Can Kidd Coach?

During this two day break from basketball that seems to be taking forever, let’s step away from the Finals and take a look at the most interesting story of the 2013 NBA Coaching Carousel. Jason Kidd, the greatest Net of all-time, returning to the team with which he spent his best years…as a coach. Just 10 days after retiring as a player, Kidd has decided to stay on the bench (which is where he should have spent this Knicks playoff run) and coach the Brooklyn Nets. Will he be the man to elevate the Nets from first-round exit team to legitimate contender?

It’s impossible to predict exactly how Kidd will do in Brooklyn because he’s never coached on any level before, but why not root for him to succeed? Two former players to lead the bench without ever having coaching experience are some of the NBA’s most likable and charismatic coaches. Doc Rivers, who won a championship in 2008 in Boston and is another name in the Carousel this year, is a top five coach in the league, and it’s his understanding players that is his best quality. Mark Jackson has gone from player to coach with a pit-stop as a commentator to become the leader of a promising young Warriors team. It’s his preaching style that he learned as a tough point guard that he uses for his youthful Warriors team. And Kidd was a much better player at point guard than both Rivers and Jackson. He’s an elite floor general of all time.

Just before hiring Kidd, sources said the Nets were impressed with his interview. I bet this interview involved some sort of promise he made: That he can not only get through to Deron Williams, but get him to play the best basketball of his career. Williams went from once dueling  Chris Paul for Best Young Point Guard to becoming a “coach-killer” and falling out of the top PG conversation in the last few years. In Brooklyn, D-Will’s supporting cast isn’t ideal, but Kidd knows that all too well. The Williams-Kidd relationship will be the key that Kidd’s success as a coach hinges on. You have to think that Kidd can get the most out of Williams and in doing that, also make Brook Lopez more dominant at center. With all the coaching vacancies/uncertainties around the league, you could do a lot worse than a Williams-Lopez-Johnson core in a big market.

Hiring a guy who’s never coached before can be seen as risky. But after a first-round exit, the Nets are dangerously close to NBA no man’s land, so there’s really no risk at all. I’m in on Kidd.