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NBA Rumors: New York Knicks miss Jason Kidd

By Andrew Melnick

Jan 20, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd during the second half of game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Brooklyn Nets defeat the New York Knicks 103-80. Mandatory Credit: Jim O
Jan 20, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd during the second half of game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Brooklyn Nets defeat the New York Knicks 103-80. Mandatory Credit: Jim O /
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Jan 20, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd during the second half of game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Brooklyn Nets defeat the New York Knicks 103-80. Mandatory Credit: Jim O
Jan 20, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd during the second half of game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Brooklyn Nets defeat the New York Knicks 103-80. Mandatory Credit: Jim O /

Last season, the New York Knicks went 54-28, defeated the Boston Celtics and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

This season, they are 32-43 and a game behind (two games in the loss column) the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth seed in the east.

There aren’t many differences between this year’s team and last year’s with one major difference being the absence of point guard Jason Kidd, who retired from the Knicks and became head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

According to former Knicks’ forward Metta World Peace, who spoke with ESPN New York’s Ian Begley, the Knicks badly miss Kidd.

“I spoke to a lot of people and a lot of people are saying Jason Kidd was the reason [for the Knicks’ poor play this year],” World Peace said in late February. “… I spoke to Tyson about it and Tyson said Jason Kidd used to do a lot of adjustments on the court. So that was an issue that we had this year with Jason Kidd becoming a coach. A lot of times they kept saying, ‘We miss that presence of Jason Kidd.'”

Knicks’ point guard Raymond Felton agreed.

“He’s just like another coach on the court,” Felton said. “We get down by 10, 15 points and he’s still calm. I’ve never seen a guy who’s so poised; it seems like he isn’t worried about anything.”

The Knicks will play host to Kidd’s Nets on Wednesday night.

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