It’s official. Jason Kidd has made the transition from NBA superstar to head coach. The Brooklyn Nets franchise made the announcement on Wednesday night that they have named Jason Kidd their new head coach. Kidd’s hiring was first reported by ESPN’s Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne. A source told the media that Kidd signed a three-year contract.
Former NBA point guard, Jason Kidd, is named the Brooklyn Nets head coach on June 12, 2013.
“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,” said the 40-year-old Kidd, who retired as a player earlier this month. “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.”
“Yes, I have a lot to learn about coaching, but when I played the game I felt like I was an extension of the coach,” Kidd said during Thursday’s press conference. “Now I look to Deron to be that guy and to execute that game plan — along with the rest of the team — because I believe that we can win.”
Nets general manager Billy King said Kidd is exactly what the team was hoping to get when hiring a head coach.
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said, “Jason Kidd has a long and legendary history with the Nets and with the city of New York. 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.”
Kidd was a ten-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA First Team member, and a nine-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. Kidd played college basketball for the California Golden Bears and was drafted second overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft. He was named co-NBA Rookie of the Year in his first season with the Mavericks. Then, from 1996 to 2001, Kidd played for the Phoenix Suns and later for the New Jersey Nets from 2001 to 2008. He led the Nets to two consecutive NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003. In the middle of the 2007–08 season, Kidd was traded back to Dallas, where he won an NBA championship in 2011. After finishing his playing career with the New York Knicks in 2012–13, he retired and returned a week later as head coach for the Nets, who had moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn.
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