coach jason kidd - the olive branch

the brooklyn nets made it official today and introduced jason kidd as their head coach. i thought it was an awesome move and here's why. the nets are in the eastern conference in the nba and over the next 2-3 seasons, i can't possibly seeing them doing any better than being the third best team in the whole eastern conference. i mean, that's best case scenario. i'm pretty sure the miami heat and the chicago bulls will dominate the top two spots for at least the next two seasons (that's all based on the assumption that there's no catastrophic injuries). so if being the third best team is the best you can do, and you were technically the fourth best team this season, why not take a chance on jason kidd, who's never coached before?

sure, they could've gone after someone with some actual nba coaching experience. but what for? jason kidd had a reputation for being one of the smartest players on the court. he's played for a ton of coaches and has adapted to many different coaching styles throughout his career. he's even been acknowledged as a good choice by san antonio spurs' head coach, gregg popovich, which is a monster endorsement in the world of basketball coaching.

yes, there's some risk in this choice. but the payoff is that you now have a guy coaching who people are gonna want to root for. he'll probably be the kind of coach that players really wanna play hard for. and he's got an illustrious history with the nets franchise. way back when they were new jersey's basketball team (the good ol' days) he lead (or some might even say dragged) this franchise to two finals appearances in a row. sure, they lost... but getting there twice is a huge accomplishment... easily the greatest part of the nets' entire history. they're pretty much the buffalo bills of the nba and jason kidd's jim kelly. and everyone likes jim kelly. you'd have to be a dick not to.

and for me personally, it might put me back on the nets bandwagon. i felt burned by the franchise when they decided to up and leave beautiful new jersey for brooklyn. it felt something like betrayal. so all this past season, i haven't really rooted for any team in particular. i've been a free agent fan just sorta looking around for a place to land.

just this season, in the playoffs, i was rooting against them. they were taking on the bulls who were decimated by injuries and the flu and whatnot. it was during this series that i proclaimed that joakim noah in my new favorite player in the league (a stance i'm not backing off on anytime soon). i had soured on the nets that quickly.

but with jason kidd coaching the nets, it's sorta like a nod of acknowledgement to the state of new jersey. it's like an invitation to get back into it and not have to give up your jersey cred to do so. i'm not saying i'm all the way back on the bandwagon... it'd be hard for me to go see them live in brooklyn and participate in the "brooooooklyn," chant without feeling like a phony. but i'm warming up to the idea.

jason kidd coming back to the nets almost feels like your favorite band reuniting. like if somehow jason kidd could maybe get this team to the finals, we'll all say, 'hey, this is reminiscent of when he brought the NEW JERSEY nets to the finals." and we'll all have to acknowledge that this team's roots are firmly placed in jersey. with jason kidd coaching on the sidelines, it'll be obvious for all to see that you can try to take the team out of jersey, but you can't take the jersey out of the team.