Jason Kidd, Bucks Agree on New Contract: Latest Details and Reaction
Despite an eight-win drop from his first season in Milwaukee to his second, Bucks coach Jason Kidd was rewarded a three-year contract extension, the team announced Tuesday.
"We have a hard-working group of coaches that want to teach our young players and help them reach their full potential. We still have work to do but we're committed to the goal of building a team that consistently competes for titles," Kidd said in a statement, via NBA.com.
Kidd, 43, is 74-90 in two seasons with the Bucks. He led Milwaukee to a surprising playoff berth in 2014-15 before falling to a 33-49 record last season. A December hip surgery took him away from the team for a month, and the Bucks had massive issues finding a rhythm on the offensive end.
Milwaukee finished seventh-worst in offensive efficiency and attempted the NBA's fewest three-pointers, a strategy contrary to league-wide trends. Things picked up toward the end of the regular season when Kidd, forced by myriad injuries across the roster, installed 6'11" forward Giannis Antetokounmpo as his nominal point guard.
Antetokounmpo responded by posting five triple-doubles after the All-Star break and shooting over 50 percent in each of the final two months. Kidd has said the Bucks will enter 2016-17 with Antetokounmpo as their starting point guard.
"We're going to go forward with him (Giannis) handling the ball," Kidd said Tuesday, per Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "You can call him point guard, point forward, point center...with him having the ball and the pressure he puts on the defense and his ability to find guys, it's been a plus for us."
While an unconventional decision, it speaks to Kidd's willingness to adapt as a head coach. He grinded out 44 wins as a first-year coach with the Brooklyn Nets amid unrealistic expectations from a decrepit, aging roster. The Bucks under Kidd have also adjusted their schemes to personnel, most notably taking a less aggressive trapping style on pick-and-rolls after the Greg Monroe signing.
That, of course, didn't always go well. After flummoxing the league with their long arms and aggressive traps in 2014-15, the Bucks became a bottom-10 defensive team last year. Monroe was an awkward fit and died against pick-and-rolls to the point that it wouldn't be a surprise if Milwaukee looked to move him this summer. Antetokounmpo and Michael Carter-Williams are long-limbed and athletic, but they're undisciplined like most players their age.
The idea that Kidd would be fired after two seasons was always laughable; he's cozy with ownership, and the team's issues were far more on management last year. But rewarding him with a contract extension is a little curious given that Kidd's success thus far as a coach is limited. He appears to be a heady guy who works around the limitations of his roster. That said, he's never won more than 44 games and has one playoff series win under his belt.
