George Willis

George Willis

NBA

Confused, infighting Nets look a lot like the Jersey version

When the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn and settled on Jason Kidd as the head coach after firing Avery Johnson and then P.J. Carlesimo, it seemed the franchise had finally reached a point where it was ready to shed its image as an NBA bottom-feeder struggling to establish some credibility.

The bridge from life in the lottery to the Barclays Center has been general manager Billy King, who now must dispel the notion the Nets are teetering back to their days of uncertainty thanks to Kidd’s sudden preference for Milwaukee.

Make no mistake, Kidd comes off as a selfish, ungrateful turncoat for asking to have more power than King and then leaving for Milwaukee when Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov backed his general manager. But it would be easy to see this as the latest example of “The same old Nets,” a franchise that can’t quite get it right just when it appeared all was well in Brooklyn.

A day before the opening of free agency, the Nets are looking for a head coach. That’s not good. What free agent is going to sign or re-sign with a team that doesn’t have a coach? And when a new coach is named there’s always a transition period that includes tweaks in the coaching staff, a change of philosophy on offense and defense and time to establish new relationships. The new coach has to learn his players and the players have to learn the coach.

That isn’t accomplished in a couple of weeks. Remember, Kidd started 10-21.

This is the last place the Nets thought they’d be right now. It feels too much like the past. Except for their heyday when Kidd led the team to back-to-back appearances in the Finals, the Nets were a mess in New Jersey.

Multiple owners, a revolving door of coaches, a long list of poor draft picks and an apathetic fan base, the Nets’ existence was best summed up by Derrick Coleman when he uttered his famous words: “Whoop de damn do.” That was supposed to change when they moved to Brooklyn after two wasted years in Newark.

King, the Nets GM since 2010, has tried to do his part with mixed success. He traded for and eventually signed Deron Williams to a long-term deal though the point guard has been mostly underwhelming. Meanwhile, the acquisitions of future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce helped form the highest payroll in the NBA last season, but generated just 44 wins and second-round elimination in the playoffs.

Still, it all seemed positive with plenty of reason for optimism. Kidd had survived his growing pains, which included firing high-priced assistant Lawrence Frank five minutes into the season, and intentionally spilling his soda during a game, embarrassing the franchise. Losing to the Heat in five games fell short of expectations for an NBA title, but hopes remained high for 2014-15.

Now King and the Nets have to reboot and fans have every right to question whether they deserve their trust. Brooklyn was told to believe in Kidd even though he had no coaching experience and a history of self-serving breakups on and off the court. The Nets have only themselves to blame for believing Kidd had changed just because he was given the chance to coach a franchise that loved him more than he loved it.

Hiring a credible coach, the right coach, a coach who will stick around for, say, more than one season is King’s first move. Then the players must buy in again and prove the franchise hasn’t come off the rails.

Sure, they’re in a brand new building in a borough hungry to embrace a consistent winner that can be considered one of the elite franchises in the NBA. But right now, Kidd has left them looking closer to being “The same old Nets.”