Jason Kidd Interested in Coaching Brooklyn Nets

Fresh off announcing his retirement from the New York Knicks and league as a whole, Kidd is apparently interested in coaching the Brooklyn Nets.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Kidd is “chasing” the vacancy that was created when the Nets decided not to bring P.J. Carlesimo back into the fold:

Freshly retired NBA star Jason Kidd is pursuing the Brooklyn Nets’ head coaching job and his candidacy has been discussed within the highest levels of the organization, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Kidd has been talking with associates about the possibility of making the immediate leap from a Hall of Fame playing career to a head coaching job, and has been working to identify a staff of assistant coaches who could help him overcome the significant learning curve, sources said.

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Kidd still has strong ties within the Nets’ organization that he revived with consecutive NBA Finals appearances (2002 and ’03). After 19 seasons in the league, Kidd retired last week after one season with the New York Knicks.

Before Kidd signed a free-agent deal with the Knicks, he considered re-joining the Nets as a backup to star point guard Deron Williams. Kidd and Williams have a strong relationship and share an agent.

Kidd spent the better part of six seasons with the then New Jersey Nets before moving on to the Dallas Mavericks where he won his first and only championship. At 40, his retirement was hardly a surprise, yet the prevailing sentiment had been that he was going return. Few expected him to go out the way he did, missing the last 17 shots of his career and being held scoreless for the last 10 games of the playoffs.

Of course, Kidd’s departure could have meant that he had something else lined up, like perhaps this.

Regarding Mike Lupica’s column about Jason Kidd possibly coaching Nets, Kidd hinted during the season that he might end up with Nets.

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) June 10, 2013

Also, maybe Jason Kidd retired so soon after the season because he had something else lined up. I mean, he did walk away from $6 million.

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) June 10, 2013

I find that theory to be both logical and a bit farfetched. Walking away from $6 million is never easy, even for for a player like Kidd who earned more than $184 million for his career. At the same time, he earned over $184 million for his career. Raking in approximately $3 million annually is nothing.

More likely, Kidd probably retired early because 1) He’s over 40 and 2) He wanted to make the immediate leap to coaching. That much I can believe. He’s always been considered a player-coach anyway, so why not just make it official?

And what better time to make it official than now? Twelve teams have joined the NBA coaching carousel if you assume that Lionel Hollins won’t be returning to the Memphis Grizzlies. With all the franchises who are still looking for help, the time to break into the coaching biz is now.

Will Kidd be able to do that with the Nets? Possibly, though I’d be surprised if he emerged as a head coaching candidate. The guys Brooklyn looking is at now, like Hollins and Brian Shaw, are established. Kidd has yet to be an assistant (like Shaw). Remember, he’s been retired for like a second.

Hiring a rookie coach who has no prior experience as an assistant or otherwise seems like tactical suicide for a team like the Nets that is supposedly a title contender.

Then again, Mikhail Prokhorov has always danced to the beat of his own. Maybe that unconventional tune of his will carry him to Kidd.