From Nets general manager Billy King’s perspective, there’s no hard feelings about the way Jason Kidd’s departure played out.
“It’s business,” King said during a Tuesday morning press conference at the team’s New Jersey practice facility to discuss Kidd’s leaving. “Not personal.”
Kidd’s move to Milwaukee to become the Bucks’ coach was made official minutes before King’s press conference began, when Milwaukee issued a statement saying Kidd had agreed to coach the team for what’s expected to be a three-year deal with a significant pay raise from the $2.5 million he made coaching the Nets this past season — his first on the bench after wrapping up a 19-year playing career.
The Bucks announced later that Kidd would be introduced at a press conference in Milwaukee on Wednesday morning.
“Jason is a determined leader, a tough-minded competitor and a great teammate,” Bucks owners Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry said in a statement. “We believe his focus, vision and intensity will help him work alongside John [Hammond, general manager] and [assistant GM David Morway] to rebuild the Milwaukee Bucks as we aspire to achieve excellence over the next several years. We are excited that Jason will call Milwaukee his new home.”
It has been a remarkable chain of events that led to Kidd’s stunning move to the Midwest after just one season in Brooklyn, one in which the Nets went 44-38 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. But after the Nets were pleased with the direction the franchise was heading under Kidd once he and the team had righted the ship following a 10-21 start, he went to ownership with a series of demands, including being placed above King in the organizational hierarchy and having total control of basketball operations.
Ownership said no, saying Kidd wasn’t ready for the job, which eventually led to the Bucks asking for — and receiving — permission to speak to Kidd.
Though Kidd tried to do an end-around with Nets ownership to usurp King’s authority, King said multiple times he had no hard feelings for the way things played out, and repeatedly praised Kidd for the job he did with the Nets last season.
“I just want to thank Jason,” King said. “I think he did an amazing job for us last year.
“It’s unfortunate that it ended this way, because I thought we had a good partnership working together, but you know, it’s what happens in this business, things happen, you move forward. I wish him the best of luck. … I think he’s got a great future as a coach.”
King, who already has interviewed Lionel Hollins for the head-coaching position, said he first learned last Wednesday what had transpired between Kidd and ownership, as well Kidd’s scheduled Friday meeting with Bucks ownership.
That made for an awkward day Thursday, when he and Kidd — along with representatives of ownership and virtually the entire basketball operations department — were on hand for the unveiling of the site of the team’s new practice facility, then went to Barclays Center for the draft that evening.
“I just focused on the draft,” King said of how he made it through Thursday. “The one thing I love about the draft, you get in there and you get blinders on.
“You go through it, and when it’s over, you pour yourself a scotch and you relax a little bit. That’s when you start reflecting on, ‘OK, now what?’ ”
King also gave Kidd credit for spending a large portion of the draft in his office instead of the team’s war room, given the possibility of his impending exit from the franchise.
“I give Jason credit, he popped in and out,” King said. “He spent most of the time in his office, because I think he probably felt, ‘If I’m leaving, I probably shouldn’t be here.’
“So he wasn’t sitting next to me like he was last year with [Nets chairman of the board Dmitry Razumov]. He popped in, but he was in his office.”
It was just October when the Nets retired Kidd’s jersey at Barclays Center, honoring the greatest player in the team’s NBA history. In the wake of the events of the past few days and the second messy departure from the franchise in his 20 years in the NBA, there has been some calls among fans for that number to be taken down.
This is hanging above our seats as we wait for Billy King to speak. pic.twitter.com/IiHgzE1DUU
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) July 1, 2014
But with a banner with Kidd’s No. 5 on it hanging above the assembled media at the team’s practice facility Tuesday, King said such talk was short-sighted, dismissing it out of hand.
“I don’t think that has any impact on any of this,” King said. “He earned that right. I don’t think just because this happens, you overreact and say we’re going to take this down, or take our ball and go home. This happened.”
Though the Nets are in search of another coach, there is no question King has been a winner in this situation, given the way ownership backed him when Kidd made his power grab. Asked if that gave him any satisfaction, he said this isn’t about any single person.
“It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about the organization. I have a job to do and I’m going to continue to do it. I can’t focus on how this affects Billy King.
“Right now I have to get a coach and then we’ve got to continue to build the team for the future. It’s about the Brooklyn Nets and their fans and trying to do something for them.”
And however King feels about Kidd’s actions, he made it clear he wasn’t going to put them on display publicly.
“I’m going to keep [my feelings] personal,” he said. “At this point, there’s no point in putting those out there.
“There’s no reason to sling any mud here. It happened. I wish Jason and his family very well.”