Thirteen years is a long time.
It’s longer than three presidential terms in the United States. It’s almost as long as going from first grade through high school graduation. If Doc Brown took us back 13 years, we would land in 2008.
That was the year that the first Iron Man hit theaters. It was two years before the first iPad hit the shelves and three years before William and Kate had their royal wedding. It was before the “Harlem Shake” and the last Harry Potter still hadn’t come out.
It was also the year that Rick Carlisle, with a full head of hair, was hired as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. After the dismissal of Avery Johnson, Carlisle took over a roster headlined with the talents of Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, and…Jason Kidd.
The next 13 years would make up the résumé of the most successful coach in franchise history.
Carlisle, in his first season as head coach, led the Mavs to a 50-32 record and a first round series win over the San Antonio Spurs before losing to the Denver Nuggets in the second round. It was his first of nine playoff appearances with the Mavs. He would finish with a record of 555-478 and is the only Mavs coach to hoist a Larry O’Brien trophy.
When he stepped down on June 17 he was the third longest tenured head coach in the NBA behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra. For many younger fans in Dallas, he was the only coach they have ever known. But for those same fans, a familiar face would be the one replacing him. Enter Jason Kidd.
Kidd played for the Mavericks in two different stints, for a total of seven seasons. He is third in assists in franchise history and eighth in minutes played. More importantly, he was the starting point guard on the only team to win a championship in Dallas. Now, after coaching stints in Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and (as an assistant) Los Angeles, Kidd is tasked with coaching a Mavs team that just flipped over the last page in the Carlisle chapter.
So just how difficult will it be to transition from the most successful coach in franchise history to a brand-new coach?
“It is going to be very interesting to see how everything works together,” Maxi Kleber said on media day. “Usually, you just have new players, and you must make it work, but there are some players who know the system and what to expect. Now, this is all going to be new which is obviously a bigger challenge for everybody. But I think there is a very good positive energy coming into this. I think you kind of break the pattern because everybody has to adapt now and see what coach wants and his style. We are all really looking forward to it.”
When Mark Cuban sat down behind a mic on the floor of American Airlines Center to introduce Jason Kidd and (new GM) Nico Harrison, he spoke on just how big of a change this was going to be from top-to-bottom. “A new chapter in Dallas Mavericks history,” Cuban said.
“It will be very interesting,” fourth-year guard, Jalen Brunson said. “Coach Kidd will be great for us. He brings something different. We will just have to adjust how different it is. It will be for the better. I played for Rick my first three years. He gave me an opportunity to be the player I was, and he gave me confidence. I think it will be an interesting change and I am really excited for it. I think it will be real fun.”
For guys like Kleber and Brunson, it will be their first time playing for a new head coach. But for Sterling Brown, this is round two with coach Kidd at the helm. In 2017-18, Brown’s rookie season, Jason Kidd coached Milwaukee to a 44-38 record and a playoff appearance.
“He was definitely hard on us, but it was good,” Brown said as he reminisced on his days with Kidd in Milwaukee. “He wanted guys to work and put in that work. Me and him always been cool with the same mindset. Always wanted to go out there and get after it. Hard-nosed.”
Brown related with Kidd in that hard-nosed style, and it is that relatability as an ex-player that has some players on the Mavs excited to play for him.
Willie Cauley-Stein played 41 games in Golden State before his time in Dallas where Steve Kerr was his head coach. Kerr, a 15-year veteran with championships under his belt both as a player and a coach, has that same ability to relate with players in that fashion according to Cauley-Stein.
“They speak the same language,” Cauley-Stein said as he compared Kidd to Kerr. “A lot of times in this process there is a language barrier between players and coaches. Even players, coaches, and front office. Any time you can get front office as players…we speak the same language. I think that is going to be the best thing is the communication we are going to be able to get and receive from him.”
For Finney-Smith, just the 14-year age difference alone from Carlisle to Kidd will make a difference when it comes to relating to the team. “I think Rick was a good first coach because I don’t think it can get more old school than that,” Finney-Smith said. “Kidd can kind of relate more off just pure age. Rick, basketball-wise, is phenomenal with Xs and Os. They are both great minds.”
Carlisle was (and still is) known for being a wizard on the sidelines when it comes to in-game adjustments and drawing up plays. When his name was called last at the end of the starting lineups, he was always the one writing on his whiteboard. For media, players, and fans, he was “Coach.”
For Jason Kidd, he is a Hall of Fame point guard who won a championship as a player in Dallas.
“He has obviously been here and competed at the highest level and had success,” Dwight Powell said. “I’m really excited to learn from his experiences as a player here and obviously as a coach as well.”
Luka Dončić is 571 assists away from being halfway to reaching Jason Kidd’s 4,211 all-time assists for the Mavericks. Although he is on pace to pass that mark in less than eight seasons, he is looking forward to learning from one of the best passers who has ever played the game of basketball.
“He won a championship obviously,” Dončić said on what he’s looking forward to about Kidd. “He plays the same position as me. He won a championship here as a player. I think that will help me a lot. He is, if not the best, one of the best passers anyone has seen and that is going to help me a lot.”
When you open up the history book on the Dallas Mavericks you’ll see chapters about Moody Madness and Dick Motta. Eventually, you will get to Mark Cuban buying the team and a young kid from Germany landing in Dallas in a draft night trade. But the last chapter you will read is a big one, the Rick Carlisle era. Over a decade of playoff appearances, a title, the career of the greatest player in franchise history coming to an end, and the beginning of Luka Dončić in the NBA. All leading up to a blank page. A new chapter.
“It seems like it is a clean slate for everybody,” Trey Burke said.
And that is exactly what it is. For Jason Kidd, the front office, the organization, and the players. It’s a new chapter for everyone.
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