  My intention was to adjust my inaccurate assessment of the head coach, but, yes, the entire staff obviously deserves recognition.

WAB

[DallasMaverick]

We're underappreciating some of the assistant coaches here

Giving a lot of credit to the assistant coaches allows fans who hate Kidd to keep on hating.

It’s like giving credit to Lindsey, but not Nico. Or Nico but not Kidd.  Or Nico but not Cuban.

Reality is that we fans simply don’t have enough information to assign either blame or credit to a single individual for failure or success.

It’s a team.

[Winter]

One of the things related to how I view the head coach is in a window of time - that is, what exactly happened to this team after the recent trade...and then again after we lost 5 of 6?

We suddenly moved from the worst defense to the best defense. So my guess about Kidd and coaches in general is that they've had a plan along of how they wanted this team to look. They got that with new personnel but had to add a second tweak related to rotations when DJJ moved back to starter and the system tightened. So in my opinion, we probably have misjudged Kidd's understanding of how this team should work. He just didn't have the players to make the system work. I think it happened quickly because Kidd knew exactly what he wanted. Maybe they had to look at players like Williams, McGee and C. Wood initially to finally grasp what they were missing.

On offense and defense, the center position changed the team dynamic for the most part, and the athletic length, sharper rotations, and rim protection truly changed the defense for good. But I honestly don't think Kidd just suddenly discovered these things. I just don't think he had the players to fit the system he wanted. Hat tip to Nico too. I'm not sure it was big leap with Xs and Os in regard to Kidd.

What I do give Kidd credit for is a culture of trust ... which comes up in interviews a lot. You can tell this is talked about quite a bit behind the scenes. I think they needed to get rid of Grant Williams for several reasons, but one of those reasons is about the overall culture and his bad fit there. This team is tight and it shows. This is where the coaches and front office deserve a lot of credit in my opinion.

[WildArkieBoy]

One of the things related to how I view the head coach is in a window of time - that is, what exactly happened to this team after the recent trade...and then again after we lost 5 of 6?

We suddenly moved from the worst defense to the best defense. So my guess about Kidd and coaches in general is that they've had a plan along of how they wanted this team to look. They got that with new personnel but had to add a second tweak related to rotations when DJJ moved back to starter and the system tightened. So in my opinion, we probably have misjudged Kidd's understanding of how this team should work. He just didn't have the players to make the system work. I think it happened quickly because Kidd knew exactly what he wanted. Maybe they had to look at players like Williams, McGee and C. Wood initially to finally grasp what they were missing.

On offense and defense, the center position changed the team dynamic for the most part, and the athletic length, sharper rotations, and rim protection truly changed the defense for good. But I honestly don't think Kidd just suddenly discovered these things. I just don't think he had the players to fit the system he wanted. Hat tip to Nico too. I'm not sure it was big leap with Xs and Os in regard to Kidd.

What I do give Kidd credit for is a culture of trust ... which comes up in interviews a lot. You can tell this is talked about quite a bit behind the scenes. I think they needed to get rid of Grant Williams for several reasons, but one of those reasons is about the overall culture and his bad fit there. This team is tight and it shows. This is where the coaches and front office deserve a lot of credit in my opinion.

A well-reasoned summation of the factors contributing to the team's turnaround. . . . Another hopeful sign for me is the extensions of Nico and Kidd. . . Since Cuban is minority owner, those extensions had to be with the full approval of the new owners.  That's a good sign.

WAB