With rumors that Jason Kidd is on the hot seat, should the Milwaukee Bucks keep their head coach?
The NBA regular season has finally come to a close. However, the rumor mill is only begin to churn for those who’ve failed to reach the playoffs.
From stirrings that General Manager John Hammond may be on his way to New Orleans, to rumblings that Greg Monroe may be on the trading block, there’s sure to be lots of rumors surrounding the Milwaukee Bucks in the coming days.
Perhaps the biggest, and most surprising development of all, is rumors that Jason Kidd may be on the hot seat. Racine Journal Times columnist Gery Woelfel reported last Sunday that there is discontent among some in the Milwaukee Bucks ownership group towards Kidd, and that he is “on shaky ground”:
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"But I’m told Kidd, who was brought to Milwaukee by one of the team’s tri-majority owners and close friend, Marc Lasry, hasn’t endeared himself to the rest of the Bucks’ ownership group. Some think Kidd’s arrogant, some think his heart isn’t into coaching and are miffed he took off a portion of the season for hip surgery when he could have done it in the offseason. Some, most importantly, question his coaching acumen and his player personal decision-making."
Woelfel speculates that some of this discontent stems from the “ill-fated” trade of Brandon Knight at the trade deadline last year, a trade Kidd was reportedly pushing for behind closed doors. This further compounds previous reports from Adrian Wojnarowski about dissatisfaction over some of Kidd’s attempted trades from the most recent deadline also.
Regardless of how true these rumors are, it does raise an interesting question for the team: Should the Milwaukee Bucks keep Jason Kidd?
In addition, the offense was a train wreck through the first 50 games. Instead of running an up-tempo offense focused on consistent movement on and off the ball, the offense was instead reliant on isolations, post-ups, and a very slow pace. This approach failed to take advantage of the core strengths that guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker had, and instead exacerbated the team’s weaknesses stemming from their lack of spacing.
All of this helped culminate in the major disaster we saw before the All-Star Break. On almost a nightly basis, the Bucks were getting destroyed on defense and seemed incapable of putting together four quarters of respectable basketball on either end of the floor.
In addition, Kidd played a major role behind the scenes in pushing for many of the off-season acquisitions that didn’t pan out. Signing Greg Monroe was forgivable as the Bucks only committed to him for two years (plus a player option for 2017-18) and had nothing to lose by experimenting with a talented offensive center for a season. If the move didn’t work out (it hasn’t), the team could simply move him in the off-season or let him walk when he (most likely) opts out at the end of next season.
However, pushing the Bucks to trade a first round pick for Greivis Vasquez, to draft Rashad Vaughn over the likes of Bobby Portis, and to trade their two veteran leaders in Jared Dudley and Zaza Pachulia for next to nothing, were more than just minor mistakes. They significantly hindered the team’s ability to compete this season.
Many, myself included, began to question Jason Kidd’s overall approach. Instead of running the team with a focus on Milwaukee’s core players’ strengths, the team was focused on trying to implement a style of basketball that the league has left behind.
Kidd’s approach, for much of the season, was trying to bring a 1990’s style of play into a league that’s long since abandoned that for pace and spacing. It was a horrible approach, and the team took a major step back because of it.
Around the All-Star Break, however, Kidd finally acknowledged that his approach hadn’t been working on the court and began to try new things.
He handed the keys of the offense over to Giannis Antetokounmpo, and began to give young, rotation guys, like Miles Plumlee, more minutes to prove their worth to the team.
With Antetokounmpo at the helm, the Bucks ran an offense which was much better suited to this team’s strengths. For the first time all season, the Bucks began to get out on the break consistently, turning turnovers into guaranteed points. They upped the tempo, getting much more movement off the ball and passing a lot more often in each possession. This got everyone more involved and resulted in better looks for the team.
In addition to this, playing Antetokounmpo as the team’s point allowed the Bucks to field an additional shooter at the point guard position, something that gave Antetokounmpo, Parker, and Khris Middleton much more space than they were getting all season.
Though the changes didn’t necessarily translate to wins, the team looked much better as a unit and began to develop a chemistry that had alluded them all season.
The defense also began to improve a bit as the season went on. For much of the season, the Bucks were in the bottom five in defensive efficiency, lacking any ability to guard the three or protect the rim on a consistent basis. By giving Plumlee and John Henson more crunch time minutes, particularly when the Bucks were in the lead, the team was much better at being able to protect the rim and successfully rotate on defense. As a result, the Bucks moved up to finish 22nd in defensive efficiency, still poor, but a significant improvement over the beginning of the season.
With all of this said, should the Bucks keep Kidd?
Given the adjustments that he made around the All-Star Break, it appears that Kidd has learned from his mistakes and is willing to adopt an approach that works to the team’s core strengths.
Many young and inexperienced coaches find that their approach needs to be changed to better adapt to a changing league, but refuse to do so. The fact that Kidd acknowledged his weaknesses in his exit interview this week is an encouraging sign that he’s willing to make the needed adjustments this team needs.
In addition, as stated, the on court product got much better with the adjustments he made around the All-Star Break. If the team had a chance to correct things earlier in the season, the Bucks would have likely finished around .500 and been in contention for one of the final playoff spots.
Unless Kidd’s interference with management is greater than we’ve heard, Kidd should be allowed to see out his contract next season. His adjustments over the last quarter of the season had the team playing much more to its strengths and, a result, looking much better than they had earlier in the season. It’s also too early to give up on Kidd. After all, he’s only 43 years old and has only been involved in a capacity as a coach for three seasons.
Next: The Milwaukee Bucks Are Lucky To Have John Hammond
With an off-season to improve the supporting the cast around the core of Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and Parker, this team should be back in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race next season. And the man who should lead this team on to the court as Head Coach in October should be Jason Kidd.