Larry Brown Sports

Another day, another NBA legend who would not take LeBron James if he was starting a team with five players. On Friday morning, Jason Kidd appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” to discuss his new head coaching gig with the Brooklyn Nets. Somewhere along the line, he got to discussing who he thinks are the best players in NBA history.

Kidd was asked the same question Patrick asked Karl Malone last week about naming an all-time starting five. He went with John Stockton at point guard, Michael Jordan at the two-guard, Scottie Pippen at small forward, Tim Duncan at power forward and Shaquille O’Neal at center. The decision to choose Pippen seemed to take Kidd the longest, and naturally he was asked about leaving LeBron out.

“Lebron…I mean I could play him at (center),” Kidd responded, before Patrick told him he would take Hakeem Olajuwon over Shaq. “Listen, Hakeem is not bad and I’m leaving LeBron off right now. Those are two Hall of Fame guys and you can easily say they’re the best at their position.”

Given all the Hall of Famers that have played at each position, naming an all-time starting five is impossible to do without leaving some guys out. There were some similarities between Kidd’s starting five and the five choices Malone made, but at least Jason included Jordan.

As far as LeBron and Pippen are concerned, it’s important to remember that James is only 28 years old and could end up winning his second championship within the next week or so. If nothing else, Kidd’s and Malone’s decision to include Pippen shows the level of respect former players have for Scottie as being more than just MJ’s sidekick. Dennis Rodman, on the other hand, may take his argument a bit too far.

Jason Kidd will be the next basketball coach of the Brookly Nets, according to multiple reports. The team interviewed Brian Shaw for the job on Wednesday but informed him that he will not get the position, per ESPN LA’s Ramona Shelburne.

According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Kidd will get a three-year deal with the possibility of a fourth year as an option. The team is expected to hold a press conference this week to announce the news.

The Nets fired Avery Johnson during the season and opted not to bring back interim coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Kidd, 40, recently announced his retirement as a player and will step right in to coach. He played for the Nets from 2001-2008 and led the franchise to consecutive NBA Finals appearances.

What will be interesting to see is how Kidd works with Deron Williams, whom many blamed for the Johnson firing. At the time, Kidd said Williams’ shooting was the problem, not the team’s offensive system.

Jason Kidd announced his retirement from the NBA last week, and it looks like he is ready to move on to his next career.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Kidd had let the Brooklyn Nets know that he is interested in their head coaching vacancy. Wojnarowski says the possibility of hiring Kidd has been discussed within the organization.

Kidd played with the Nets organization from 2001-2008, which were some of his peak career years. He helped lead the franchise to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003.

Since Kidd does not have head coaching experience, the former point guard reportedly is working to assemble a staff of assistants who could help him.

Kidd has long been considered one of the smartest and savviest players in the game, so a transition to coaching would seem natural. In interviews after announcing his retirement last week, Kidd said he was interested in coaching.

Dirk Nowitzki appeared in his first game of the season for the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs, but the result was the same one Dallas has seen for much of the year. Nowitzki’s absence through the first 27 games of the season certainly made life more difficult for the 12-16 Mavs, but the 11-time All-Star said it is the absence of Jason Kidd that has really hurt the team.

“Our basketball IQ obviously went down a little bit with J-Kidd leaving,” Nowitzki said according to ESPNDallas.com. “I think that’s pretty obvious. We don’t make the right play on defense. I don’t think that’s selfishness. Maybe we don’t react quick enough or maybe it’s not natural enough to the guys yet, all the calls, the switching of coverages. You’ve got to pay attention; you’ve got to be smart out there. …

“Offensively, our decision-making has been brutal. We’re averaging 20 (turnovers) a night. It’s impossible to win, especially on the road.”

The Mavericks allowed a season-high 129 points to the Spurs on Sunday, meaning they were pretty much incapable of stopping everything and anything San Antonio threw their way. Dirk should certainly help alleviate some of the team’s struggles when he gets back into the swing of things, but losing a veteran point guard like Kidd is never easy. Dallas was hoping Derek Fisher would help fill the void left by the departure of Kidd, but that didn’t work out.

If the Mavericks are going to contend in the Western Conference this year, they’ll need someone to emerge as their new floor general.

Jason Kidd and Deron Williams both know what it’s like to play for Avery Johnson, and they both understand how it feels to not be fully comfortable playing for him. Earlier this week, Williams said he has not been the same player since joining the Brooklyn Nets and that he was far more comfortable in Jerry Sloan’s system with the Utah Jazz. Kidd, who had some disagreements with Johnson when he was with the Dallas Mavericks, said the offensive system isn’t the issue.

Simply put, Kidd feels that Williams has not been an effective enough shooter.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the coach,” Kidd said Thursday according to the NY Daily News. “I think it’s just a matter of getting comfortable making shots. Also, he has new teammates. He’s got to get used to a new crew. It’s always a growing period.

“He’s a grownup. He’ll figure it out. All things don’t go well right away sometimes. He’s just going through a struggle shooting the ball, but he’s one of the best at what he does, so he’ll work through it.”

A look at the numbers would tell you Kidd is right, and Deron has admitted several times that he has not shot well enough. Williams shot 43.9% from the field last season — the lowest since his rookie year — and is down to 39.6% so far this season. He’s hitting only 29.4% of his shots from beyond the arc, which is a career low.

Williams’ struggles have likely been caused by a combination of things, but his poor shooting is certainly what sticks out the most. A player who simply isn’t knocking down shots isn’t going to be comfortable in any system.

Jason Kidd has been around long enough to get calls like the one he got late in the fourth quarter of the New York Knicks’ win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night. Throughout his 18-year NBA career, Kidd has become a master at sticking his limbs out to draw a foul. With the game tied and about 25 seconds left to play in Brooklyn, Kidd drained a clutch three pointer and stuck his leg out to get a call against Jerry Stackhouse.

The shot put the Knicks on top 100-97, and the foul could have been major if Kidd hit his free throw and gave the Knicks a two-possession lead. He missed, but the Knicks held on to win anyway. However, you could argue that he should have been called for an offensive foul, which would have negated the basket.

Kidd pulled a similar move against an opposing coach a couple years ago to draw a big call. The NBA is supposed to be cracking down on shooters sticking their legs out to draw a foul, but those rules can be slow for officials to adjust to. That is especially true when the one doing the kicking has been around forever.

After spending four and a half seasons as teammates with Jason Kidd on the Mavericks and winning an NBA championship together, Dirk Nowitzki was understandably upset that Kidd chose to sign with the Knicks in free agency. He specifically says it was the surprising nature of Kidd’s decision that frustrated him.

“He didn’t call me,” Nowitzki said, per Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “I had no reception in Africa where I was. So I only checked my phone once a day. On the day before, he said he was coming, and I think that’s what Mark (Cuban) was a little upset about. He basically said he’s coming back and a day later said he wasn’t coming. It was frustrating. I told him we’d love to have him back and love to have him retire here, but he made a decision he felt was best for his family. I respected that and we move forward. I wish him luck.”

Despite being frustrated and surprised by Kidd’s decision, Dirk is at least handling things in a mature matter. Team owner Mark Cuban on the other hand admitted he was “pissed” at Kidd, and said he wouldn’t want to retire the point guard’s jersey as a result.

We can never get mad at a player for choosing one team over another in free agency, but it’s understandable why Dallas was upset with Kidd. He appeared to lead them on before choosing another team. It seems like karma is already catching up with him anyhow.