Any hoops fan knows who Jason Kidd is. After a long brilliant career in the NBA, JK is a lock for the Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible. Somewhat surprisingly, he was tabbed to be the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets right after he hung up his Air Nowitzkis, or was that Jordans?
Larry Drew doesn't enjoy the same fame. Unless one is from, or a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks, BTW the worst team in the NBA last year, one might not know that Drew is their head coach. Milwaukee's got a couple really good things going for it. They make a ton of beer, a necessity of most sports fans, and it's also the home base of Harley-Davidson, which has been the class of street bikes for decades. But in pro basketball, they've pretty well sucked in the last few years.
Recently, something interesting has happened. Evidently, the Bucks, under new ownership, have made a pitch to the Nets. They want Kidd as their head coach, and offered a future second round draft pick. The Nets didn't exactly turn them away. They wanted a first round pick.
Maybe the two teams can work it out and maybe they can't, but it's definitely bad news elsewhere. Like players, Kidd finds himself just another piece of meat on the market who can be shipped off to another city if the price is right. This sort of thing doesn't happen without owner approval. It would certainly appear as if Nets' owner Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, is willing to send his head coach packing for a draft pick. No word yet on who the Nets may have in mind to replace him.
Much worse is the plight of Larry Drew. Sure, the Bucks were terrible, and likely won't be serious title contenders in the foreseeable future, but their new owners have made it plain he's expendable. It should be noted that the new owners are hedge-fund managers, and billionaires themselves. Guys in that line of business typically don't have much patience with losers.
What's that? They've reached a deal? The Bucks got Kidd for two second round draft choices? Larry Drew a blank and be gone? A 15-67 record will get you there, regardless of the talent on the team (there wasn't much),
Funny how the salaries of different new head coaches (all former terrific players) worked out. Steve Kerr was a TV analyst and got hired by Golden State to the tune of $25 million for 5 years. Five mill a pop. Most of us could squeak by on that. Derek Fisher was an active player last year, but was hired by the NY Knicks for the same amount of money and years. Neither of these guys has ever been a head coach before.
But Jason the Kidd only got a 4 year deal for a measly $10 million. Simple math says that equates to a paltry 2.5 mill a year. And something seems wrong with that.
Kidd has a year of experience under his belt as a head coach and his former team, the Brooklyn Nets, made it to the playoffs last year, even winning a round. Kerr and Fisher are brand new -- untested as coaches. But they're worth TWICE as much as Kidd? Doesn't seem right. Yeah, NY's a super-large market and Milwaukee's a relatively small one. But so is Golden State. Most people don't even know where the Warriors play. Somewhere in California. Turns out it's in Oakland, home of the Raiders, Athletics and Hell's Angels. Across the bay from Alcatraz. Been out that way a few times and actually Oakland's pretty boring, plus there's a few neighborhoods that aren't exactly recommended for recreational excursions, unless one happens to own a tank and knows how to drive it. All the cool stuff is across the bay in San Fran. Like Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, the trolleys, countless numbers of street people with ingenious acts/scams to get you to give them money, and the former home of a big-headed home run hitter. Hmm. Perhaps it has a few drawbacks.
Nevertheless, here's wishing Jason Kidd well in his new job in Milwaukee. May he buy a new Harley and drink lots of beer, though it's also not recommended to combine the two on the road. Bad things can happen.
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