The Brooklyn Nets have named Jason
Kidd their new head coach, the team announced Wednesday night.
The hiring was first reported by
ESPN’s Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne. Kidd was later scheduled to be introduced at a 2 p.m. ET
news conference Thursday at Barclays Center.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to
be named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and it’s a role I have been studying
for over the course of my playing days,” Kidd said. “Championship teams are
built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable, and
that’s how I expect to coach this basketball team. I am truly excited about
this next phase of my basketball career.”
Kidd’s hiring came after the Nets
met with Brian Shaw for five hours Wednesday. Sources told ESPN.com that,
although Shaw had been targeted by the Nets for some time and made a strong
presentation during Wednesday’s interview, Kidd convinced Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and his advisers that he is ready to jump directly into the lead seat
on an NBA bench despite the fact that he has no prior coaching experience.
“Jason Kidd has a long and legendary
history with the Nets and with the city of New York,” Prokhorov said. “He has
the fire in the belly we need, and has achieved as a player everything the
Brooklyn Nets are striving to achieve. We believe he will lead us there.
Welcome home, Jason.”
The move reunites Kidd with the
franchise he led to consecutive NBA Finals in 2002-03, when they played in New
Jersey. He spent 6½ seasons with the Nets, averaging 14.6 points, 9.1 assists
and 7.2 rebounds, and is their career leader in numerous statistical
categories. ESPN.com reported Monday that Kidd,
in a sitdown Monday with Nets general manager Billy King, sold Brooklyn on the
idea that the presence of former Nets and Detroit Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank can provide him with a lead assistant who can help Kidd compensate for
his own lack of head-coaching experience.
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