The Mavericks Hired Jason Kidd, Who Has Been a Massive Failure as a Head Coach
The Dallas Mavericks have agreed to make Jason Kidd their next head coach. Kidd was the point guard in Dallas' lone championship team in 2011, so he holds some some sentimental value to the franchise. But sadly for Mark Cuban & Co., he's always been a terrible head coach.
The Dallas Mavericks have agreements to hire Hall of Famer Jason Kidd as their new head coach and longtime Nike executive Nico Harrison in a lead basketball operations role, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 25, 2021
Kidd took over as the Brooklyn Nets' head coach in 2013 and went 44-38. The Milwaukee Bucks then traded a second-round pick to Brooklyn to secure Kidd's services as their next head coach. Unfortunately, it was a mess for the next four seasons.
Despite a roster with an emerging Giannis Antetokounmpo and decent crop of talent around him, Kidd went 183-190 and never got past the first round of the playoffs. in three-plus seasons in charge. In 2014-15 the Bucks went 41-41, in 2015-16 they went 33-49 and missed the playoffs, during the 2016-17 season things got slightly better as they went 42-40 but washed out in the first round again. Kidd was fired in the middle of the 2017-18 season after a 23-22 start.
The next season, under Mike Budenholzer, the Bucks went 60-22 and reached the conference finals. So, yeah, Kidd was the problem.
It is true that Kidd became a valuable part of Frank Vogel's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Lakers, but being a head coach is a different animal.
Maybe the union of Kidd and Luka Doncic will work. Maybe Kidd learned something about coaching in then NBA since 2018. Maybe it's the perfect hire. But this is an enormous risk for the Mavericks. Kidd has never proven he's worthy of being a head coach at this level.