SAN ANTONIO — The first time Jason Kidd takes the floor as a head coach won’t be in some NBA arena this fall for the first Nets preseason game.
Instead, it’s going to be in the practice gym inside Orlando’s Amway Center next month, when he takes charge of the Nets entry in the annual Orlando Summer League.
“I think it’s the best thing to get right into it,” Kidd said during one of several radio interviews he did in his first full day as head coach of the Nets. “I know that a lot of times head coaches don’t coach summer league, but this gives me time to work on different parts of the game of learning to be a coach, but also my philosophy and plays and the defensive stuff that I get to put in as my system. So, I get to see if it works [and] if it doesn’t work, what changes I have to make and go from there.”
As Kidd said himself, it’s rare for the head coach of a team to actually run its summer league squad often passing the job off to an assistant. But given the unique circumstances the Nets find themselves in with their new coach — considering he just retired from his 19-year first-ballot Hall of Fame career — it makes sense to try to get him as much seasoning as possible.
In addition to trying to get up to speed with the actual process of coaching a team from the sidelines instead of on the floor as a point guard, Kidd also is in the process of figuring out who to name as his assistant coaches. Ever since Kidd’s name was first brought up as a potential head coaching candidate, he has been linked with Lawrence Frank, his former coach with the Nets. Frank is out of work after being let go by the Pistons when the season ended after two years there.
Kidd did nothing to dispel rumors he would like to reunite with his former coach in Brooklyn at his introductory press conference Thursday, and then went so far as to publicly lobby for Frank to be his top assistant yesterday.
“Well, the invitation is out there to him, so it’s up to him,” Kidd said. “He’s in a special situation. He’s at home, but his wife is sick, so I understand coming off of coaching and wanting a year to spend with his family, I respect that. The big thing is he knows how much I love him and how much I really need him, but family comes first, and I respect that.”
Regardless of whether Kidd gets Frank to join him, it doesn’t change the fact he needs to surround himself with an experienced coaching staff.
Other well-respected names such as long-time assistants Tim Grgurich and Dave Wohl have been floated as possible candidates.
Kidd didn’t shy away from the fact he could use a veteran coaching staff to help him transition from running the show on the court to doing so from the sidelines.
“Well, that’s the number one thing right now that I’m focused on,” he said. “I’m recruiting. I’m in the recruiting process of getting a staff. There’s a lot of people who have come out publicly and said I need to get a seasoned staff, and that’s what I’m looking at, people who have been head coaches in this league and who have been assistants and understand what it takes to have some success so I can learn on the job.
“Hopefully one of my candidates is Lawrence Frank. … Because I think we would get along well, I trust him and he understands what it takes to have some success in this league.”