Stan Van Gundy Not Sold on Jason Kidd Being Brooklyn Nets Head Coach
By Josh Hill
Former Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy has been making a thing of running his mouth about various NBA topics, freelancing his opinions to radio stations willing to listen to what he has to say. After defending Dwight Howard as the best center in the NBA over Roy Hibbert, Van Gundy is back at it giving his opinions on the prospect of Jason Kidd becoming the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
Spoiler alert: he’s not sold on the idea.
“There are so many people out there who have great experience in coaching,” Van Gundy said on the Amani & Eytan show on NBC Sports Radio. “To go for a guy who has never coached anywhere at any level to me is mind boggling. And, if you decide to do that as a front office guy, your job will be on the line and should be on the line if it doesn’t work out.”
You first have to take Van Gundy’s comments with a fist of salt as it’s a little ironic that an unemployed head coach is blasting the idea of hiring an up and comer. But it’s unlikely the Van Gundy harbors ill-will towards Kidd, he does have a point when he questions Kidd’s readiness to be a head coach.
Patrick Ewing is an NBA Hall of Famer and has worked eight years as an assistant and still hasn’t become a head coach. Kidd is likely on his way to the Hall of Fame, but he has come out of nowhere with the idea of becoming a head coach and while he could be completely serious about it — which is what it sounds like — you can’t fault people for thinking Kidd is looking to weasel his way into a hobby and make it a job again.
He’s apparently doing a good job of selling himself to Nets management as strongly considering him as a leading candidate to take the job. Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw is still high on the team’s radar and Kidd is without a doubt the backup plan if they miss on Shaw. But Van Gundy isn’t the only person questioning the move to make Kidd a head coach and if it actually happens, the amount of scrutiny that will come won’t help ease Kidd into the expectations set before him.