Jason Kidd wasn’t with Milwaukee when the Bucks captured the NBA title last season. But he did help groom two of the team’s marquee players who helped the Bucks win their first championship in 50 years.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton were each in their second season when Kidd took over as the Bucks’ coach in 2014. Kidd coached the Bucks through 2017-18 before management decided to go in another direction.
Still, Kidd harbors no ill-will toward the Bucks’ management.
“I’m a fan of basketball,” said Kidd, who is in his first season as the head coach of the Mavericks. “I’ve been lucky enough to win a championship as a player (with the Mavs in 2011) and win a championship as (an assistant) coach (with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020).
“If you’re lucky enough to be a great coach or a great player you get to stay in one spot. It doesn’t happen a lot. I was lucky enough to have a stop here on my journey, and I know some of the guys in ownership. So it was great to see them get over the hump.”
For Kidd, it also was great to see Antetokounmpo and Middleton reach the NBA mountaintop after they worked under his guidance for four seasons.
“It’s a beautiful thing when you get to see someone early in their career and see who they are, and for them to finally get to the top it was just a matter of time,” Kidd said. “Last year was the season that they fulfilled their dreams.
“Someone said after they won the championship that they thanked me. So that’s the greatest compliment I can get. If you didn’t know who it was, it was Giannis.”
The Bucks were 15-67 the year before Kidd arrived in Milwaukee. In his first season, they finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 41-41 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
In 2015-16 under Kidd, the Bucks were 33-49 and missed the playoffs. And in his last two seasons with the Bucks they were 42-40 and 44-38, respectively, and lost in the first round of the playoffs each year.
“Those four years were incredible, because when I came here it was the laughingstock,” Kidd said. “They only won (15) games (in 2013-14). We helped build a foundation here with Giannis and Khris.
“I’m happy that they won a championship. The hard work that the ownership and coaching staff and management have done here is incredible. There’s a lot of great things here in Milwaukee and it’s good to see.”
Middleton has been a two-time All-Star and helped the United States win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer. And Antetokounmpo made the first of his five All-Star appearances when Kidd was his coach, and also was the NBA’s two-time Most Valuable Player in 2019 and 2020, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, and the NBA Finals MVP last season.
“When you talk about Milwaukee winning that championship, all the hard work that Khris and Giannis put in, to finally climb that mountain and be at the top, it helps you go forward to get your appetite big enough to try and do it again,” Kidd said. “That’s what the great ones do, and I would not be surprised if Giannis wants to win another one. That’s just the way he’s built.”
ROSTER TRIMMED: The Mavs cut their roster down to 17 players on Friday night when they waived guards Tyrell Terry and Carlik Jones, and forward Feron Hunt.
“We had 20 guys here and we just let go two — Carlik and Feron,” coach Jason Kidd said. “I thanked them because they did everything that we asked.”
In addition to the Mavs’ regular 15-man roster, their two two-way players are forward Eugene Omoruyi and guard JaQuori McLaughlin.
“It’s a numbers game,” Kidd said. “We can only have 15 (on the regular roster) and we already had two two-ways. For (Jones and Hunt), I’m sad because those two, again, didn’t do anything wrong. I thought they got better since training camp. Carlik got better since summer league…actually, I should say both of them.
“I told them there’s 29 other businesses (aka NBA teams) watching, and I hope that they saw what we saw for training camp and that they get picked up. If not, hopefully we can bring them back (with the Texas Legends).”
As far as Terry is concerned, he suffered a groin strain during summer league action in Las Vegas. He also missed all four preseason games and was away from the team for most of training camp for personal reasons.
“I didn’t get to see a lot (from Terry),” Kidd said. “He got hurt in summer league, and he actually came back and then he went back home to Minnesota.
“I think the decision was made between Frank (Ntilikina) or Tyrell, and management and ownership went with Frank.”
KIDD PRAISES STERLING BROWN: Kidd and guard Sterling Brown are back together again.
Kidd was the head coach of Milwaukee during Brown’s rookie season with the Bucks. Now, in Kidd’s first season as the Mavs’ head coach, Brown is in his first season with the Mavs after spending three years in Milwaukee and one with the Houston Rockets.
“Sterling has grown,” Kidd said. “To see the work that he’s put in, not just this camp, but when he got traded to Houston, being able to put the ball in the basket. He’s a part of our rotation and we’re lucky to have him.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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