The Brooklyn Nets have named 40-year-old Jason Kidd as their new head coach, general manager Billy King announced this evening. Kidd, a former Net from 2001 to 2008, retired from the NBA on June 13 after 19 seasons.
“On behalf of the Nets organization, I am very pleased to welcome Jason Kidd as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets,” King told reporters. “Jason is a proven winner and leader with an incredible wealth of basketball knowledge and experience. This will be a natural transition for him to move into the role of head coach, as he embodies the tough, smart and team-first mentality that we are trying to establish in Brooklyn.”
The team interviewed highly-regarded coaching candidate Brian Shaw for five hours Wednesday before coming to the decision to hire Kidd. Shaw, the Indiana Pacers’ associate coach, was thought to be the top prospect for the job following the firing of interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo. But Kidd’s presentation convinced Nets’ owner Mikhail Prokhorov and his team that he was the right fit.
“Jason Kidd has a long and legendary history with the Nets and with the city of New York,” Prokhorov said. “He has the fire in the belly we need, and has achieved as a player everything the Brooklyn Nets are striving to achieve. We believe he will lead us there. Welcome home, Jason.”
Despite no prior head coaching experience, Kidd is a proven leader with valuable basketball knowledge and an impressive Hall of Fame career at the point guard position. The coaching staff he will have — which is expected to include former Nets’ head coach Lawrence Frank — can provide him with the experience he’ll need to help him adjust to his new role.
Kidd led the Nets franchise to two consecutive NBA Finals in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons while they were still located in New Jersey. In 535 games with the Nets, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game. He was a four-time All-Star during that span.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to be named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and it’s a role I have been studying for over the course of my playing days,” the new coach said. “Championship teams are built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable, and that’s how I expect to coach this basketball team. I am truly excited about this next phase of my basketball career.”
A press conference to introduce Kidd will be held Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 2 p.m ET.
Louis Musto is a reporter and sports talk host for the Sports Journey Broadcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LouisMusto.