ORLANDO, Fla. — To say the Nets have had a rough week is an understatement.
There’s no other way to describe the tumult that engulfed the franchise, beginning with The Post’s report last Saturday night that Jason Kidd had been granted permission to speak to the Bucks after a failed power play to be given control of basketball operations — among other things — and ending with Kidd heading to Milwaukee to coach and Lionel Hollins being tapped by Nets general manager Billy King to replace him.
But despite the ugliness of the past week for both the Nets and Kidd, there’s a good chance this divorce — as messy as it was — actually will be the best thing for everyone.
For the Nets, it marks a clean break from what was an uneasy situation between management and its coach. Although everyone put a brave face on it publicly, there was unquestionably some tension behind the scenes — specifically during the team’s brutal 10-21 start last season, from Lawrence Frank’s re-assignment to filing daily reports to Kidd intentionally spilling a soda in the final seconds of a loss to the Lakers in late November in order to get an extra timeout.
Even with the winning that took place since then, it would be hard to erase the negatives, including the weight of the heavy expectations to begin the season and the team’s $190 million-plus price tag.
Then there was the matter of Brook Lopez, the team’s best player when he has been on the court. The Nets took off after Lopez was lost for the season with a fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which forced Kidd into the smallball system that helped turn their season around. They finished second in the Atlantic Division and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
But for all of Lopez’s talents, his skill set doesn’t fit with the way the Nets played after he went down, particularly on the defensive end — with their big men pressing out toward the perimeter instead of hanging around the rim.
None of that should be an issue with King and his new coach. Hollins is happy to be getting another shot on the sidelines after an impressive four-plus years in Memphis, when the Grizzlies saw their winning percentage improve every year, including a 56-win season in 2012-13, in which they advanced to the Western Conference finals. Hollins has proven he is a good coach — a better one than Kidd at the moment — and should have little trouble connecting with the veteran-laden Nets roster.
And, after building around Marc Gasol in Memphis, Hollins should have little trouble doing the same with Lopez, arguably the best low-post scorer in the NBA when healthy.
For Kidd, it’s a chance at a fresh start in Milwaukee with bosses he has an excellent relationship with. Kidd is good friends with one of the two Bucks co-owners, Marc Lasry, a former Nets minority owner, which should limit any of the tension that cropped up during Kidd’s tenure in Brooklyn.
It is widely assumed around the league Kidd eventually will be given some kind of official power over basketball operations — no matter how many times he said Wednesday he only is going to be the coach of the Bucks. And that won’t hurt, either.
Then there’s the Bucks roster. Though far from the Nets’ level of talent, it better fits the way Kidd envisions the game. Milwaukee has a pair of talented young forwards in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker — the No. 2 overall pick in the draft last month — to build around. In Larry Sanders and John Henson, Kidd has the kind of active, athletic big men to play effectively in the middle of his defense, as Mason Plumlee and Kevin Garnett did after Lopez was lost for the season.
That’s not to say the last week hasn’t been harmful to the Nets. It never is a good thing to have your entire franchise thrown into turmoil, and after spending the last year talking about having Kidd in place for the long term and the franchise’s greatest player of its NBA history become its face again as its coach, both sides were damaged by his sudden dash to Milwaukee.
But when the dust settles and both sides get a chance to look back on the situation, it seems likely everyone will agree splitting up now worked out best — for all parties involved.