It’s that time of year again, folks. Free-Agency Eve! It is a magical night. If you have been good all year, you get used
as a trading chip in a three player deal and end up in Orlando, for some reason. If you have been bad all year—it is pretty
much the same.
That’s no reason to be cynical however. In truth, this could be one of the most
interesting free-agency periods the NBA has seen in a long, long time, with
both Carmelo Anthony and the Big Three of Miami both doing their thing. Teams in the East are poised to make moves
that may knock that conference back into shape—watch out for what Atlanta does,
what the Raps do, and what the Bulls do to really give their team something
more than a premature exit next year in the Playoffs. The Cavs and of course the Wolves are also
poised to do some things.
But while agents’ offices around the nation festoon their
walls and halls in legal pads and stationary, and carolers practice “O Come,
All Ye Contracts,” another story has taken over the NBA.
This is Jason Kiddgate, 2014 (mentioning the year is
necessary with Kidd).
Yesterday details emerged of Kidd’s rather self-destructive
ploy for a higher salary and control of basketball operations at the Nets. Today, news shifts to the injustice of Kidd
actually getting rewarded for his behavior.
Because that is what Milwaukee has decided to dole out to him.
Initially it seemed as if “the Russians” (the technical term
to refer to the Nets ownership used to by insiders in the situation) may have
encouraged other teams to take Kidd off of their hands. And it was highly in doubt whether this would
happen. But now it seems Kidd’s friends
at the Bucks bailed him out of the souring situation on Flatbush Avenue.
Kidd was signed as coach of the Bucks.
They were also considerate enough to meet this morning with Larry Drew, also
coach of the Bucks, and fire him.
Because of course this news came out of nowhere to him. The organization simply handed the job to
Kidd as soon as he asked. The Nets somehow netted two second round draft picks for this.
Apparently Kidd had no qualms about this. He began throwing his weight around at the
Bucks organization once communications were opened between him and his new
organization. He gunned not just for
Drew’s job, but, like he did at the Nets, for the basketball operations spot as
well.
This has not gone over well with the coaching community of the league, as reports have attested. It is,
apparently, one of the unwritten rules of the small league of thirty head coaches
that you don’t gun for a spot when someone else currently occupies it. But the questions about the ethics of it all,
while being directed at Kidd, should also center around that of the Bucks
organization too, who seemed to treat the whole thing with the same lack of
tact.
As if that weren’t enough, Zach Lowe just reported that the Nets
apparently lost $144 million last year on the basketball team (the Barclay’s
Center may have yet made the ownership group some not insignificant profit).
Meanwhile the search is on for a new coach to replace
Kidd. Candidates include Lionel Hollins
and Ettore Messina.
In short, things are not looking great in Brooklyn on Free-Agency
Eve.
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